Abstract
How do regional identities influence spatial development, and what kinds of barriers do neighbouring identities create to coordinate regional programmes across borders? This paper tries to answer this question, looking at efforts to establish regional planning and development programmes along the Swiss-Austrian border. The cross-border region Alpine Rhine Valley is a meeting point for the cantons of Graubünden and St. Gallen, Switzerland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the federal state of Vorarlberg, Austria. This work is part of an ongoing research project, based on a series of interviews of local residents in an attempt to determine their regional identities and how they relate to the broader cross-border region. The spatial structure of this area is polycentric: there is no clear central place, but a network of small and medium-sized regional centres has been established. The region shares a common cultural vernacular, but despite long-standing cross-border linkages, it has yet to develop a genuine supranational identity. Until recently, cross-border cooperation was initiated by higher levels of government, rather than municipal levels, and consisted of top-down rather than bottom-up regionalisation. More recently, municipal networks have been created, embracing governments on both sides of the border, leading to greater contacts and greater discussion. Regional identities on both sides of the border remain strong, but the growing number of cross-border planning initiatives and projects organised at the municipal rather than the regional or national level (bottom-up) seems to be slowly fostering the creation of a broader cross-border identity: the concept of the area as one region has come significantly closer, and there is a growing perception of the need to manage and develop this space jointly. However, in many ways, the region remains too large to identify with. Large regions are too far away from everyday issues and therefore barely tangible for the people! Scale makes the difference. Smaller regions are living regions. One conclusion could be that cooperation within regional development issues should focus more on small-scaled regions. People identify more readily with smaller areas and can embrace cross-regional cooperation more readily.
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This study has been prepared with financial support by the Regional Research Institute for Social Science, Bregenz – Vorarlberg.
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Obkircher, S. (2015). The Influence of Regional Identities on Spatial Development: A Challenge for Regional Governance Processes in Cross-Border Regions. In: Buček, J., Ryder, A. (eds) Governance in Transition. Springer Geography. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5503-1_11
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