On the Boundary: Local Authorities, Intergovernmental Relations and the Governance of Border Infrastructure in the Detroit–Windsor Region

Abstract

A growing and diverse academic literature exists on the functional, cultural and political linkages between border communities. These examinations of borderland communities seek to explain why and how linkages develop and assess the strength and implications of these relationships. In North America, Detroit-Windsor is the quintessential metropolitan border region along the Canada-US border. It is a community that shares many problems and policy concerns as well as strong functional linkages. One of these concerns is the reform of the Detroit River border crossing. This is the busiest land border crossing in North America and it is central to the regional economy as well as the wider North American economy. Over the past decade, the senior governments have debated reform of border infrastructure and the access routes to planned and existing crossings. One of the central considerations in this set of reforms has been the construction of a new crossing to reduce waiting times and increase infrastructural redundancy at this key choke point. Any new crossing will have a major impact on the local communities and various local actors on both sides of the border have sought to participate in the policy debate and influence the decision-making process. This article examines the extent to which local actors in Detroit and Windsor have interacted and sought to co-ordinate their policy positions and strategies within the border reform debate. The article focuses on the extent of the interaction among municipal governments and community groups in an effort to map and understand functional and political relationships between local actors in this dynamic border space.

Border region studies: the structure of an ‘offbeat’ field of regional studies

“…In line with the studies on cooperation and integration, this research has involved analyses of the role of Euroregions, Interreg and other EU programmes in the economic development of border regions (McCall & Williamson, 2000). Additionally, the importance of transportation and border-crossing infrastructure, i.e., accessibility (Lundquist & Winther, 2006), in the economic development of border regions has been highlighted (Nelles & Sutcliffe, 2013). Finally, economic aspects of regional development in border regions have commonly been discussed in terms of cross-border inter-firm linkages, networking (Dimitrov, Petrakos, Totev, & Tsiapa, 2003;Geenhuizen, Knaap, & Nijkamp, 1996) and export flows (Ciżkowicz, Rzońca, & Umiński, 2013;Tykkyläinen & Lehtonen, 2008).…”

Cross-border cooperation: a global overview

“…The Canada US relationship also includes the Integrated Border Enforcement Teams as part of both federal government efforts to coordinate and cooperate policies to limit cross-border traffics ( Brunet-Jailly, 2004 ; IBET, 2011 ). Today, the construction of the Gordie Howe Bridge is also a manifestation of the ongoing need of modern infrastructures to serve the region ( Nelles and Sutcliffe, 2011 , 2013 ; Sutcliffe, 2008 , 2014 ).…”