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Home , Ahrensburg, Elmshorn, Northern Germany, Regiopolis, Rostock, Stormarn (district)

Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

The Baltic German municipalities´ inter-territorial strategies: a transition through city networks?

Nicolas Escach

Abstract1 Zusammenfassung Die überstaatlichen Strategien der deutschen Kommu- nen im Ostseeraum: Wandel durch Städtenetzwerke? Since the 1990s, the Baltic has been undergoing a com- plete reorganization, which is characterized by a type of region- alization often known as “The New Hansa”. The coastline cities Seit den 1990er Jahren befindet sich der Ostseeraum vollständig of Schleswig-Holstein and -Western , im Wandel, der durch eine Art Regionalisierung gekennzeichnet which lie far from the most dynamic German and European ar- ist, die oft als „Die Neue Hanse“ bezeichnet wird. Die Küsten- eas and often suffer from an economic and demographic decline, städte von Schleswig-Holstein und Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, see in this the chance for a new start. The question is whether die weit entfernt von den dynamischsten deutschen und euro- using the supranational scale and in particular cooperating with päischen Regionen liegen und oft unter wirtschaftlichem und the Øresund can enable public and private stakeholders demographischem Rückgang leiden, sehen darin die Chance to offer a real prospect of development to the shrinking cities of für einen Neuanfang. Die Frage ist, ob die Nutzung der staaten­ Northern . übergreifenden Dimension und insbesondere die Zusammen- Shrinking Cities; Regionalism; Region; City-Networks; arbeit mit den Öresund-Regionen es öffentlichen und privaten Rescaling Akteuren ermöglichen kann, den schrumpfenden Städten Nord- deutschlands eine echte Entwicklungsperspektive zu bieten. Schrumpfende Städte; Regionalismus; Ostseeraum; Städtenetz­ werke; Neuskalierung

1 The author thanks Anne Raynaud for her precious help.

42 Nicolas Escach: The Baltic German municipalities´ inter-territorial strategies: a transition through city networks?

Introduction

end” of the European Union until 2004. In marginalization in a context of economic The German coastal regions of the Baltic 2017, Mecklenburg- metropolization and a weak influence Sea are, with most of their Polish neigh- has the lowest population density in Ger- within the political Europe. They, howev- bors, special cases among the bordering many (69,2 inhabitants per square kilom- er, are4 located in a border position, on the territories: they present the lowest level of eter, that is to say, more than three times western edge of the Baltic transnational development of their respective states (De less than the national average). space , which has emerged since the be- Rauglaudre 1998). Schleswig-Holstein, ginning of the 1990s thanks to a profu- 5 nicknamed “the Danish peduncle” was, The path of Mecklenburg-Western Pomera- sion of initiatives launched in particular Länder, until 1989 the least developed of the west- nia and Schleswig-Holstein merges with the by local stakeholders (municipalities, ern German while Mecklenburg- one of their larger cities. They often have ports, universities …). The opening of the Länder Western Pomerania was the poorest in welcomed industrial and port activities to- Fehmarn fixed connection scheduled for eastern Germany. The two are still day in crisis and are, for some people, con- 2028 could also contribute to anchoring lagging behind the major infrastructures sidered as models of fragility. The atlas of the north-German coastline to the dy- and transport routes along the northern shrinking cities has identified , Lübeck, namic urban area of Copenhagen/Malmö shrinking cities European plains and the industrial cent- and among the European (extended Øresund). Likewise, the rela- ers of median Europe. The development of with more than 100 000 in- tive proximity of Polish or Baltic cities can

Schleswig-Holstein has long been hindered habitants over the period 1950–2000 (Os- offer, particularly for municipalities such by the proximity of the and the walt, Rieniets 2006). They are the only as Rostock, the opportunity to remobilize Land overwhelming influence of . The cities of this type in . old cooperation and a position of “guide” southern part of the belongs to the for the other eastern cities with the Ger- Hamburg metropolitan region. Mecklen- The coastal cities of Mecklenburg-Western man, Nordic or European authorities. burg-Western Pomerania grew more dur- Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein cer- 4 The term transnational space is here to be understood 3 as an open system of interactions and networks ing the Cold War2 thanks to the dynamism tainly present a demographic and economic established at different geographical levels, in a given space by stakeholders linked through a community of of the harbor of Rostock, open door on the vulnerability , which results in a certain interests. The limits for the Baltic transnational area will 3 In a context of strong perturbations, the difficulty of a be the eligibility area of the INTERREG IV- B program: GDR’s world before becoming a “dead given spatial organization to protect itself, adapt and/ Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, , , 2 Competing with the Hamburg hub after German reu- or reorganize. Vulnerability is often cumulative: it is Belarus, and a part of the German and Rus- nification, the port of Rostock became a roll-on/roll-off the consequence of a shock that is difficult to cushion sian regions. Site of the program: http://eu.baltic.net. port (4th German port in 2014), mainly oriented to local (through its intensity, its geographical extent) but also 5 The creation of the Union of Baltic Cities (UBC) and (, ) and regional (links with the Gulf of the cause of a lesser capacity to respond to future the Baltic Sea Port Organization (BPO) in 1991 is fairly Finland) traffic, as well as a departure port for cruises. developments. representative.

Fig. 1: Population of Baltic Germany’s municipalities in 2014

43 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

seems that the Baltic city networks, which have multiplied since the fall of the Iron Curtain, form a transnational space with vague boundaries and allow the neighbor- ing municipalities, despite their fragility, to be part of several geographical levels, offering bridges between levels that are usually little accessible or poorly con- nected. Would exchanges between cities, because it is a process more flexible that a regional strategy, have become a possi- ble response to urban shrinkage thanks to experience sharing. Can networking be a resource for narrowing cities on the German coast, marginalized on a national scale but possible relays of the northern European networks? The challenge seems to be to mobilize the right networks at the right scale in order to recompose the pa- rameters usually leading to a situation of vulnerability. The municipalities of Baltic Ger- many: a shared fragility?

Urban shrinkage is a process that unites demographic decline, loss of duties and

Fig. 2: Economic dynamism of the Baltic metropolitan regions during the decade 2000 employments, rising of unemployment

rates and level of poverty (Hannemann 2003; Heineberg 2004; Meyfroidt Pierre Veltz mentions an “archipelago other levels of governance (Tesson 1996). 2011). It can combine up to three forms economy” about the spatial polarization’s The insertion in a city network therefore of vulnerability: a demographic decline, process in favor of the more developed often constitutes an answer to a reaction an economic decline and the possibly a zones, now more interconnected than of elected members, especially in a dif- spatial retraction. This measure implies dependent of their hinterlands (Veltz ficult socio-economic context (Mayntz covering whole regions and consider- 1996). Can the municipalities of the Baltic 1993; Buléon, Baudelle 1999). The ing a minimal temporal extension (Roth Länder coast, although of medium size, redefine development of an inter-territorial strat- 2011). Over the period 1990–2010, the their position within the traditional ter- egy through the geographical levels is all most important Baltic cities in the ritorial and administrative frameworks easier as, since the 1980s, the local stake- of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and through the cities’ networks? The term holders enjoy a greater autonomy in the Schleswig-Holstein have generally met city network is here to be understood as conduct of their international policy be- these criteria (Fig. 1). a voluntarist approach of alliances and cause of a recomposition in the role of the cooperations without borders predeter- state (Escach 2014; Jouve 2007). How- On a demographic side, there is tradi- mination or physical proximity (Piolle ever, when looking at the former GDR, this tionally a line of separation from St Pe- 1993). Frédéric Tesson has shown that process could not be implemented in the tersburg to Hamburg, distinguishing, over 7 8 this tool allows local stakeholders to re- way, because the state remains central- the last decade, the Baltic from urban compose the usual boundaries of their ized for a long6 time. growth and “urban shrinkage” (Hanell, political action, when this political action Neubauer 2005). occurs at a level where the isolation of the Vulnerability is a relative concept ac- territories is obvious and to identify new cording to the scale of observation. It solutions to the increasing challenges the 6 Exposure and sensitivity to damaging an urban space system, see Lussault, M. (2013) –»Vulnerabilité«, Dic- 7 Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark, Nordic countries local actors encounter. These problems do tionnaire de la géographie et de l’espace des sociétés, 8 Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Poland and the Paris, Belin, p. 1096–1098. Baltic States not necessarily arise in the same terms at

44 Nicolas Escach: The Baltic German municipalities´ inter-territorial strategies: a transition through city networks?

Fig. 3: The municipalities the most involved in city networks

45 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

period10 1990–2010. Over the period 1990– 2015 , Kiel and Lübeck have nevertheless experienced a global population growth (0.3 % and 0.7 %) contrary to and Neumünster (–1.1 % and –2 %). On the other hand, the other major cities of the region such as , Elmshorn, , and are ex- periencing a population growth due to the process of expansion of the Hamburg . Länder

The large cities of the two , espe- cially Kiel and Rostock share a negative annual balance since 1990. This situation leads to a strong aging of the population. In Kiel in 2010, inhabitants over 65 years old accounted for 18.5 % of the popula- tion. The annual net migration however has fluctuated for many German cities on the Baltic coast. In Kiel, the negative net migration since 1990 has been reversed in 2001 and remained positive since then, except for 2004. The net migration in Lübeck has followed rather erratic annu- al trends. In Rostock, the balance was re- versed in 2003, which could be analyzed by some as a “re-urbanization” of the city center. Moreover, with the reunification Fig. 4: Scatter plot crossing numerous Baltic networks and demographic evolution of Germany, the city had experienced (1990- 2010) Länder the same difficulties as the other eastern (economic difficulties, emigration, “brain-drain”). Länder The old Iron Curtain line however, does not (–20 %), (–13.5 %) or seem to separate coastal Schleswig-Hol- (–23 %) have slightly better resisted than The two are transnationally stein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomera- inland cities like Schwerin (–24 %) or Neu- unique: Baltic Germany is not dominated nia although the reasons for a demographic (–29 %). The largest cities by a metropolis of national importance decline are to be studied on a finer scale. have nevertheless experienced a popula- but by three medium-sized cities (Ros- Part of the Baltic coastline of Schleswig- tion growth over the last five or ten years: tock, Lübeck and Kiel) of relatively simi-

Holstein seems for example to contrast Rostock (since 2003), Greifswald (since lar size. The sublittoral 11metropolises of with the condition of the region as a whole. 2005), (since 2010), Wismar Hamburg and and, to a lesser ex- (since 2014), Schwerin (since 2014) and tent, the Øresund region play an ambig- The ten largest cities of Mecklenburg- (since 2015). uous role as a call for young students and

Western Pomerania9 have all experienced graduates. The coastal cities of Schleswig- a demographic decline over the last twen- Schleswig-Holstein has a more dubious Holstein such as Kiel do not benefit from ty-five years with an average of –20.5 %, profile with significant demographic de- the periurbanization of Hamburg. The kreisfreie Städte which is in a very particular context (new clines for the first four and only free cit- Hamburg extension zone, where one- Germany, territories of the respective ies ( ) of Kiel (–2.5 %), third of the population resided in 2010 is states before reunification). Large coastal Lübeck (–1.6 %), Flensburg (–0.9 %) 10 1990–2015 (31 December 1990–31 December 2015), cities such as Rostock (–17 %), Stralsund and Neumünster (–4.8 %) over the Statistisches Amt, Schleswig-Holstein 11 The region extends from northern Germany to 9 1990–2015 (31 December 1990–31 December 2015), southern Sweden and is centered around the cross- Statistisches Amt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern border metropolis Copenhagen/Malmö.

46 Nicolas Escach: The Baltic German municipalities´ inter-territorial strategies: a transition through city networks?

12

13 a growth14 area of the highest importance , corresponding to the average living condi- and economic profile was developed18 fol- while the west coast , the Danish border tions throughout the territory. lowing the geographical boundaries of the region and, to a lesser extent, a part of the INTERREG IV-B (2007–2013) program. east coast has a low attractiveness. Overall, These various measures of economic har- It gathers a list of institutional networks a south-to-north gradient is thus visible, the monization have in fact had many perverse and European projects (Escach, Vaudor north of Neumünster being more marked effects. The increase in wages in the former 2013). This inventory was made possible Treuhan- by demographic stagnation or even the land GDR has created an incompatibility between through the 2012/2013 annual report Land danstalt abandonment than the southern/south- wage level and productivity. The of the international organizations of the western part of the around Hamburg. , a public organization responsible union of international organizations (De The prospects for 2025/2030 show however for privatizing companies of the former GDR, Gruyter 2012) and the INTERREG IV-B a positive dynamic for the -districts of has often settled for clearing state-owned website. The information gathered allow Flensburg and Kiel. firms by reselling them at low cost to com- a fairly comprehensive analysis of the panies with their headquarters in the West. integration of the local bordering stake- The city of Lübeck is a special case: it is only Its action resulted in the abolition of 90 % of holders between 2007 and 2013, taking 55 km from Hamburg and is connected to industrial jobs. It is often accused of having into account equally institutional public the metropolis by the A1 motorway and by carried out a form of economic colonization. networks that associate members durably 17 Länder the train in 45 minutes with a rate of three by an accession system and temporary Eu- departures per hour. In 2011, 52 % of the The municipalities of the two Baltic ropean projects. The selection of the net- population leaving Lübeck emigrated to also remain geographically isolated from the works was carried out according to two the Hamburg region but 49.6 % of the new main dynamic German regions: Rhine Ger- criteria: First, the transnational nature inhabitants came from this same region. many, the most urbanized and industrial of a network was recognized when it in- The urban front between Hamburg and region in Germany (, and volved cities of at least three Baltic States, Lübeck, passing through Ahrensburg and the other of the Rhine region), two of which were not contiguous. 15. Bad Odesloe is thus fully integrated into the financial heart of the country ( Länder Hamburg great and Düsseldorf) and part of the European A country19 should not concentrate more backbone and the two of than 80 % of the members of a given net- Economically, the cities of Schleswig-Hol- () and Baden-Württemberg (Stutt- work . The selected networks also had Länder stein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania gart), which constitute a real Sun Belt. The municipalities among their members, even “outside are at a relatively close level of de- terms to refer to Mecklenburg-Western if the municipal actor was not exclusive. 16 Land” Land am Rand velopment (Stiller, Wedemeier 2011). The Pomerania are often pejorative: The database therefore listed a total of metropolitan areas of Kiel, Rostock and ( ) (Friedrich-Ebert- 63 networks, including four institutional Peripherie 20 21 Lübeck have a comparable GDP per capita Stiftung, Akademie Schwerin 1995], networks of municipalities , 12 institu- der Peripherie 22 in 2009 (Fig. 2). “periphery of the periphery” ( tional networks involving municipalities Armenhaus ) (Braun 1997), “poor house and 47 INTERREG IV-B projects . From The convergence of Rostock since 1990 is of Germany” ( ) as in the history this initial base of 354 municipalities, a partly explained by central State aid at the book of Rolf Schneider (Schneider 1993). Länder The German municipalities of the 18 For the municipal networks, the eligibility area of the time of reunification. The latter allocated 1 INTERREG-B program for the Baltic area is an inevitable Aufbau Baltic coast: a regional group be- point of reference since stakeholders wishing to carry 250 billion euros to the of Eastern Ost” tween urban narrowing and Baltic out a transnational approach often resort to European Germany in 1990 as a part of the “ co-financing. Länder “Länderfi- strategy? 19 This criterion led us to exclude the “Baltic Sea Chal- package. At the same time, the equali- lenge” network as 80.6 % of the member cities are nanzausgleich” located in Finland. zation scheme between 20 BaltMet, KIMO, New Hanse, Union of Baltic Cities A method promoting the proactive , extended to the former East 21 Ars Baltica, Baltic Local Agenda Forum 21 (BLA21F), Land networks of municipalities Baltic Palette, Baltic Sail, Baltic Sea Action Group, Baltic Germany in 1995 still aims today to ensure Development Forum, Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation, Baltic Tourism Commission, EuRoB, that each federal state ( ) has a financial Hanseatic Parliament, Healthy Cities Network Phase V, Social-Hansa capacity equivalent to 97 % of the amount In order to test the hypothesis of a correla- 22 Agora 2.0, BaltCICA, BaltFood, Baltic Biogas Bus, Baltic

12 Districts (Landkreise) of , and tion between urban shrinkage and Baltic Bird, Baltic Fashion, Baltic Master II, Baltic Supply, Pinneberg in particular Baltic.AirCargo.Net, Balticclimate, BaltMet Promo, 13 Districts (Landkreise) of Dithmarse and commitment, a main database listing the BaSIC, BERAS Implementation, BGLC, BONITA, BSLN, 14 Districts (Landkreise) of Schleswig-Flensbourg and BSR InnoShip, BSR Quick, BSR TransGovernance, North-Friesland participation of municipalities in the main BSR InnoReg, CleanShip, COHIBA, Cool-Bricks, Eco- 15 According to Eurostat, the metropolitan region of Ham- Region, Egoprise, EWTC II, FM, IBI Net, JOSEFIN, burg comprises the following districts: Hamburg (Land Baltic networks and their demographic Longlife, More Baltic Biogas Bus, NECL II, New Bridges, Hamburg), Harburg and (Land ), One BSR, Parks and Benefits, PEA, PRESTO, PURE, , Pinneberg, Segeberg, Stor- 17 Kiel and Rostock municipalities are in 2012 respec- RB21T, RBGC, SCANDRIA, Science Link/Link1, Sub- marn (Land Schleswig-Holstein). tively at 30th and 37th place in the national ranking in mariner, Trans in Form (TiF), Urb.Energy, Urban Creative 16 in the sense of Eurostat terms of population. Poles, Waterpraxis

47 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

Fig. 5: The partner cities of Rostock municipality

Norden 23

“filtered” database keeping only 43 Bal- position of the cities such as But Wismar and Greifswald are closer to tic municipalities belonging to more than , , and to a lesser Kiel, Lübeck and by associating three networks (i.e. 12 % of the total) was extent Malmö, which combine population negative demographic changes with an designed (Fig. 3). The analysis thus aims growth with a strong presence in the Bal- average integration within the Baltic net- to establish if this first decile, bringing to- tic networks. This correlation explains works. Only the economic metropolis of gether the Baltic cities the most involved why they are attractive partners for the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania cumu- in city networks, fit with a profile of de- cities of Schleswig-Holstein and Meck- lates a large demographic fall (–18.2 %) cline, particularly demographic. lenburg-Western Pomerania. Apart from with a very strong Baltic insertion (5 net- Baltic networks linking dynamic cities and “shrinking” cities Hamburg and its region (Buxtehude), the works). The Rostock case seems to per- most integrated German cities within the fectly respond to the model of a declining Baltic networks are all in demographic city very engaged within the Baltic area. A first linear regression, carried out us- decline, more or less important. Rostock, ing the statistics software R, crossing Wismar and Greifswald present one of A similar logic appears after a second the evolution of the population between the most unfavourable demographic regression involving the evolution of the 1990 and 2010 and the number of net- evolutions with , Narva and Jelgava. population between 2000 and 2010 and 23 Geographically, the term refers to a group of five states works was accompanied by a very strong (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Island and Finland) and the number of networks. The p-value p-value (0.832) and a R² very close from three autonomous territories (the Faeroe Islands, (0.825) and the R² (0.001) always confirm Greenland and Åland Islands). In these countries, 0 (0.001), which shows the absolute inde- the expression was used at the end of the 19th and an absence of dependence of the two vari- beginning of the 20th centuries in order to evoke a pendence of the two variables. The scat- wide geographical, historical and cultural unity and ables. The positive dynamic is reinforced ter plot (Fig. 4) clearly shows a positive was accompanied during the twentieth century by the at the level of Øresund with a good inte- emergence of institutional cooperations such as the Nordic Council created in 1952. gration of Trelleborg, in addition to the

48 Nicolas Escach: The Baltic German municipalities´ inter-territorial strategies: a transition through city networks?

27 one of Helsinki, Stockholm and Turku. is painful for Ros- with brotherly countries or with certain Most German cities have a non-existent tock, for several reasons. The population Nordic States (Sweden, Finland) . At or very low growth except for the positive of the city decreases considerably and the fall of the Iron Curtain, almost all the growths of Hamburg and Buxtehude and without interruption from 1989 to 2003 Baltic twinning of Rostock are already the large demographic decline of Wismar. (–54 653 inhabitants i.e. − 21.6 % of the established: (1957), Turku population). Economically, the municipal- (1959), Riga (1961), Aarhus (1964), Ber-

The demographic correlation, as well as ity is also experiencing significant difficul- gen (1965), (1965), Bremen28 the economic profile, makes it possible ties. The unemployment rate rises from (1987). The city was one of the founding to identify Rostock as the only city of the 1 to 14 % between March and December members of the Union of Baltic cities in 8.7 German coastline with a narrow urban 1990. With an unemployment rate of 1991. Since then, it has held various posi- profile and a strong commitment within % in 2017, Rostock is still well above tions within the network (member of the the Baltic area, which justifies the devel- the national average of 5.7 %. At the same executive committee, vice-president mu- opment of a specific case study. time, the city had to cope with the reces- nicipality…). A coordination office for the The case of Rostock: a concrete sion of the hinterland and the port fore- INTERREG-B Baltic Sea program is also use of the Baltic networks to fight land, which was competing with Hamburg present in the city, which facilitates the against marginalization after the reunification, and a restructur- involvement of local stakeholders. Inter- ing/relocation of major industries such as national relations operate with only two Rostock, a delicate transition for the former GDR gate or industrial fishing (Fell- full-time (formerly29 three) periods to man- 24 ner 1993). age the protocol, delegation travels, four- teen twin cities in the Baltic Sea Region Rostock is the main economic pole and The city of Rostock has nevertheless per- and around the world, demonstrating that the largest city of Mecklenburg-Western formed better than smaller coastal cit- beyond the technical capacity, the politi- Pomerania with 206 011 inhabitants in ies such as Stralsund and Wismar and cal will and the personal commitment of 2016. It is located in sublittoral position, even more than non-coastal cities like employees are essential. Marketing around the centrality of the 18 km from the Baltic Sea, on the Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. It has city on a Baltic scale estuary upstream from the seaside resort received a lot of aid from the State un- of Warnemünde. der the reunification programs, attracted more West German or foreign investors The position of Rostock on a Baltic scale Rostock occupied a special place in the than its neighbours and was able to ben- is regularly presented by the elected rep- GRD. The municipal population doubled efit from assistance programs granted by resentatives as favorable as being able Drehkreuz between 1946 (114,869 inhabitants) and its twin cities. Located reasonably close to constitute a point of interconnection

1970 (200,982 inhabitants). The second to Hamburg and Berlin, it possessed the ( ) between Nordic Europe and five-year plan (1956–1960) plans a con- critical mass sufficient for a possible re- Central Europe (Hansestadt Rostock siderable expansion of the city, particular- conversion. Even today, the challenge for 2010). Warnow Werft ly around industrial fishing and shipyards the municipality is to redefine its inter- Norden ( founded in 1947–1948). national policy and its openness, even On the one hand, the temptation to sym- With the division of Germany, the GDR though the role of gateway to the world is bolically join the space of the and VEB See- now needed an ocean port. The traffic of now assumed by its neighbour Hamburg. particularly the dynamic region of the hafen Rostock 26 the new port opened in 1960 ( Baltic cooperation in Rostock is old since Øresund is great. The connections ) increases from 10.1 to 20.7 it dates from the Baltic weeks organized between Rostock and Danish or Swed- million tons between 1970 and 1988 and from 1958 (Escach 2012). Contacts with ish cities provide a functional support 27 For example, on September 17th 1959, a simple reaches a peak of 21 million tons in 1989. riverside towns continued throughout friendship agreement between Rostock and Turku stipulates that university, cultural and touristic contacts 40 % of trade was with the25 Soviet Union. In- the second half of the twentieth century should aim at a better understanding between peoples ternationally, traffic flew to Central Amer- and took the form of woven relations and peacekeeping. The text provides the organization of an exhibition on the GRD’s ten years anniversary in ica, Nicaragua and Cuba . In 1991, traffic 26 In Kiel, the Social-Democratic , Andreas Gayk Turku. GDR days are held in Turku in 1973 and in 1984 declined to 8 million tons (Fellner 1993). had transformed a traditional regatta from the empire with the participation of PhD students from Rostock period (1882) into an international, cultural, political university. It was finally necessary to wait more than 50 and sporting event called “Kiel Week” after the war. years for a written twinning to be signed between Turku From the middle of the 1950s, its programming evolved and Rostock on September, 18th 2004. surreptitiously: the municipality of Schleswig-Holstein 28 The Union of Baltic Cities (UBC), created in 1991 with invites increasingly regular military units of NATO. The the Gdańsk declaration is a network of Baltic cities 24 The political capital is Schwerin. GRD then decides to set up a Rostock Baltic week involving municipalities of varying sizes around multi- 25 Interview with Andreas Schubert, employee of the city from 1958 as a response. The Rostock’s week brings ple theme of cooperation: sustainable development, planning department of Rostock’s hall, meeting together elected representatives, athletes, artists and culture, city planning, health and social cohesion. at the town hall of Rostock on January 16th 2012 at academics from sisterly countries or Nordic countries 29 Thirteen twin cities plus Guldborgsund (partnership 2pm. such as Sweden or Finland. concluded in 2014).

49 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

for these vague hopes (Rostock-Gedser, of Rostock, said: “We share the same prob- term was invented by profes-

Rostock-Trelleborg). The transfer of lems and31 the same past as other cities in sors Iris Reuther and Jürgen Aring in Ger- the German capital from to Berlin the East. Between us, we understand each many in 2006. It refers to an average city placed Rostock halfway between west- other” . Berndt Seite, Minister-President (more than 100,000 inhabitants) located ern and the Berlin area. The of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from outside a metropolitan area but perform- municipality of Rostock certainly cannot 1992 to 1998 had already highlighted at ing certain metropolitan functions, has stand on an equal footing with the Dan- the beginning of the 1990s a comparative high-quality infrastructures, good acces- ish or Swedish neighbours, particularly advantage of his region. It could become sibility, is an economic centrality for its dynamic in the Øresund, nor even hope a “guide for the East” to its Scandinavian surrounding areas and forms an innova- to fully integrate into the Nordic space, neighbours because of its linguistic capital tion pole. The concept aims at highlight- but it feeds on the ambition to become a and the cultural proximities maintained ing the potential of previously neglected gateway. with the former Soviet hemisphere. urban spaces and to announce their re- Norden regiopolis turn to the European and national map. The instrumentalization of the The city banks now on a north-south axis Rostock is the first recognized regiopolis 36 image is not insignificant: the region is between northern and central Europe, in 2009, year of the first national confer- 32 regiopolis associated with economic dynamism and even between and ence on in Germany . The term and to high social and ecological stand- the Baltic Sea Arc (Fig. 5). While coop- of condenses projects contrib- ards in the global comparison. In 2007, eration within the Baltic and even cross- uting to a reorientation of the city in a Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway border areas remains a top priority, coop- post-communist context. An inter-territorial approach through accounted for the equivalent of 73 % eration on a wider, central European scale 30 city networks? of Baltic GDP . On the other hand, the will allow for recognition by the Nordic areas of the strait experienced a great partners. Rostock is caught in a double regiopoli resistance to the crisis. The overall in- set of scales: to exist on the Baltic stage The recovery of a symbolic centrality novation index in 2011 ranked Sweden to reinforce its centrality at a national based on the concept of finds second and Denmark sixth in the world. level and to exist on the European stage to several spatial translations on three main The cities between Hamburg and Helsinki strengthen its legitimacy on the Nordic/ scales: integration within transport net- Nor- have sometimes been described as “Baltic Baltic level. works between northern and southern Guidelines for den blue banana” (Joenniemi, Wæver 1992; Europe, a symbolic anchorage to the Urban development of the Hanseatic city of Helmryd 1993). The dynamism of the The preliminary document cross-border space and intra-urban Andockung Rostock33 Øresund region contributes to an anchor- recompositions through exchanges estab- Länder, ing ( ) research carried out by , published in 2010 by the Ros- lished within the Baltic networks. regiopolis the peripheral areas. For both this tock City Council set the objective of con- approach consists in assuming their pe- verting Rostock34 into a , drawing A first strategy is for the municipality to ripheral status by associating themselves on a reflection carried out in the city since rely on its modest port, which is a defi- with external growth poles (Braun 1997; 2006–2007 . The term is used again in a nite comparative advantage, in order to Rostock 2025, Urban Braun 2004). The endogenous potential final version of the strategic framework gain integration in European trade net- Development Guidelines regiopolis is not enough, since economic growth published in 2012, works and thus in influence. This topo- necessarily involves an extroversion: sell- : “As , logical centrality is possible only at the ing of organic products on the Hamburg Rostock will be engaged on a wider inter- cost of a reconversion of port activities. and Copenhagen markets, developing national scale in the future, mainly within Of course, transits of goods between the tourist offers for Scandinavian metropo- the and in the area delimited35 Nordic countries and the Adriatic Sea lises, subcontracting in the medical field by the metropolises of Berlin, Copenha- are not neglected with the proliferation or in some sectors for companies based in gen/Øresund, Hamburg, Szczecin ”. The of North-South multimodal corridor

Denmark or Sweden. 31 “Between eastern cities, we have the same problems projects. The European project INTER- and background. We understand each other”, meeting Fehmarn in Rostock on January 16th, 2012. REG IV-B SCANDRIA thus aimed to offer 32 The Baltic Arc is an expression used by Roger Brunet The city of Rostock can also play the (Brunet 2002) to designate an area of the European an alternative to the crossing role of relay to the municipalities of the Union which extends from Hamburg to Helsinki, via while reusing the former Berlin-Prague- Riga and the former medieval Hanseatic trading posts East (Poland and median Europe). Karin to the south of the Baltic Sea. Budapest-Bucharest route, taken by the 33 Hansestadt Rostock 2010, p. 7 Wohlgemuth, Head of the International 34 See the history of regiopolis’ Rostock : http://www. 36 This conference was organized by the Chamber of Relations department of the municipality regiopole-rostock.de [seen the le 08/03/2014]. Commerce and Industry (IHK) and the municipality 35 Quoted from the summary version: Hansestadt of Rostock, the planning company Planungsverband 30 According to the limits of the INTERREG IV-B Pro- Rostock (2013): Rostock 2025, Leitlinien zur Stadtent- Region Rostock and the Land of Mecklenburg-Wes- gram, Baltic Space 2007–2013. wicklung, Kurzfassung, p. 1. tern Pomerania.

50 Nicolas Escach: The Baltic German municipalities´ inter-territorial strategies: a transition through city networks?

GmbH 38 ScanBalt-Initiative trades in COMECON. At the same time, , one of the organizations behind Union in 2006 allows other bordering the reception of cruise ships constitutes the global network municipalities to reflect on the theme of a new axis of development for port and which brings together several Scandi- city’s museums renovation. The idea of municipal authorities. It involves captur- navian actors. The geographical influ- an international architectural competi- ing visitors who have only been - ence of the Øresund on Mecklenburg is tion for the construction of an attractive ling through the city and optimizing nevertheless very controversial: projec- building entrance is proposed in order to the transfer from the landing docks to a tions by 2020/2030 place sometimes revitalize the museum of August-Bebel- city center with an embellished water- Mecklenburg in the Berlin area (VASAB Street (2009–2010). The seminar finds front. Several cruise companies such as 2010) with a strong integration poten- an important echo in the local press and MSC Cruises have even chosen the Ger- tial in the Northern area, sometimes in among the citizens (setting up of the So- man port of Rostock-Warnemünde as a a large area extending from Amsterdam cietät Rostock Maritim e.V. association). Städtebauförderung bridgehead for few routes. Competition to Copenhagen via Berlin (ESPON 2006). In the autumn 2011, 6 million euros from was severe on the German coastline ac- Institutional frameworks are in fact the State ( ) and the cording the Baltic Transport Journal, lacking in Rostock to interact with the EU raised, notably through the mobiliza- the 300,000 passengers in Rostock in nearby Copenhagen/Malmö urban area: tion around the different projects. They 2012 being overtaken by the 348,000 the municipality is neither part of the IN- have enabled the museum function to be calling at Kiel (BTJ 2013). Rostock has TERREG-A Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak maintained on the renovation plans and however had the highest recent growth program nor of the program on the land-use plans and thus, created rate of 14 % growing from 485,000 pas- INTERREG-B. an area of right access. Both museums sengers in 2015 to 553,000 passengers are saved, and the elected members were in 2016 (Cruise Baltic 2017). In 2016, Finally, the city of Rostock seeks to trans- forced to come back on their decision. The Rostock attracts more passengers than form its image by changing face and rein- Baltic level was used to reverse a situation Kiel (485,497) according to the network vesting the urban attributes of centrality. of local conflict. Conclusion “Cruise Baltic”. Several wastelands, in the heart of the city, revealing a spatial retraction, must A second, more topographical axis of de- be the subject of renovation programs. The bordering cities of the Baltic space velopment consists in printing the idea of The use of European projects also cre- have taken a new leap in scale. After territorial continuity between the cross- ates a “leverage effect” to mobilize local having sought a greater convergence be- border region of the nearby Øresund and stakeholders around a cause. The theme tween two former blocs and then adapted the Mecklenburg coast. Scandinavian ini- of culture is, for example, sensitive in the to European standards, municipalities of tiatives are regularly taken as an example city and has been the subject of numer- Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg- in the city. The Rostock Department of ous citizen initiatives. At the beginning Western Pomerania today tend to benefit Urban Planning learned a lot from Goth- of the decade 2000, several elected rep- from a multi-scalar Baltic networking. WUD-Waterfront Urban enburg about how to reorganize its wa- resentatives in Rostock wanted to close They multiply the cooperations within the Development “ ter fronts for the “ two important museums (the Kloster zum different zones integrated in the image of (INTERREG II-C) project. Heiligen Kreuz museum and the former Rostock whose contacts are in a triangle Several Finnish weeks, involving cultural August-Bebel street Maritime museum) between the Nordic world, German me- events and conferences were also organ- to develop new functions within their tropolises and former communist Europe. ized, notably in 2004. Anchoring with the walls. The two relatively old buildings The objective is above all a change of im- Nordic countries takes the form of con- have indeed decayed and it is impossible age and the association with a modernity crete institutional tools, for example, on to set up exhibitions on the city’s history. that would turn the page of economic an economic level. Operators from Meck- An employee of the city planning depart- and demographic declines. The case of lenburg use the INTERREG IV-A “South- ment of the municipality then decided Rostock underlines the role of political ern Baltic” instrument for joint research to participate in international projects discourse and the vocabulary used: there programs with Sweden and have joined to save them. Rostock enters into Euro- is a competition to the geographical argu- Land the BSR STARS project on clusters’ net- pean projects devoted to the possibility of ment, each redefining its regional anchors working for SMB. The specializes public/private partnerships such as ACT- to erase national boundaries leading to a in health economy through the establish- 4PPP (INTERREG IV-B Central Europe, situation deemed too peripheral. Finally, 37 Biocon Valley ment in 2001 by public authorities and 2008–2011) or the installation of a cul- this race to the “jump of scale” often ap- private stakeholders of tural marketing such as the CULTMARK pears as a detour: it questions the posi- 37 See the list of members on the website of the associa- (INTERREG III-C, 2004–2006) project. tion the city occupies in the traditional tion: http://www.bioconvalley.org. 38 Other name of the Baltic Cities Union. The organization of a seminar of the “city planning” commission of the Baltic Cities’ 51 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

hierarchy (local stakeholders, regions, l’espace baltique, Thèse de doctorat sous Lussault, M. (2013): Dictionnaire de la State) and its positioning in a competition la direction de Lydia Coudroy de Lille et géographie et de l’espace des sociétés, now widespread. A new status in the Bal- Boris Grésillon. Lyon. Paris, Berlin. tic would allow for a different negotiation Escach, N., L. Vaudor (2014): Réseaux de Mayntz, R. (1993): Policy-Netzwerke und of daily working relations with regional villes et processus de recomposition des die Logik von Verhandlungssystemen. and state actors who have the legal com- niveaux: le cas des villes baltiques, Cyber- In: Heritier, A.: Policy-Analyse, Kritik und petences to conduct real international géo, Disponible en ligne. Neuorientierung, PVS-Sonderheft 24. Op- policies. The German coastal cities there- ESPON (2006): Integrated Analysis of laden, p. 39–56. fore do not seek to depart from the tra- Transnational and National Territories Meyfroidt, A. 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52 Nicolas Escach: The Baltic German municipalities´ inter-territorial strategies: a transition through city networks?

Peзюме Résumé Les stratégies interterritoriales des municipalités de Межтерриториальные стратегии развития бал- l’Allemagne baltique: une transition par les réseaux Николя Эскаш тийских немецких городов: новая жизнь благо- de villes? даря союзам городов?

Depuis les années 1990, la région baltique connaît une in- Начиная с 1990-х годов балтийский регион переживает tense recomposition prenant les traits d’une régionalisation полную реорганизацию, сопровождающуюся процессом souvent qualifiée de «Nouvelle Hanse» . Les villes littorales du регионализации, который часто называют “Новой Ганзой”. Schleswig-Holstein et du Mecklembourg-Poméranie-Occiden- Прибрежные города земель Шлезвиг-Гольштейн и Ме- tale, situées en marge des régions allemandes et européennes кленбург − Передняя Померания, расположенные далеко les plus dynamiques et souvent touchées par un déclin économ- от наиболее динамично развивающихся регионов Герма- ique et démographique, y voient l’occasion d’un nouveau dé- нии и Европы и зачастую переживающие экономический part. L’utilisation de l’échelle supranationale et notamment de и демографический спад, видят в этом возможность для collaborations avec les régions de l’Øresund permet-elle aux новой жизни. Вопрос заключается в том, смогут ли госу- acteurs publics et privés de proposer une réelle perspective дарственные и частные предприятия благодаря межго- de développement pour les villes rétrécissantes d’Allemagne сударственному взаимодействию и, в частности, сотруд- du Nord? Villes rétrécissantes; Régionalisation; Baltique; Réseaux de villes; ничеству с Эресуннским регионом предложить реальную Rescaling перспективу развития постепенно увядающим городам северной Германии. Увядающие города; регионализм; регион Балтийского моря; союзы городов; перемасштабирование

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