- Cross-border governance: a catalyst for low carbon city-regions? - Experiences from the German-Polish border region    click here to open paper content996 kb
by    Weith, Thomas | weith@uni-potsdam.de   click here to send an email to the auther(s) of this paper
Short Outline
The aim of this paper is to analyse potentials of cross-border activities for reducing emissions and supporting energy efficiency and to valuate cross-border governance for reaching these targets.
Abstract
In general borders are lines of explicit separation. On the one hand cross border activities have to solve a wide range of problems like differences in language and culture or at the German-Polish-border specific historical experiences. On the other hand cross border activities include also potentials for improving living conditions on both sides of the borderline. Common problems of local and regional development can lead to common solutions. Potentials for reducing emissions and supporting energy efficiency are given by using the same infrastructure, improving the public transport system (economies of scale) and optimizing energy supply. Additionally learning from each other allows avoiding mistakes in mitigation and adaptation strategies and innovation.

For realizing the potentials of cross border activities formal or informal governance arrangements are to be realized. Additional to ‘normal’ problems in border regions new forms of coordination in multilevel governance have to be arranged. While informal or formal spatial planning activities from local level (e.g. common urban visions) up to national level (e.g. common national parks) develop step by step, cross-border sectoral planning in regard to energy and traffic evolves slowly.
Several projects have failed, from local cross boder tramway in Frankfurt/Oder – Slubice up to the arrangement of transnational transit corridors. Especially sectoral planning in combination with investments seems to be problematic in such governance arrangements.

Based on theoretical governance approaches and practical experiences of cooperation activities, it is to be discussed which ways formal and informal governance arrangements will support solutions for sectoral planning enforcing a low carbon city-region.
Keywords
cross-border governance, infrastructure development, energy and transport
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