Sustainable Planning of Cross-Border Cooperation: A Strategy for Alliances in Border Cities

Abstract

In recent years, cooperation among nations has become a critical issue towards sustainable development of neighbor cities in border areas. In this regard, sustainable common planning approaches and policies are an increasing reality, particularly in European territories. Considering the significant amount of cross-border cooperation (CBC) projects and strategies within Europe, it is crucial to promote research approaches that are able to identify the most positive approaches towards the establishment of alliances in border territories, serving as pivotal methodologies for achieving success. Contextually, the present study considered direct and indirect research methods and tools, literature reviews, data collection, computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) and computer-assisted web interview (CAWI), all applied over two European border cities: Cieszyn (Poland) and Cesky Tesin (Czech Republic). These methods enabled the assembly of perspectives of local authorities, public and private institutions, non-governmental organizations, and entrepreneurs from the cities under study. Through the analysis of the collected data, five conditions have been identified for the success of strategic alliances in CBC projects: (i) well defining the alliance goals; (ii) ensuring participation in the alliance of various groups of stakeholders; (iii) involvement of both partners with extensive experience in CBC; (iv) ensuring the coherence of the key objective; and (v) guaranteeing the alliance benefits both sides. These conditions might effectively contribute to achieve more successful outputs in CBC projects, highlighting the relevance of previously developed strategies on the definition of future approaches.

How to Reach the Eurocities? A Retrospective Review of the Evolution Dynamics of Urban Planning and Management on the Iberian Peninsula Territories

“…WCED issued the most frequently cited criteria for sustainable development, characterizing it as: 'the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' [40]. Thus, is as close to a definition of sustainable development as the Brundtland Commission concluded, but often considered too vague to provide any operational value [44].…”

“…The environmental dimension is clearly defined as the sum of all bio-geological processes and the elements involved in them. It requires preserving the viability of ecological systems as the natural basis of sustaining human civilization [44,46].…”

Sustainable development of border areas as a subject of scientific research

“…Publications related to the mechanism of cross-border cooperation are also referred to the third type. So, Kurowska-Pysz, J., Castanho, R. A., and Loures, L., on the example of the border regions of Poland and the Czech Republic, consider the possibility of implementing partnership projects, regarding them as a means of eliminating imbalances in the development of regions of neighboring countries [14]. At the same time, they directly link the level of sustainability of development of border regions with the creation of alliances in the following areas: local governments, culture and education, business, research, considering them a competitive advantage.…”

Eurocity: From Political Construction to Local Demand… Or Vice-Versa?

“…Thus, a total of 14 interviews were carried out, 6 on the Spanish side and 8 on the Portuguese. The use of interviews is frequent in qualitative studies with a focus on the local dimensions of political endeavors; specially in cross-border cooperation, interviews results offer an in depth perspective of political projects [27,37]. Both in the case of the group session and the interviews, the participants were conveniently informed about the characteristics of the research project in which they were going to participate and the reasons why they had been selected.…”

“…The adoption of sustainability criteria in cross-border cooperation was more clearly established from the Interreg 2000-2006 program onwards, which set cross-border economic and social development through strategies of sustainable territorial development as its main objective-strategies which have been maintained in all subsequent Interreg programs. Cross-border cooperation, in accordance with European priorities of sustainable development and with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, is also seen as a key instrument of sustainable development in cross-border regions [26,27], through which intercity networks can also make their contribution.…”