Christophe Sohn

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research | LISER · Urban Development and Mobility

This paper explores the symbolic significance of national borders in a cross‐border regional context. The main argument is that the transformation of borders is actually part of a complex and contested process of symbolisation, predicated on articulations between political projects, everyday experience, and collective memories. The Greater Geneva b...

The development of cross-border regionalism in Europe has given rise to a multitude of academic works focussing on the pattern, signification and evolution of cross-border cooperation. Most previous studies have, however, focused on individual cross-border cooperation initiatives as units of analysis and neglected their spatial relation to other in...

Being in the sphere of influence of other cities can have benefits as it allows cities to “borrow size,” but this can also lead to competition effects known as “agglomeration shadows.” This paper examines how these patterns of borrowing and shadowing differ from domestic settings when there is a national border between the cities. We find that bord...

International boundaries have been mainly considered as barriers in literature on the 'cross-border regional innovation system' (CBRIS), in line with their traditional understanding. In this paper, we underline that such a perspective presents limits, and argue in favour of an understanding of multidimensional borders that are subject to dynamic ch...

This paper explores the ways in which borders are likely to be used as a semiotic resource in cross-border place branding. We develop a conceptual framework, distinguishing two meaning-making strategies: one that seeks to valorize borders as assets for cross-border place branding and another that relies on their invisibilization in order to promote...

Border cities represent a challenge for cross-border spatial planning. Beyond the technical difficulties that derive from the juxtaposition of different institutional systems, regulatory frameworks, and policy networks, it is first and foremost a matter of building a shared vision of a spatial development project that transcends the border. In this...

The present paper examines the importance of integrating geographical effects into the analysis of social networks. Specifically, we study the impacts of spatial distance and territorial borders on information exchange within two European cross‐border regions where there is evidence of extensive cross‐border political interaction in the domain of p...

The objective of this paper is to theorize border-making processes in urban contexts as exemplary of the ways in which borders within human societies are formed. In fact, the question as to whether socially meaningful borders are created through state-society and systemic relations or whether they ultimately emerge locally out of social relations i...

This paper examines the effects of borders on the performance of metropolitan areas in Europe. An innovative multidimensional conceptualization of border effects into four factors (separation, contact, differentiation and affirmation) is elaborated on and empirically tested. Estimation results confirm the ambivalent effects of the differentiation f...

Despite the importance of national borders in the process of European integration and its destiny, border areas remain relatively misrecognized. This is particularly true as regards the contemporary geography of border cities across Europe. It is therefore difficult to assess what importance border cities and cross-border urban regions have and how...

The focus of this paper is on the processes of 'debordering' and 'rebordering' and more specifically on what occurs when both forces collide and confront their contrasting goals. The hypothesis developed argues that the two bordering dynamics don't merely contest each other, they also interact and co-mingle. A tripartite analytical framework is pro...

This chapter focusses on the meaning and scope of the concept of ‘cross-border regions’. Beyond the bewildering variety of cross-border regions that have emerged in different parts of the world, the presence of a state border is what constitutes their common denominator and justifies their existence. The central question that this chapter tackles p...

Various critical and scholarly works have underlined the multiplicity of borders, or the idea that borders mean different things to different people. This paper discusses the potential of the concept of assemblage for better understanding the ontological multidimensionality intrinsic to borders. An assemblage is understood to be a heterogeneous and...

This paper presents a structural analysis of the governance arrangements established between Vienna and Bratislava close to the Austrian–Slovak border. We unravel the metropolitan governance relationships built in the context of territorial debordering and critically assess the policy relevance of cross-border cooperation. We particularly focus on...

This paper examines the effects of state borders on the performance of metropolitan areas in Europe. A multi-dimensional conceptualization of border effects is elaborated and empirically tested with the help of statistical modelling. The results suggest that Swiss cases and metropolitan areas recently integrated into the EU benefit the most from th...

In a globalized urban world, cross-border metropolises represent a spatial configuration emblematic of the interplay between the space of flows and the space of places. The multiplicity of contexts and processes at work can complicate the identification of what constitutes the singularity of the concept. In order to contribute to these reflections...

In a globalising urban world, cross-border metropolises are important spatial configurations that reflect the interplay between the space of flows and the space of places. This article scrutinises the different logics at play as urbanisation occurs around international boundaries. It disentangles the contradictory “bordering dynamics” that shape cr...

Cross-border integration is a multifaceted as well as contextually contingent process. While various conceptualisations have been developed, the theoretical foundations of the concept appear insufficient in order to grasp the very significance of such a process of cross-border regionalism. In order to help make sense of the diversity of configurati...

Various critical and scholarly works have underlined the multiplicity of borders, or the idea that borders mean different things to different people. This paper discusses the potential of the concept of assemblage for better understanding the ontological multidimensionality intrinsic to borders. An assemblage is understood to be a heterogeneous and...

This article is concerned with the role of national governments in the rescaling of cross-border metropolitan governance structures in Europe. In the context of emergent cross-border metropolitan regions, the objective is to highlight the structuring effects of support policies to metropolitan areas at national level, in the context of their politi...

The research presented in this paper was conducted in the framework of the ESPON project GEOSPECS. The objective is to assess the urban potential of European border regions following a functional approach based on travel distance. Three research questions are investigated: What is a border region and how can we assess its urban potential? Where and...

This article analyses the process of spatial integration in ten European cross-border metropolitan regions by comparing three indicators, relating to flows of cross-border commuters, differentials of gross domestic product per capita and residents' citizenship. Our results allow, firstly, confirmation of the hypothesis that the greater the economic...

Le rôle des Etats dans la construction des régions métropolitaines transfrontalières en Europe. Une approche scalaire

Dans un monde urbain globalisé, les métropoles transfrontalières représentent des configurations spatiales emblématiques de l?articulation entre l?espace des flux et l?espace des lieux. La multiplicité des contextes, des formes et des processus à l'?uvre rend toutefois difficile l'identification de ce qui fonde la singularité de l'objet. Dans le de...

This article analyses the process of spatial integration in ten European cross-border metropolitan regions. On the basis of three indicators, relating to flows of cross-border commuters, gross domestic product and the housing market, it suggests that spatial integration can be viewed as a process of convergence between distinct territories, resulti...

Aquest article tracta d’analitzar el rol de les fronteres en la construcció política de les metròpolis transfrontereres a Europa. En un primer moment, es fa una reflexió sobre el procés d’emergència de les metròpolis transfrontereres, amb l’objectiu de subratllar-ne les especificitats. A partir d’una reflexió teòrica, es desenvolupa un marc d’anàli...

This article aims to analyse the role of borders in the political construction of cross-border city-regions in Europe. In a first step, a reflection on the process of emergence of crossborder city-regions is conducted with the aim to highlight their specific features. Based on theoretical analysis, an analytical framework of the border functions is...

This paper presents a methodology that allows classifying the population along a socio-economical continuum from a lower level to a higher level of social precariousness. Going beyond the complex layered issues of the poverty concept, it rather explores the notion of deprivation with social inequalities, which are observable according to primary di...

De la ville au pays, le Luxembourg vu par ses cartes – L’ouvrage de référence pour le Grand-Duché Luxembourg, à la fois Ville-Etat et Grand-Duché, pays fondateur de l’Union Européenne et centre financier international, présente une histoire et une géographie à la fois riches et originales. A travers une centaine de contributions émanant de plus de...

In this paper we question the integration processes in three small cross-border metropolitan areas: Luxembourg, Basel, and Geneva. By referring to an original analysis framework, we evaluate the nature and intensity of the functional and institutional integration and highlight the elements that structure the cooperation between the actors. The anal...

Based on the event "Luxembourg and Greater Region, European Capital of Culture 2007", this article deals with relations of transborder co-operation between cultural partners of various cities. The objective is to see whether, within the framework of an open strategy, aimed at widening the area of influence of its metropolitan area, Luxembourg will...

Based on the event “Luxembourg and Greater Region, European Capital of Culture 2007”, this article deals with relations of transborder co-operation between cultural partners of various cities. The objective is to see whether, within the framework of an open strategy, aimed at widening the area of influence of its metropolitan area, Luxembourg will...

Based on the example of Luxembourg, this article deals with the integration of metropolitan cross-border spaces, focusing on the articulation of their institutional and functional properties. Firstly, it questions the functional evolution of the metropolitan area. By taking into account the intensity of commuting flows, the objective is to show the...

This article questions the integration processes in three small cross-border metropolitan areas: Luxembourg, Basel and Geneva. By referring to an original analysis framework, it evaluates the nature and intensityof the functional and institutional integration and highlights the elements that structure the cooperation between the actors. The analysi...

Introductory presentation of the seminar on cross-border metropolitan governance

This paper analyses the nature and intensity of the functional and institutional integration in three cross-border metropolitan regions in Europe : Basel, Geneva and Luxembourg. Results show that there is not necessarily a reciprocal link between the size of the functional area and the extent of the cooperation. Whilst no metropolitan-sized organis...

This paper analyses the nature and intensity of the functional and institutional integration in three cross-border metropolitan regions in Europe: Basel, Geneva and Luxembourg. Results show that there is not necessarily a reciprocal link between the size of the functional area and the extent of the cooperation. Whilst no metropolitan-sized organisa...

In Southern African cities, townships as segregated spaces designed for the control of non-white populations represent an emblematic figure of the apartheid policy. Beside this definition, the word also refers to another reality: it represents a cadastral and urban unit widely used in town planning. Beyond the presentation of that hidden face of th...

La fin de l’apartheid en Afrique australe pose la question du reequilibrage des espaces urbains profondement structures selon les principes de l’ideologie du developpement separe. Bien que de taille modeste, Windhoek presente une grande lisibilite de la structure urbaine contemporaine, lisibilite qui confere a cette ville un statut de « laboratoire...

The Namibian territory has been structured according to a logic of enclosing during all its colonial history. The different powers, particularly the apartheid regime, never stopped imposing their territorial ideology based on the idea of partitioning and exclusion of the African populations, at the scale of the country as well as in the urban centr...

Namibian territory has been structured according to a logic of enclosing during all its colonial history. The different powers,particularly the apartheid regime, neverstopped imposing their territorial ideology based on the idea of partitioning and exclusion of the African populations, at the scaleof the country as well as in the urban centres. Som...

This article is about the dynamic of intra-urban boundaries in Windhoek, capital city of Namibia Designed in order to control non-white populations, the boundaries laid down by the apartheid regime have participated in the division of the society and the differenciation of spaces. With the advent of a democratic regime, the question concerning the...

La « frontière » est habituellement comprise comme la « limite de souveraineté et de compétence territoriale d'un État » De nos jours, la prégnance de cette définition semble s'estomper à l'échelle mondiale, accompagnant ainsi le processus de relativisation multiforme de l'État. Il faut y voir l'effet de l'évolution des techniques de transport et d...

In the context of territorial recomposition marked by the rise to power of inter-communality and the multiplication of projects’ territories, the establishment of a SCOT perimeter provides an ideal moment for analysing the dynamics at work. In the Strasbourg region, the implementation of this new planning tool clarifies the territorial strategies o...

This article is about the dynamic of intra-urban boundaries in Windhoek, capital city of Namibia. Designed in order to control non-white populations, the boundaries laid down by the apartheid regime have participated in the division of the society and the différenciation of spaces. With the advent of a democratic regime, the question concerning the...

The shebeen, revealing management changes in the post-Apartheid town: a study of Windhoek (Namibia) Since Namibia’s independence in 1990, the modes of thinking and making the city has remained greatly influenced by the town regulations inherited from the Apartheid period. Nevertheless, due to city-dwellers’ practices sometimes completely new, urban...

Namibian Municipalities Beyond impressive appearances, Namibian municipalities suffer from serious disorders. These are aggravated by the political compromises that accompanied independence, and by the influx of insolvable populations. While profoundly marked by diversity, the municipalities do not seem capable of constituting a model for the conve...