In his dissertation, entitled ‚Resilience in Border Regions – A Comparison of Recessive Crises‘, Stefan Hippe examined the impact of recessive crises on border regions. In doing so, he contributed to the relatively new discourse on border-regional resilience within the field of border studies.

In his thesis, he examined the impact of crises on border regions using both quantitative and qualitative analysis. He demonstrated that European border regions tend to be highly vulnerable and have low resistance to recessive crises in the short term. However, they show a high capacity for recovery in the long term.

Border control measures, such as those implemented during the pandemic, have a significant negative impact on cross-border linkages. However, his work also showed that the COVID-19-crisis had positive consequences too, strengthening cross-border cooperation along the German border in the long term.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Tobias Chilla

From left to right: Prof. Dr. Blake Walker, Prof. Dr. Sandra Jasper, Stefan Hippe, Prof. Dr. Tobias Chilla (Photo: H. Paul)

Publications related to the dissertation

Chilla, T., Große, T., Hippe, S., & Walker, B. B. (2022). COVID-19 incidence in border regions: spatiotemporal patterns and border control measures. Public Health, 202, 80–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2021.11.006

Hippe, S. (2024a). Finanz- und Coronakrise in Grenzregionen und innerstaatlichen Regionen: Vergleich der Resilienz. In F. Weber, O. Kühne & J. Dittel (Hrsg.), Transformation Processes in Europe and Beyond. Regionale Geographien | Regional Geographies (S. 459-479). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-42894-5_20

Hippe, S. (2024b). Different impacts of similar crises? The financial and COVID-19 crisis in border and non-border regions. European Planning Studies, 33(1), 20–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2024.2406483

Hippe, S., Bertram, D., & Chilla, T. (2022). The COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for cross-border cooperation? Lessons learnt for border-regional resilience. Europa XXI, 43, 1. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2022.43.1

Hippe, S., Bertram, D., & Chilla, T. (2023). Convergence and resilience in border regions. European Planning Studies, 32(1), 186-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2023.2170214

Hippe, S., & Chilla, T. (2021). Cohesion and Resilience in Czech-German Border Regions: The Impacts of Crises. In Z. Kresa (Hrsg.), Opportunities and Threats to Current Business Management in Cross-border Comparison 2021 (S. 68-78). GUC.