Together with regional actors, border researchers identify socio-economic and socio-cultural challenges of the Greater Region and develop practice-oriented solutions. They actively contribute to the spatial development of the Greater Region and organize events for the exchange and transfer of knowledge between politics, administration and research.
In a cross-border context, the large dynamics of the economic, ecological and social conditions create a special need for coordination with regard to spatial development. At the beginning of 2020, the cross-border future vision of the Greater Region and therefore a mission statement and guiding principles for spatial development were adopted at the 6th Conference of the regional Ministers responsible for spatial planning. This round table discussion was organised by the Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (Kirsten Mangels).
The policy paper summarises key findings of researchers from the UniGR-Center for Border Studies in five areas relevant to the Greater Region (demography and migration, transport, employment and economic development, energy landscapes, cross-border governance) and formulates options for action for planning practice and political decision-makers. In addition, it addresses the exchange of knowledge between research and politics.
The UniGR-CBS actively shapes the Greater Region and sees itself as a Science Policy-Interface. Together with stakeholders from the Greater Region, the UniGR-CBS invites you to a workshop on the development of spatial development strategies considering resource conservation. At the center is the EU Commission’s target of net zero land consumption by 2050 and its implementation in the Greater Region.
The network meetings on spatial development create an exchange platform for cross-border spatial development between the scientists of the UniGR-CBS and the regional actors, the REKGR project, the MEA (Luxembourg Ministry of Energy and Regional Planning) and planning practitioners. This is intended to ensure that the cooperation is continued in a sustainable manner and that the spatial development of the Greater Region continues to be scientifically accompanied.
Rachid Belkacem of the University of Lorraine and the UniGR-Center for Border Studies organised a study day on the cross-border area in the Greater Region on 12 July 2019. The event held at the University Institute of Technology (IUT) was attended by researchers and practitioners and focused on the mobility of cross-border workers, regional development and other important subjects relating to the France-Luxembourg border.
The Working Group “Spatial Planning” uses the simulation game method to explore different planning cultures and to promote cross-border exchanges between planners and spatial planning students. Several simulation games have already been developed and produced.
About 50 participants took part in the workshop on February 10, 2022, consisting of students, planning practitioners and politicians from the entire Greater Region (Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Luxembourg, Grand-Est and Wallonia). This interactive and cross-border training included lectures and discussions as well as a business game aimed at developing a cross-border ecoregion through the revitalization of a fictitious industrial wasteland.
The Greater Region Forum 2022 organised by the Maison de l’Engagement et de l’Initiative des Jeunes en Territoires (MEIJE), the UniGR-Center for Border Studies (UniGR-CBS) and the IUT Henri Poincaré de Longwy (Université de Lorraine) focused on the issues of cross-border mobility of young people in employment, in initial and vocational training, in their civic practices in cross-border territories.
The 7th Forum Greater Region was focused on social and territorial cohesion in the Greater Region and examined the related challenges for inhabitants and actors. These relate to questions of language learning, political strategies of multilingualism or the strengthening of the citizens’ sense of belonging to the Greater Region.
The 5th Forum Greater Region was held online on 10. September 2020. Although the Greater Region is already closely interlinked in many areas, cross-border cooperation and governance with regard to climate change seems to be still in its infancy. In this forum, a productive cross-border dialogue was engaged.
In and with this issue of Borders in Perspective we invite you to engage in productive boundary work and encourage you to critically examine the relationship between nature and culture in the Anthropocene. The authors of this issue, examine the various ways in which borders are drawn and dissolved in the Anthropocene from multiple perspectives and multidisciplinary directions.
The working paper examines the theme of energy and addresses the challenges of spatial development in the Greater Region. It addresses the concept of energy system transformation and focuses on energy systems and carriers, in particular the expansion of wind energy and biomass energy production in relation to the development of nuclear fossil energy sources in Germany and France.
Cross-border mobility is just as much a challenge as an opportunity for the people in the Greater Region. Particularly in the educational sector, there are special requirements for cross-border commuters, for example when they send their children to schools in the neighboring country, or when they as scholars, trainees or students wish to complete their studies or training in the neighboring country.
Cross-border dual vocational training and university courses are a fact of life in the French-German border regions. During the Covid-19 pandemic, however, apprentices and students on such European courses were faced with huge challenges. Ines Funk (Saarland University) and Christian Wille (University of Luxembourg) examine these and other experiences in a scientific study conducted on behalf of the Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO).
On 11 December 2015 the Employment and Training working group organised a study day at Saarland University for academics and practitioners. The event on cross-border vocational training aimed to take stock of cross-border vocational training initiatives in the Greater Region and to examine some of the challenges involved in their implementation on a practical level.
