The COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for cross-border cooperation? What have we learnt for border-regional resilience?

Our recent study addresses border-regional resilience in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on German border regions. The main objective is to shed light on vulnerability, resistance, adaptability, and recoverability in the border-regional context. Our key questions are: To what extent were the German border regions affected and what differences can be seen among them? What impact does the pandemic have on future resilience of cross-border cooperation? What options do border region...

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European border regions: more or less resilient than non-border regions?

The ongoing times of poly-crises raise fundamental questions for border regions: How do crises affect convergence processes in border regions? Are border regions more resilient than non-border regions? In what ways are convergence and resilience interconnected?   Our recent study shows, first, that border regions are more affected in the short term, but recover more quickly from the crisis. This finding calls for policy reflections on how to improve short-term resistance in b...

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How to overcome the ‘size problem’ of the Alpine settlement system?

The Alpine settlement system is of key relevance for sustainable development in the mountain region. However, maps on the European scale indicate almost no cities in the Alps but only a few small towns. The Alpine region seems to be an ‘empty’ space (see, e.g. Atlas for the Territorial Agenda 2030). We argue that a differentiated mapping approach should involve medium and small settlements in mountain regions, as they have a high functional importance for the surrounding area.   Our r...

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9. Alpenzustandsbericht zum Thema „Alpine Towns“

Welche Rolle spielen Städte und das alpine Siedlungssystem für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung der Alpen? Dieser Frage geht der 9. Alpenzustandsbericht (RSA9) zum Thema „Alpine Towns“ nach. Tobias Chilla, Dominik Bertram und Markus Lambracht sind die Autoren des analytischen Berichts (Part 1: Facts, Maps and Scientific Debates) – der ergänzt wird durch einen Szenarien-Teil (Part 2: Five Pictures of the Future) und politische Überlegungen (Four Postulates of Sustainable Urban Development). Di...

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Roles beyond size? Investigating polycentricity and accessibility of small towns in the Alps

Fair accessibility to services of general interest is a considerable challenge in mountain regions due to low population density and morphological context (see, ESPON Alps2050). However, the centrality debate has hardly taken morphology into account, even though mountain areas require a specific form of spatial organization. A lower level of accessibility leads either to longer distances and travel times or (in the better case) to increased service supply in smaller settlements. Our recently ...

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Innerdeutsche Vernetzung von Grenzregionen – welche Optionen bestehen?

Auf der Bundesebene haben die Grenzräume mit Beteiligung Deutschlands in jüngerer Zeit zunehmend größere Aufmerksamkeit bekommen, insbesondere im Zuge der Bemühungen um gleichwertige Lebensverhältnisse. Am 16. und 17. Mai 2022 hat die AG Regionalentwicklung in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat den Workshop ‚Innerdeutsche Vernetzung von Grenzregionen‘ in Berlin durchgeführt (Foto: Dirk Enters). Durch eine bessere Vernetzung der Grenzregionen mit deutscher Betei...

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Dr. Elisabeth Gruber als Humboldt-Stipiendiatin in der AG Regionalentwicklung

Wir freuen uns, dass Elisabeth Gruber als Humboldt PostDoc-Stipendiatin an unser Institut kommt: Hier wird sie ihr Projekt bearbeiten mit dem Titel „Generation‘I’mmobile? Immobility aspirations of young adults and their socio-spatial implications“.Dieses Projekt ist auf der Schnittstelle von Regionalentwicklung und Bevölkerungsgeographie angesiedelt, und wird eine wertvolle Inspiration für unsere Arbeiten sein.Das Stipendium ist angelgt für den Zeitraum bis September 2023. Elisabeth Gruber war z...

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Reflecting on border regions with ‚institutional mapping‘

Institutional mapping combines institutional information and visualisation techniques. Our team has worked with this approach for several years now (e.g. ESPON ACTAREA 2017, Chilla et al. 2012). Now we published a new paper that a) describes the state of art in institutional mapping and b) does so with the example of German INTERREG VA programmes. Chilla, T. & M. Lambracht (2022): Institutional mapping of cross-border cooperation. INTERREG programme analyses with KEEP data, European Plan...

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COVID-19 incidence in border regions: spatiotemporal patterns and border control measures

Border regions are very sensitive territories in Covid times: In all incidence waves, border closures have been discussed and many were implemented. Currently, due to the threating Omicron variant, harsh measures as border closures are high on the political agenda again. However, there is not much knowledge about the cross-border spread of the virus. The question is whether they can be an appropriate tool of the anti-Covid policy. Our new paper, examines the patterns of COVID-19 spread in Ger...

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Cohesion in Border Regions (CoBo): Delphi survey on policy options starts

European cohesion is of key concern in Europe's internal border regions. The CoBo project examines the current state and existing potentials (funded by the federal ministry of research, duration 2021-23). In these days, a so-called Delphi survey starts. Its aim is to identify future potentials and challenges of Germany’s border regions. Key experts from the border regions will be asked for their participation in two rounds of digital surveys. In the second round, we will present the interim r...

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