Cross-border mapping and cooperation: integrating and dividing practices

Ulla Connor

Saarland University
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2381-3262

Abstract

Cross-border cooperation (CBC) has emerged as a prominent domain of practices within the European framework, aligned with the European Commission’s objectives to foster harmonious development. This article addresses the empirical field of CBC between regional political stakeholders and public administrations in regional and local contexts at Europe’s internal borders. Despite the establishment of cross-border regions, borders are still perceived as barriers, prompting actors in CBC to develop strategies to transcend territorial boundaries. One such strategy is cross-border thematic mapping, which visually represents topics like infrastructure, demography and cultural heritage. The article explores how cross-border thematic maps contribute to the creation and thinking of the cross-border space as a region in the context of CBC. It presents empirical research and an interpretation, arguing that while cross-border cartography advances cooperation, it also poses unintended challenges. Applying a praxeological approach, the study conceptualizes map usage as practices, drawing on ethnographic data from public events in an anonymized cross-border European region. The study explores the practices of map usage and develops a theorization to understand the social dynamics of cross-border building with maps. By bridging the gaps in practice-oriented cross-border studies and CBC research, the article contributes to the understanding of the role of cross-border maps in regional development and social dynamics.

Keywords:

Europe, cross-border cooperation, cross-border integration, cartography, praxeology, ethnography

Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (3rd ed.). London, New York: Verso.
  Google Scholar

Beck, J. (2019). Cross-border cooperation in Europe as an object in transdisciplinary research. An introduction. In J., Beck (Ed.). Transdisciplinary Discourses on Cross-Border Cooperation in Europe (pp. 13-23). Brussels: Peter Lang.
  Google Scholar

Becker, F. (2005). Die Grenzstadt als Laboratorium der Europäisierung. In H., Berking & M., Löw (Eds.). Die Wirklichkeit der Städte (pp.87-105). Baden-Baden: Nomos.
  Google Scholar

Böhm, H. (2023). Five Roles of Cross-border Cooperation Against Re-bordering. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 38(3), 487-506.
  Google Scholar

Bourdieu, P. (1980). Le sens pratique. Paris: Éditions de minuit.
  Google Scholar

Bourdieu, P. (1972). Esquisse d’une théorie de la pratique: Précédé de trois études d’ethnologie kabyle. Paris: Seuil.
  Google Scholar

Caesar, B., Pallagst, K. (2018). Entwicklungspfade der grenzüberschreitenden Zusammenarbeit und Status quo. In K., Pallagst, A., Hartz, & Caesar, B. (Eds.): Border Futures – Zukunft Grenze – Avenir frontière. Zukunftsfähigkeit grenzüberschreitender Zusammenarbeit (p. 12-27). Hanover: Verlag der ARL – Akademie für Raumforschung und Landesplanung.
  Google Scholar

CEI – Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative (2001). The status of the Carpathians. A report developed as part of The Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative. Retrieved from wwfeu.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/ceri_statusofthecarpathians_wwfdcp2001.pdf.
  Google Scholar

Connor, U. (2023). Territoriale Grenzen als Praxis. Zur Erfindung der Grenzregion in grenzüberschreitender Kartografie. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
  Google Scholar

Connor, U. (2021). Border or bordering practice? Changing perspectives on borders and challenges of praxeological approaches. In C., Wille, D., Gerst, & H., Krämer (Eds.). Borders in Perspective. UniGR-CBS Thematic Issue, 6, 27-38.
  Google Scholar

Crampton, J. W. (2001). Maps as social constructions: power, communication and visualization. Progress in Human Geography, 25(2), 235-252.
  Google Scholar

DGA – Direction générale de l’Aménagement du territoire, du Logement, du Patrimoine et de l’Énergie du Service Public de Wallonie et al. (2012). ATLAS transfrontalier (2nd ed.). Retrieved from www.hauts-de-france.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/atlas-transfrontalier-t1.pdf.
  Google Scholar

Durand, F., Decoville, A. (2019). A multidimensional measurement of the integration between European border regions. Journal of European Integration, 42(2), 163-178.
  Google Scholar

Durand, F., Decoville, A. (2018): Establishing Cross-Border Spatial Planning. In E., Medeiros (Ed.). European Territorial Cooperation. Theoretical and Empirical Approaches to the Process and Impacts of Cross-Border and Transnational Cooperation in Europe (pp. 229-244). Cham: Springer.
  Google Scholar

Durand, F., Perrin, T. (2018). Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk– Tournai: Cross-border integration with or without the border? European Urban and Regional Studies, 25(3), 320-336.
  Google Scholar

EC – European Commission (2023, August 4): Interreg A - Cross-border cooperation. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/policy/cooperation/european-territorial/cross-border_en.
  Google Scholar

Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., Shaw, L. L. (2011). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes (2nd ed.). Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press.
  Google Scholar

ERN – Euroregion Neisse–Nisa–Nysa. (2019). Euroregion Neisse–Nisa–Nysa in Zahlen und Bildern. Retrieved from www.euroregion-neisse.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Euroregion_Neisse-Nisa-Nysa_in_Zahlen_und_Bildern.pdf.
  Google Scholar

Evrard, E. (2017). La Grande Région Saar-Lor-Lux. Vers une suprarégionalisation transfrontalière? Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.
  Google Scholar

Frątczak-Müller, J., Mielczarek-Żejmo, A. (2020). Networks of cross-border cooperation in Europe – the interests and values. The case of Spree–Neisse–Bober Euroregion. European Planning Studies, 28(1), 8-34.
  Google Scholar

Gaberell, S., Debarbieux, B. (2014). Mapping regions, framing projects. A comparative analysis on the role of mapping in the region-building process of two European regions. Geoforum, 52, 123-136.
  Google Scholar

GeoRhena (2023, August 4). Geoportal. Retrieved from https://geoportal.georhena.eu/mapstore/#/.
  Google Scholar

GeoRhena (2022). Densité de population du Rhin Supérieur / Bevölkerungsdichte am Oberrhein. Retrieved from https://www.georhena.eu/sites/default/files/Cartes/17_2022_308.pdf.
  Google Scholar

GIS-GR – Geografisches Informationssystem der Großregion. (2023, August 4). Geoportal. Retrieved from https: //map.gis-gr.eu/
  Google Scholar

Goffman, E. (1956). The presentation of self in everyday life. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.
  Google Scholar

Grosjean, B. (2019). Les ambiguïtés de l’Eurométropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai, à travers ses représentations régionales. Belgeo, 2, 1-22.
  Google Scholar

Gobo, G., Molle, A. (2017). Doing Ethnography (2nd ed.). London: SAGE.
  Google Scholar

Hartz, A., Damm, G.-R., Köhler, S. (2010). Großräumige grenzüberschreitende Verflechtungsräume. Ein „Modellvorhaben der Raumordnung“ (MORO) des Bundes. Raumforschung und Raumordnung, 68, 499-513.
  Google Scholar

Harley, J. B. (1989). Deconstructing the Map. Cartographica, 26(2), 1-20.
  Google Scholar

Haude, R. (2017). Das Kartenspiel. Unterwegs zu einer grenztranszendierenden ‚euroregionale‘ Identität? In A., Fickers, et al. (Eds.). Jeux sans frontières? Grenzgänge der Geschichtswissenschaft (pp.41-56). Bielefeld: transcript.
  Google Scholar

Hui, A., Schatzki, T., Shove, E. (Eds.). (2017). The Nexus of Practices. Connections, constellations, practitioners. London, New York: Routledge.
  Google Scholar

Klatt, M., Herrmann, H. (2011). Half Empty or Half Full? Over 30 Years of Regional Cross-Border Cooperation Within the EU: Experiences at the Dutch-German and Danish-German Border. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 26(1), 65-87.
  Google Scholar

Klatt, M., Winkler, I. (2020). Lessons from the Danish-German Border Region for Post 2020 Interreg A – an Alignment with Cross-Border Functional Regions? Europa XXI, 38, 139-156.
  Google Scholar

Knippschild, R. (2011). Cross-Border Spatial Planning: Understanding, Designing and Managing Cooperation Processes in the German–Polish–Czech Borderland. European Planning Studies, 19(4), 629-645.
  Google Scholar

Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
  Google Scholar

LDBV – Landesamt für Digitalisierung, Breitband und Vermessung. (2023, August 4). Bodensee-Geodatenpool. www.bodensee-geodatenpool.net/.
  Google Scholar

Liberato, D., Alén, E., Liberato, P., Domínguez, T. (2018). Governance and cooperation in Euroregions: border tourism between Spain and Portugal. European Planning Studies, 26(7), 1347-1365.
  Google Scholar

Medeiros, E. (Ed.). (2018). European Territorial Cooperation. Theoretical and Empirical Approaches to the Process and Impacts of Cross-Border and Transnational Cooperation in Europe. Cham: Springer.
  Google Scholar

Nicolini, D. (2012). Practice Theory, Work, and Organization. An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  Google Scholar

Noferini, A., Berzi, M., Camonita, F., Durà, A. (2019). Cross-border cooperation in the EU: Euroregions amid multilevel governance and re-territorialization. European Planning Studies, 28(1), 35-56.
  Google Scholar

Opioła, W., Böhm, H. (2022). Euroregions as political actors: managing border policies in the time of Covid-19 in Polish borderlands. Territory, Politics, Governance, 10(6), 896-916.
  Google Scholar

Perkins, C. (2018). Critical cartography. In A. J., Kent, P. Vujakovic (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Mapping and Cartography (pp. 80-89). Oxon-New York: Routledge.
  Google Scholar

Perkmann, M. (2007). Construction of New Territorial Scales: A Framework and Case Study of the EUREGIO Cross-border Region. Regional Studies, 41(2), 253-266.
  Google Scholar

Peyrony, J., Denert, O. (2012). Planning for Cross-Border Territories: The Role Played by Spatial Information. Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning, 70(3), 229-240.
  Google Scholar

Pupier, P. (2020). Spatial evolution of cross-border regions. Contrasted case studies in North-West Europe. European Planning Studies, 28(1), 81-104.
  Google Scholar

Reckwitz, A. (2002). Toward a Theory of Social Practices. A Development in Culturalist Theorizing. European Journal of Social Theory, 5(2), 243-263.
  Google Scholar

Schatzki, T. R. (2002). The Site of the Social. A philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
  Google Scholar

Schatzki, T. R., Knorr Cetina, K., Savigny, E. (Eds.). (2001). The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory. London, New York: Routledge.
  Google Scholar

Schmidt, R. (2012). Soziologie der Praktiken: Konzeptionelle Studien und empirische Analysen. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
  Google Scholar

Shove, E. (2017). Matters of practice. In A., Hui, T., Schatzki, E., Shove (Eds.). The Nexus of Practices. Connections, constellations, practitioners (p. 155-168). London, New York: Routledge.
  Google Scholar

Shove, E., Pantzar, M., Watson, M. (2012). The dynamics of social practice. Everyday life and how it changes. Los Angeles: SAGE.
  Google Scholar

Sohn, C. (2020). Assemblage. In B., Wassenberg, & B., Reitel (Eds). Critical Dictionary on Borders, Cross-Border Cooperation and European Integration (pp.71-73). Brussels: Peter Lang.
  Google Scholar

Sohn, C., Reitel, B. (2016). The role of national states in the construction of cross-border metropolitan regions in Europe: A scalar approach. European Urban and Regional Studies, 23(3), 306-321.
  Google Scholar

Spaargaren, G., Weenink, D., Lamers, M. (Eds.). (2016). Practice Theory and Research. Exploring the dynamics of social life. London, New York: Routledge.
  Google Scholar

Svensson, S., Balogh, P. (2018). Limits to Integration: Persisting Border Obstacles in the EU. In E., Medeiros (Ed.). European Territorial Cooperation. Theoretical and Empirical Approaches to the Process and Impacts of Cross-Border and Transnational Cooperation in Europe (pp. 115-134). Cham: Springer.
  Google Scholar

Thongchai, W. (1994). Siam Mapped. A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
  Google Scholar

Wassenberg, B. (2015). Grenzüberschreitende Zusammenarbeit in Europa als Mittel der „kleinen“ deutschen Außenpolitik: das Beispiel des Oberrheins. Revue d’Allemagne et des pays de langue allemande, 47(1), 77-96.
  Google Scholar

Wassenberg, B., Reitel, B. (Eds.). (2020). Critical Dictionary on Borders, Cross-Border Cooperation and European Integration. Brussels: Peter Lang.
  Google Scholar

Wassenberg, B., Reitel, B., Peyrony, J. (2020). Introduction. In B., Wassenberg, B., Reitel (Eds.). Critical Dictionary on Borders, Cross-Border Cooperation and European Integration (pp. 35-53). Brussels: Peter Lang.
  Google Scholar

Waterhout, B. (2008). The institutionalisation of European spatial planning. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
  Google Scholar

Wintzer, J., Hirsig, S. (2018). Migration als ‚Masseneinwanderung‘. Visualisierung von Migration am Beispiel der Initiative „Gegen Masseneinwanderung“. In C., Rass, M., Ulz (Eds.). Migration ein Bild geben. Visuelle Aushandlungen von Diversität (pp. 357-385). Wiesbaden: Springer.
  Google Scholar

Download


Published
2024-08-08

Cited by

Connor, U. (2024). Cross-border mapping and cooperation: integrating and dividing practices. Border and Regional Studies, 12, 7–33. https://doi.org/10.25167/brs5235

Authors

Ulla Connor 
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2381-3262

Statistics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.


License

Copyright (c) 2024 Border and Regional Studies

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.