Managing land consumption in cross-border city-regions
Résumé
Many cross-border city-regions are expanding. Land consumption of agricultural and natural areas is a challenge targeted by European and national policies (EU, 2011; ESPON SUPER, 2020). However, spatial planning systems are generally bound to the border.
National policies to limit land consumption differ from country to country. They result in contrasting issues, objectives and instruments (Bovet et al., 2018). In cross-border city-regions, these governmental policies can induce urban growth on the other side of the border. How do policies for limiting land consumption steer the spatial planning processes across the border?
This contribution proposes to examine the governance of urban development in the outskirts of cross-border urban areas. The study areas are five cross-border city-regions between France and neighbouring countries: the city-regions of Geneva, Lille, Luxembourg, San Sebastián-Bayonne and Strasbourg. The study is based on interviews with relevant actors. We focus on the interactions between public actors at different levels: transnational, national, regional and local. We investigate institutional and legislative asymmetries and resource interdependencies. We explore specific spatial planning processes and instruments developed to manage and regulate land consumption in cross-border city-regions, and their effects on urban development processes.