Cross-Border Cooperation

CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION

BOUNDARY CITIES DEVELOPMENT DUE TO SCHENGEN AGREEEMENT

SCHWARZKOPF FOUNDATION TRAVEL REPORT by TOMASZ LATO June 2016 Content

1. Questions of the travel ...... 3 2. Preparations ...... 4 3. Implementation ...... 6 4. Travel experiences and insights concerning the travel questions ...... 7 4.1. German-Polish border ...... 7 4.1.1. Frankfurt (Oder)-Słubice ...... 7 4.1.2. Guben-Gubin ...... 11 4.1.3. Görlitz-Zgorzelec ...... 13 4.1.4. Zittau-Bogatynia ...... 16 4.2. German-Austrian border ...... 20 4.2.1. Freilassing-Salzburg ...... 20 4.3. German-Swiss-French border ...... 23 4.3.1. Basel-Weil am Rhein-Lörrach-Saint Louis ...... 23 4.4. German- French border ...... 27 4.4.1. Strasbourg-Kehl ...... 27 4.4.2. Saarbrücken-Forbach...... 31 5. Possible difficulties and challenges ...... 34

1. Questions of the travel The purpose of the research is to investigate how the border cities cooperate and develop thanks to the Schengen Agreement and whether they benefit the European community.

The Schengen Agreement was signed on 14 June 1985 in Schengen, village in Luxemburg. The agreement abolishes the control of persons crossing the borders between the Member States of the system, and in return strengthen cooperation on security and asylum policy. It also applies to cross-border cooperation.

In the Schengen zone the people have four basic freedoms: free movement of people, free movement of goods, free movement of capital and free movement of services. One can select a place of residence, education, work, leisure or shopping.

Cross-border agglomeration are “Europe in miniature” that present all of them every day.

80% of the population in Europe lives in urban areas. More than 60 cross-border agglomeration have been identified in Europe. They represent almost 25 million people.1

Nowadays in Europe we observe a migration crisis caused by a massive influx of immigrants. It is the strongest occurrence of this type since the Second World War. Europe did not have any ready answer how to deal with it and in the end of the year 2015 we could hear about a crisis of the Schengen Agreement and temporarily reinstated controls at the German-Austrian border.

I started to wonder if this decisions could influence on my life. The average citizen of Europe does not feel any influence of the Schengen Agreement in one’s daily life, appreciating it only during travelling. However, there are places, areas of life and industry sectors which were significantly changed thanks to the lack of borders. I am Architect and Urban Planner, so in the first place I turned my attention on the cross-border partner cities and I focused on the influence on urban development. In order to increase the awareness of the positive impact of the agreement I investigated how border cities changed since the Schengen Area functions.

1 Cross-borde agglomerations and urban networks in Europe, MOT (2007) 3

2. Preparations Basing on a preliminary investigation I have chosen a group of various contiguous cities located in different European countries which work on overcoming the border-effects and create cross- border agglomerations:

A) Frankfurt (Oder) / Słubice,

B) Guben / Gubin,

C) Görlitz / Zgorzelec,

D) Zittau / Bogatynia,

E) Freilassing / Salzburg,

F) Weil am Rhein / Lörrach / Saint-Louis / Basel,

G) Kehl / Strasbourg,

H) Saarbrücken / Forbach.

All the cities are located along the German border. In my opinion it is characteristic for three main reasons: 1) Germany and France was the precursors of the abolition of border controls, they signed the first agreement already in the year 1985; 2) through the territory of Germany went the Iron Curtain that divided Europe for many years, we can easily compare western border agglomerations to eastern; 3) around 1,1 million migrants arrived in Germany in 2015, many refugees still want to cross the border.

When I was writing the research project, the migration crises wasn’t so advanced yet. Temporary border controls were mentioned just as a theoretical possibility. When I started my trip they were already implemented. In the time I arrived in Salzburg, there were located the biggest makeshift refugee camps.

In general I wanted to focus on local cooperation, however, during my preliminary insights I noticed that quite often the cooperation is managed on higher, regional level, due to different legal possibilities of the towns and cities. In most of the cases eurodistricts are mainly responsible for the support of integration of the border cities as the most important associations, but the initiative usually comes from the border cities themselves.

3. Implementation My research trip took place on 22 February -14 March 2016. The main plan was to visit the border site and observe the effects of cooperation. The task was to check the following issues:

• Integration of urban space and infrastructure – cohesion of regions, stage of urbanization, joint development plan or separated, coherent space or incoherent, barriers or continuity, bilingual signs or monolingual, complementing of functions or duplication.

• Integration of public transport – way of functioning: common network or separated, common system of tickets or separated, adapted to people who live and work on different sides of the border or not.

• Cultural events – individual or common, multicultural and integrating events.

• Promotion of the agglomeration – common or individual.

Before my trip I also tried to get in touch with representatives of local authorities. Some of them wanted to gladly answer my questions, from others I didn’t get any answers. I also personally visited several of them. Moreover, I talked to local tourist information offices’ workers to find useful information about, for example, local events and promotion strategy.

In every city I stayed with the locals through one of the popular websites. Thanks to that I was closer to the people living there and could get know their stories and points of views.

I also planned to collect some specific figures about population, area, etc. However, they were really difficult to find or they were never collected in any constructive way, so I was forced to give them up. In fact, the best and most important indicator for the impact of the border in everyday life is the frequency of border crossings, however, nobody measures it.

4. Travel experiences and insights concerning the travel questions 4.1. German-Polish border The Germany-Poland border was created in the year 1945 after the end of the Second World War without any significant consultations with the involved countries. It was placed along Oder –Neisse line. The border was a compensation to Poland for territories lost to the Soviet Union. In effect several German river cities were divided into two parts – Görlitz-Zgorzelec, Guben- Gubin, Frankfurt (Oder)-Słubice.

4.1.1. Frankfurt (Oder)-Słubice Słubice used to be a district of Frankfurt. Due to this fact the urban space is quite coherent. However, there are significant differences in the connection with the river. On the Frankfurt side the space is visibly more open to the water, the neighboring buildings are directed to it and there are located boulevards. In Słubice we can find only neglected embankments and postwar buildings reversed from the border.

Pic 1 German-Polish border – Oder, view from Frankfurt’s riverbank

One of the most important implementation along the border, concerning urban planning, and the principal achievement is the transformation of Ziegenwerder island on the Oder River into a park with a cross-border dimension (signs in both languages, cross-border events). This project was financed by the Interreg IIIA and PHARE programmes. On the Polish sides just next to the bridge are located petrol stations, shops with tobacco and supermarkets, were a lot of German people go for shopping. There are quite popular because of the much lower prices.

Between Poland and Germany we can travel by bus no 983 in the VBB tariff connecting Plac Bohaterów in Słubice, Frankfurt railway station, both town centers, two universities and Słubice shopping center. In Frankfurt the well-developed way of public transport is a tram. There was a proposal of construction of a tram line to Słubice but in 2006 Citizens of Frankfurt in referendum refused it. Despite of it, there is being processed a feasibility study for cross- border public transport for 2020. The twincity also highly promotes traveling by bicycle. A kind of limitation is only one bridge connecting the cities, but on the German side the road is being rebuilt to make the car traffic safer and faster.

In the year 2004 was signed a concept of common development and cooperation of cities of Frankfurt an der Oder and Słubice which states common reduction of unemployment, concept of tourism and participation in the project “City Twins”. In 2004-2006 the municipalities

8 cooperated in the frame of the programme of “City Twin Association”. From 2008 to 2010, the cross-border conurbation was a partner in a European project led by the MOT. These activities are processed with support of Euroregion Pro Europa Viadrina.

In the year 2010 Cooperation Center of Frankfurt and Słubice started its activity. It is a joint municipal institution of Frankfurt an der Oder (Germany) and Słubice (Poland), in which six bilingual persons (three German and three Polish) develop the cross-border cooperation between the two towns.

The executive level is thus represented by the two mayors of Frankfurt and Słubice, who have the role of setting the strategic orientations for cooperation. They are assisted by an executive and a steering committees. At the legislative level, a joint assembly (“Joint City Council Meeting”), consisting of representatives of the two cities, was established with the task of monitoring the implementation of projects and the confirmation of cooperation strategies. A legislative committee ("Joint City Council Comitee") deliberates on the decisions taken. There are also working groups that deal with topics such as economic development, urban planning, education and culture, marketing and international cooperation.

For the years 2010-2020 the Centre of Cooperation has a new plan of activities describing a vision for the future of the twin cities. The aim of the program is to create multilingual agglomeration and international place of education, with high quality of living, family friendly and dynamically developing.

The cross-border assemblies of the municipal authorities have decided to bring the cross-border populations together as the first German-Polish twin town with its own symbol. They created a common website promoting cultural events, sport, economic and scientific in both cities. You can find there a special phone app guiding around the Pic 2 Logo of the Twin City “Without borders” most important places in the municipalities. Since the year 2015 the cities started a common information office. Before, there was no information point in Słubice, now the office can serve in three languages (Polish, German and English). On the both sides of the river we can also find tables with advertisement of events and places worth to see in both cities.

There are also special events dedicated to the integration of nations, such as Polish-German summer scene where participants are students of Collegium Polonicum and actors of Theatric school in Frankfurt, or Unithea festival – theatric festival organized by students of Viadrina.

The aim of the language trainings for Polish and German teachers is a practice use of the language in the city agglomeration. Additionally, there is planned a various offer of events in kindergartens to improve language education of children and cross-border partnership. Polish-German facilities for children are a part of wider policy. The agglomeration wants to be a place of international place of education. In the cities we meet trilingual signs. All the regulations of parks, bike boxes and tables that inform about the history are bilingual. Polish children and youth attend kindergartens, schools and process internships in Frankfurt. However, still not so many Germans come to Poland yet. University of Viadrina and Collegium Polonicum with students from all over the world create a university with multicultural diversity. Network built by Viadrina with other schools and workplaces helps students to start their carriers. This cross-border facility welcomes around 5000 students every year (53% German and 22% Polish). Multilingual offers of music school, Volkshochschule and academy of seniors contribute in development of cross-border educational offer. In Frankfurt, it is also planned to create bilingual elementary and middle school.

As another sign of the cooperation, for citizens of Słubice it was prepared a list of specialist in medicine in Frankfurt with information about a range of providing services and costs. This document was created, because in Słubice there is no sufficient offer of public health.

4.1.2. Guben-Gubin Guben is the oldest town in the Land of Brandenburg. The towns of Guben and Gubin are separated by the river Neisse which marks the border between Germany and Poland.

Along the river we can notice a lot of abandoned and neglected buildings. This river banks used to be a borders so the city was reversed from it. Nowadays, it is a common space and it is being renovated. The most important project of this process it the theatric island located between the riverbanks, where is created a leisure space. Apart of it, the urban space on the German side in comparison to the Polish one is much more ordered, clean and well organized. The cities are connected by a bus running by a German company. I could not find any bicycle routs.

On the polish side, just next to the border passing, there are located petrol stations, McDonald with bilingual menu, garden bazaar, groceries and services like hair dresser, manicurists that are visited by lots of Germans. The staff can fluently communicate with them and the offer is presented in their language. In Guben it is not so common. However, in both cities we can find bilingual signs.

In the year 1991 Eurocity Gubin-Guben started its activity under a support of Euroregion Spree- Neisse-Bober/Sprewa-Nysa-Bóbr. The basic principle of this strategy is to develop the two

11 towns in accordance with the pre-1939 architectural traditions. This document was accepted in 2001 during a joint session between the two municipal councils.

The cities collaborate in many fields. Municipal police of Gubin and Bundespolizei of Guben started a project “Cross-border Information Point in the Euro City Gubin-Guben”. The aim of it is a closer cooperation of the officers and better education of the citizens about the law on the both sides of the border. Pestalozzi high school in Guben offers scholarships and dormitories for Polish and German students. Thanks to the special education way they have higher chances to start studies at universities in both countries. Cross-border Marketing Center Eurocities Gubin-Guben is a Polish-German project promoting fields of economic activity of both cities, invest possibilities and their touristic qualities. It also collects useful information for the investors, habitants and tourists. The eurocity has a common wastewater treatment plant and share other certain services like treatment of household waste and public transport. They organize a cross-border urban festival "Spring on the Neisse" (artistic, cultural and sporting events). It provides an excellent opportunity for Poles and Germans to meet.

Another common project was “Green route Gunin-Guben” – renovation of squares, pedestrian and bicycle routes going on the both sides of the border and forming a common leisure network.

Pic 3 German-Polish border – Neisse, view at the Theatric Island, Guben-Gubin

4.1.3. Görlitz-Zgorzelec In the year 1998 Görlitz and Zgorzelec united and created Eurocity Görlitz-Zgorzelec, however, due to the size and proximity there is no common administrative structure. The both mayors compose a political committee supported by joint municipal council and coordination committee that organize the meetings. The cooperation is supported by Euroregion Neisse- Nisa-Nysa.

In the region we can buy common euro-Neisse tickets. The cities are connected by Bus line P operated by a German company and train. The railway bridge was recently renovated with the financial support of European Union. There was also established Polish-German Taxi Company, what is quite exceptional and unusual.

Till 2004 there was only one bridge used by cars and pedestrians, but then the new footbridge was opened after a long fight with national governments. It was constructed in place of a bridge destroyed during the end of the Second World War. It connects Zgorzelec directly with cathedral and old city of Görlitz.

The language barrier is one of the main difficulties of the eurocity. To reduce this problem in 5 schools are organized bilingual class groups. Despite of the problem, every week is concluded at least one mixed Polish-German marriage.

Both cities has common interests, however, there are not equal. Zgorzelec is still a gray and a little bit dirty city, but in the same time dynamically developing and with high population of young people. The city doesn’t have enough money to cover 25% of local financing for Interreg projects, because the municipal badger is primarily dedicated to social assistance. However, recently step by step it restores its charm, renovates and reconstructs tenements along the river side and main streets. A project “Development of the old town in Zgorzelec” came into being through a European competition aimed at young architects from all over Europe. The funding was provided by the two municipalities and the ERDF.

Historic city Görlitz seems to be well prospering place with revitalized and historic center, but after the political transformation one third of the citizens, mainly young people, moved to the Western Germany. In Zgorzelec unemployment rate is lower by 10 percent than in Görlitz (23%). It is the city that had the highest unemployment rate in Germany. The partners want to create together an attractive work labor market on the cross-border area. The cities funded a common website promoting economy and tourism in the Eurocity. They also deal together with town planning and housing, economic development, infrastructure, tourism.

Germans come to Zgorzelec because of low prices, to refuel, for shopping, to hairdresser or polish pubs. Next to the border passing (bridge) is being built a new shopping center and petrol station. We can also meet there little shops with tobacco. Polish go to Görlitz for clothes, household items, to theater and zoo. In Zgorzelec we can find a lot of signs leading to German public facilities. Some years ago in Görlitz we could see signs “Warning! Thief from Poland”, nowadays we can see signs with different content: “Welcome polish clients, we speak polish!”

Görlitz and Zgorzelec were together standing for the title of European Capital of Culture in the year 2010. The bid was unsuccessful, however, a number of cultural events were organized and efforts were made towards the mutualisations of the towns’ tourism, culture and education offering.

The Eurocity has their common cross-border Brigade – thanks to the interreg program they established a quick response service for fighting fires on the other side of the border. They conduct exercises in common, communicate in both languages and have agreed on ways

14 to adapt their safety standards. They municipalities also process a cooperation of theaters, youth clubs, churches and have a common orchestra.

Pic 4 German-Polish border, Görlitz

Pic 5 Railway bridge, Zgorzelec

4.1.4. Zittau-Bogatynia In 2001 Zittau, Bogatynia and Hradek created a city union “Small Triangle” with common city council, steering group (coordinating the projects) and project groups.

The cities cooperate and coordinate cooperation in the field of economics, land use and development, local trade market, promotion, children and youth cooperation, school integration, sport and cultural exchange, cooperation of associations.

The best road from Zittau to Bogatynia surprisingly runs through Czech and it is well modernized, however, public transport is still just in plans. For now the local transport system is really badly coordinated, but the authorities are working on it. They also want to create a cross-border information system about transport schedule. From Bogatynia there is only a bus to the Polish border villages. From there we can easily cross the border on foot, but it is not a convenience connection. In plans there is a bus from Bogatynia to Zittau. From there is accessible a train on the line Zittau-Hradek.

Bogatynia is also really badly connected with the rest of Poland, even with the nearby Zgorzelec. There is no railway. However, thanks to the proximity of Zittau and well developed network on the German side, the habitants can travel easily and fast there through Görlitz.

Between Zittau and Bogatynia there are only two bridges and one of them is out of use due to its bad condition. There is a plan of Construction of a bridge of the tripoint. Personally I would also recommend to build another bridge from Zittau to the district Trzciniec Dolny. They are a bit separated right now and the bridge would completely change their position. Despite of it, in the region we can use developed and well-marked transnational bicycle routes. There is a lot cross-border touristic paths that are well promoted by the Tricity.

Pic 6 German-Polish border, Zittau-Bogatynia

During my stay in Zittau and Bogatynia I didn’t feel their border character. I didn’t see there any bilingual signs. Perhaps it is because Bogatynia, which is the main city in the community, is located 16 km from the border and separated from it by a brown coal mine. Along the border, on the Polish and Czech side, there are little settlements with countryside character and farmlands. The zone is little urbanized, especially in comparison to the German side, where the city ends its buildings just on the border. Hradek is located 3 km from the border, so its urban space is not even visible from there.

Despite of the small size of the settlements, along a short road on the territory of Poland connecting Czech and Germany, there are located two German petrol stations, supermarkets

17 and a bazaar. Poland is really attractive place for shopping for Germans due to much lower prices. Close to this place, at the point of tripoint, was created a leisure area with a monument for memorial of Polish and Czech access to the European Union.

Pic 7 Tripoint, Bogatynia, Zittau, Hradek

The German-Polish-Czech region offers a variety of financial promotions for investment. Especially border crossing cooperation, investment in the establishment or expansion of industrial settlements in producing businesses, employment and education and nonetheless projects in innovation, research and development in ecology and energy efficiency can be officially promoted via several economic development schemes. Also common promotion of touristic and land routes on the area of three countries are accessible in three languages.

The Tricity cooperates also in different fields. Every child has an access to multilingual education (in Polish, Czech, German). They built a common sewage treatment plant Oldrichov- Kopaczów, and cross-border system of early warning and information for natural disasters, they work together on common plans of development of areas that have influence on the neighbor cross-border areas and collaborate in area of public health, protection of the environment and landscapes. I could also find a lot of information about interregional events (e.g. Festival of three countries), however, none of them is organized on the local level of the partner cities. Recently has taken a place a run for the cup mayor and the municipality of Bogatynia “Twardziele trójstyku” (Eng. Tough Guys of Tripoint)

An information about most of this plans and cooperation systems I got from the regional institutions, however, they were hardly visibly during my stay there. The region is ambitious and presents itself as a place with cheap and comfortable living conditions, from an accommodation, through education, ending on public health and culture activities.

4.2. German-Austrian border 4.2.1. Freilassing-Salzburg Freilassing and Salzburg collaborate only under activities of EuRegio Salzburg – Berchtesgadener Land – Traunstein that was established in the year 1995.

A huge facilitating in the cooperation is a common speech – on the both sides of the border the official language is German. There is no necessity for bilingual signs, information and education. I was also told, that even the local dialects are quite similar to each other. In Salzburg I met a lot of young Germans who arrived there to study, due to a different system of education, lower costs and, in the first place, the simplicity that stems from the same language.

Salzburg is dominating city in the region. Here are located universities, old town listed by the UNESCO and main tourist attractions. I came to Salzburg at night, around 4 am. Firstly I came to Austria, because naturally there was no direct connection with Freilassing from my home city in Poland. The main hall of the train station was adopted for a shelter area. On the ground was laying a lot of people in sleeping bags. The others were getting warm in a waiting room, charging their phones or washing themselves in a pay toilet. Around on the streets also were nomadizing people with bags. They all were refugees waiting for a chance to get to Germany.

From Salzburg to Freilassing we can get by a local bus or urban train. Salzbur-Munich is a really important regional connection. The train runs through the town and it benefits from it a lot. Nowadays the railway is being modernized thanks to the European Union financial support. The cities are also connected with a comfortable bicycle routs. This way of moving is really popular here. Salzburg is also a place of international connections operated by trains, buses and planes. Habitants of Freilassing can easily use this connections, however, they really complain about the noise from air planes, because the airport is located just next to the border.

At the German-Austrian border cross-passing guards were controlling all the cars and people. It wasn’t detailed control, but they stopped all the vans and lorries, checking if there are no refugees inside. It was a temporary control point and caused huge traffic jams. The buildings of the border guard stand empty and nothing happens there, in some rooms are little shops with tobacco. Just next to this place, on the Austrian riverbank, was located a tent camp for refugees.

On the train station in Freilassing I met again a lot of refugees waiting in a line for being controlled by border guard and transport to another place. Everywhere was a lot of police, verifying suspicious-looking people.

Pic 8 German-Austrian border – Saalach River, Salzburg-Freilassing

The border is created along the river Saalach. Moreover, on the Austrian side, along the river grows a 7 km wide zone of forest which is an additional natural barrier between the cities. Due to it both cities cannot be connected with urban tissue. Despite of it Freilassing plans its spatial development along the border. The authorities locate there recreation areas and agrotourism. In the town we can also find a lots of hotels which are much cheaper than in Salzburg, and attract with its close distance to the Austrian city and an easy access.

Freilassing is a cozy town, where live people mainly working in Salzburg or in the manufacturing field located near to the border. This small town develop fast in the industrial and economic field. On the other side of the town there is located a huge office complex connected with shopping center. Austrians go there shopping. They also buy things in little shops around. In Germany it is cheaper and the quality of product is different, especially valuable are Bavarian beers. Due to the border controls all the sellers noticed much lower income.

During my visit, one of the market hall was turned into a center of Red Cross were the refugees were taken into care. The whole zone was surrounded by police and busses for transport of the people. My stay was really valuable from this point of view. I could feel and experience on my skin how the border crisis really looks like and how it influences on the people living in the cross-border area.

4.3. German-Swiss-French border 4.3.1. Basel-Weil am Rhein-Lörrach-Saint Louis The border communities cooperate witch each other since the year 2007 under a common project Basel Trinational Eurodistrict.

Switzerland has 4 official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Basel is located in the German language zone, however, the other languages are thought in schools, are used in official situations and a lot of information is communicate in all of these languages. This situation creates a special position of the Basel agglomeration, because the Swiss part connects in natural way connects the French and German sides. It is also a good place to work for people from both countries, but German language is still dominating.

To the community of the cities we can get by plane. In the beginning Basel had its own airport on the territory of Switzerland, but it was moved to Saint-Louis (France) and transformed into Euroairport - trinational service. It rises the importance of the town, reduces costs and is an example of good cooperation. When the airport was created, Switzerland wasn’t in the Schengen Zone yet, Pic 9 Euroairport. Saint-Louis nowadays the common use of the service is much easier, however, there are still problems with taxes due to different systems in France and Switzerland.

To travel around the region we can stock up on tickettriregon. In view of the high labor mobility in the region and cross-border traffic it was necessary to develop Regio-S-Bahn - structure of fast and relatively ecologic public transport services. Thanks to the European programs of

Pic 10 “Thank you for your patience”, Saint-Louis support the suburban railway was modernized and expanded.

German cities are well connected with each other and with Basel by the urban train. There is also a tram from Basel to the train station in Weil (line 8, 2008-2014 Interreg project) and another one to the border crossing in Lörrach. However, the German cities are really bad

23 connected with the French towns. The best connection with public transport goes through Basel. From there, to the border with Saint Louis leads a tram and a train connection. Right now, there is also line of tram under construction another going to the train station in the French town. Despite of the fact that French Huningue and German Weil am Rhein are located just next to each other but separated with the river, there is no sufficient public transport connection. Recently was build a footbridge connecting the two banks – Dreilanderbrucke/passerelle des trois pays (2007). Connection of the two towns, that had a symbolic meaning, also creates better system of bicycle routes on the both sides of the river. Moreover, since there is no good connection of public transport, it has a significant influence on the linking of the towns.

The agglomeration has a common policy of spatial development, especially in the field of transport. They plan together the main roads, park&ride system, railway and public transport connections and management of the river. France and Germany cooperate for many years, however, the appropriate cooperation here started relatively late, when the Switzerland started to participate in it.

In the agglomeration I visited the city of Basel, Riehen, Lorrach, Weil am Rhein, Huingue and Saint-Louis. It gave me a wide image of the three borders and their connections.

Basel definitely is the center of agglomeration and the most important player. It attracts work force with economic centers and payments which in Switzerland are relatively high in comparison to costs of living in Germany or France. That’s why a lot of people decide to work in Switzerland and live in the foreign suburbia.

The towns have small density of population. Their plan is based on one main street with plenty of services. They are dominated by low multi-family residences and single-family houses. Only Lörrach is a relatively bigger city with more density of buildings and more expanded. Apart of it, the whole agglomeration have a good policy of location of different functions and places of interest. Moreover, all the members of the municipality highlight their special location on the map of Europe. It is visible in advertisement and promotion materials.

Around the west part of the discussed border (Franco-Swiss and partly Franco-German) are located industrial functions – e.g. Port, container terminal, warehouses, offices and center Novartis, which is a famous global healthcare company that provides solution to address the evolving need of patients worldwide. It is also an aim of tourist because of its unusual buildings designed by famous architects. On the west part of the border (Swizz-German) we can admire DreiLanderGarten and Landschaftspark – nature reserve with wild birds, sport and leisure infrastructure. This place is well connected with cross-border bicycle routes. On the main roads from Switzerland to France or Germany there is still the infrastructure for border control. Even at the train station we have to pass through all the control gates, however, there is a lot of foot paths, park routes where we can unintentionally cross the border.

In Saint Louis we can find the Euroairport and Forum - cultural facilities designed to host associative, sporting and cultural events. The city itself is not so attractive, but these investments rise its importance in the region. Despite of it, most of information given here are only in French.

In Weil am Rhein we can visit DreilanderGarten, and Vitra Campus – a famous manufactory of furniture with buildings and infrastructure designed by the most important modern architects. The management of Vitra is located in Basel, but the factory is placed on the territory of Germany due to lower costs of maintenance. This example shows how cross-border agglomeration can be more attractive for investors. In the town, just next to the footbridge we can go shopping to the mall of tripoint. It is easily accessible and popular among French and Swiss people thanks to the lower prices.

Lörrach attracts with its old town, opera, the Landschaftspark mentioned before and Dreilander Musem/Musee des Trois Pays (implemented as part of Interreg IV project) which tells the history of the region, natural resources and common traditions.

For easier visiting tourist attractions there was created museum pass for the Upper Rhine (Pass Musées du Rhin Supérieur) – ticket with unlimited access to around 170 museum in the region that encourage people to see and discover places on the all side of the border. It promotes the international character of the Pic 11 Dreilander Musem, Lörrach region, presenting its cultural variety.

The trinational conurbation of Basel is also involved in “IBA Basel 2020” project from 2010 to 2020. IBA has a long tradition in Germany and is one of the best known instruments in the urban and regional development in Europe. For the first time it is organized on a cross- border level and concern also architecture, culture and economic development.

Another initiative is Biovalley - cluster of life sciences and medical technologies for the economic development of the RMT. It is a trinational cluster gathering specialist and workers in the field of biotechnology, medicine, pharmaceutics. The aim is to support the development of the science and scientists and commercial partners to positively influence on the economic attractiveness of the region. Three member of the cluster were awarded with Nobel Prize in medicine and chemistry.

Moreover there is organized Freinfunk Dreilandereck – initiative of wireless internet on the territory of three countries. The network is going to create regional services in the hands of citizens, participating in the process of social and cultural integration.

Pic 12 Tripoint, Weil am Rhein-Huningue-Basel

4.4. German- French border 4.4.1. Strasbourg-Kehl Strasbourg and Kehl mainly collaborate under activities of Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau, but there are also another institutions supporting the cooperation, like Infobest - a network of information and legal advice regarding cross-border issues of Switzerland, France and Germany and Euro-Institut – Franco-German organization helping to develop cross-border response and cooperation despite of differences in legal and administrative systems, cultural or methodological backgrounds, located in Kehl.

Between Kehl and Strasbourg we can move by one bus line or by train. The line D of tram is right now under construction and is going to be finished in the year 2017. It is also going to be easier to move by car, because the only car bridge connecting the cities is being extended. It is necessary, due to the rising number of commuters and movement between the municipalities. The project has a financial support of European Union. In Strasbourg, there is also a system of city bikes called Vélhop, but unfortunately its stations are located only on the French side. However, there is well developed connection of bike routes between Strasbourg and Kehl.

In the German town, there is located a train and bus station with national connections, but Strasbourg is the dominating city in the region. Here are located important European institutions (e.g. European Parliament, Council of Europe, International Institute of Human Rights) and historic old town that is listed by the UNESCO. It is a capital and the largest city of the Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine region in eastern France. Strasburg is the city with rich network of international connections, due to its importance on the map of European institutions and special historic value. Within the city limits, there are located an airport, huge train and bus station.

Kehl is a pretty town, however, much smaller and less attractive. Both cities derive income from the Rhine port. The border goes along the river, so the area is dominated by industrial (e.g. Malt house) and port buildings. In the area we can meet a lot of trucks and cargo trains. This part of the city seems to be neglected and dirty, however, full of live. Pic 13 Port, Strasbourg

On the German side, along the river on the south from the port is located the city of Kehl. It has a well-thought and planned urban structure with historic parts. It is calm and well-kept town. In comparison to Strasbourg it is calm and full of green spaces. Near to the border we can also find shopping malls. On their parkings we can noticed a lot of cars from Strasbourg and in the shops there is a lot of information given in German and French. The reason are the French people coming shopping there because of the lower prices. However, In Kehl there is no bilingual signs either. The only public space, where we can find bilingual signs is Garden of the two riverbanks. It is also hard to find any signs in German on the French side, however, in the most important places there are information in both languages and English.

Between the cities there is no infrastructure of border control. On the French side, in the opposite of Kehl, next to the industrial space, there is still a lot of undeveloped space, which right now is a huge construction site. The city of Strasbourg creates there a cross-border village of two riverbanks, with modern multi-family residences, new traffic infrastructure,

28 bilingual kindergarten, public spaces and connected with Strasbourg city center and Kehl by new tram line. It is a perfect example of good development of cross-border urban space.

Pic 14 Village of Two Riverbanks

Garden of the two riverbanks (Jardin des deux rives) was created for the Festival of Two Riverbanks on the banks of the Rhine between Strasbourg and Kehl. A part of the project was also a construction of the footbridge over the river. The German part is also connected with touristic path route around the city of Kehl.

Strasbourg and Kehl cities are member of the Eurodistrict and are very close situated from each other. The building of a common tramway line is one of the main cooperation projects, but it is driven by the cities themselves. Eurodistrict plays a role in terms of promotion of the project and of bilingual operation of the tramline. It also promotes Strasbourg-Ortenau region in tourism fairs and professional real estate fairs.

The municipalities organize also a common events, like for example Popcentre –a project to involve young people (aged 15 to 20) from both sides of the border in the implementation of the Festival of twin towns organized in Kehl in 2002. Young musicians could meet up, change experience and create music together. Culture and bilingualism is one of the main objective of the Eurodistrict. In particular they run projects and support activities in the field of theater (Baal Novo Eurodistrict Theater), sports, exhibitions and support to bilingual schools classes. In Kehl we can even attend a bilingual devotion.

The partner cities also initiated Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) for the ports of Strasbourg and Kehl. The area is a place concentrating industrial, transport, energy and waste management sectors. SWP was created for better coordination and management of workforce in the region.

In Kehl there is also located a French-German police cooperation center. They police officers invite each other when they organize big events and need more people to take care of the safety, they also can speak French and German, so better communicate with the visiting foreigners.

Pic 15 German-French border – Rhine River, Kehl-Strasbourg

4.4.2. Saarbrücken-Forbach Saarbrucken and Forbach with other municipalities of north-eastern Moselle form a cross- border conurbation of more than 600 000 inhabitants. The collaborate under European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation – Eurodistrict SaarMoselle that was established in May 2010 and involves regions Saarland, Moselle department and Lorraine. Saarbrücken also cooperate in a project Quattropole Luxemburge-Metz-Saarbrucken-Trier – cooperation of 4 biggest cities in the region, having common promotion strategy and development plans.

To Forbach from Saarbrucken we can get by a bus of French lines connecting this two cities. It is possible to buy monthly ticket for it. There are also city bus lines of Saarbrucken that have stops just next to the border, so it is possible to cross it by foot, but it is not convenient way of move between the municipalities. There is also a good connection by urban train run by Deutsche Bahn. The cities had plans to extend a line of a tram, but for now it is not processing. We can also cross the border by bike, but the way could definitely have a better route.

In Saarbrucken we can find an airport, train and bus stations with national and international connections. Thanks to the importance of the city in the region, French small communities benefit from it and can easily travel around the world. One of the most significant connections is a train Frankfurt-Saarbrucken-Paris.

Due to the history it is hard to find any signs in German on the French side, however, in the most important places like train station, tourist information or attractions, there are descriptions given in both languages and English too. In Saarbrucken there is no bilingual signs either, but in museums and shops we can find information in French. In shopping malls we can even hear advertising in French. Of course the reason are the French people coming shopping to Saarbrucken, because of the lower prices. The region used to be a bilingual place, but after the Second World War the French people had negative attitude to German language and were eliminating it.

Despite of it all, Saarbrucken have a strategy to become a bilingual land till the year 2030. They have long tradition of cross-border cooperation. It is also a way to protect the Saarland from joining to another land. At the University of Saarbrucken there are already bilingual faculties and even some are run only in French. There is also a special faculty teaching both French and German laws and offering a double degree. The bilingualism is also a way to encourage young people from France to move to Saarbrucken or just to start a work there. We can notice a demographic decline in the capital city and there is not enough labor force. Local authorities organize lessons of German for foreigners. We can find here organizations helping French people to find a job in Saarbrücken. In general we can notice a lot of French-German institutions here. French and German authorities has the same economic objective which is to convert former mining and industrial areas and support flows of border workers.

Forbach itself is located 5 kilometers from the border. The Strin-Wendel settlement, which is a part of Forbach agglomeration, is the direct neighbor of Saarbrücken. The agglomeration is extended between a main road and railway. It has high density of building, but mostly they are single-family houses or low multi-family Pic 16 German-French border, Strin-Wendel residence, so the density of population is relatively low. Forbach is a small town, however, there are located some interesting monuments and objects of architecture, like castle or church of Saint Remi. The municipal was a place of mines and was built for the workers of the industry. Nowadays, the authorities look for new role for the town. However, the most important role

32 in the trans-national region plays Saarbrücken as the capital of Saarland. The crossing from one city to another would come imperceptibly, but along the border on the German side, there is located a cemetery that creates a kind of barrier. Its fence is not covered with barbed wire anymore, but it seems like it would protect very important area. Besides of it, there is no border infrastructure. On the French side, close to the border we can notice a lot of cars with German license plates, like house over there were inhabited by the Germans.

In the Saarmoselle region we can use Le ticket: a cultural passport – ticket created in the year 2000 allowing the one holding it to visit many exhibitions and museums in the SaarMoselle zone. The Eurodistrict takes care of the promotion of all the tourist attractions in the region. We can find there also a plenty of cross-border tourist routes. The authorities also plan to create an economic center for startups for the whole Eurodistrict.

One of the most important cross-border events is Theater Festival Perspectives. The program of the festival is really generous. It is so popular that sometimes for the festival there are organized shuttle buses between the Forbach agglomeration and Saarbrucken.

There was also created Mosaïk – a cross-border television programme that is an effect of cooperation between two regional television channels – French TV Cristal and German Offener Kanal. They inform about cross-border events and present regional reports. The television familiarize people with the culture, language and heritage sites of the other country. The programs are bilingual.

To provide greater safety, there was initiated a project TIMIS flood (Transnational Internet Map Information System on Flooding). It is a system developed as a cooperation of Luxemburg, France and Germany to provide better protection against floods and more advanced information system for the emergency services and authorities responsible for the management of water.

Saarbrücken and Forbach also cooperate in the field of public health services (there is a possibility of treatment on the both sides of the border) and, as in Kehl and Strasbourg, the national police collaborate during big events and process common trainings.

5. Possible difficulties and challenges I was surprised when I found out that most of the visited cities started a cross-border cooperation a long time before the Schengen Agreement and sometimes even before joining the European Union. That brings me to conclusion that the Schengen Area is the result of transnational activities, not the cause. However, there is no doubt that the possibility of free movement significantly accelerated all the process and projects which are developed by the border agglomerations.

Cross-border regions create unusual European residential and economic areas. Despite of their peripheral location, which is a problem from national point of view. They gain in importance in the age of globalization and internationalization with a significant contribution in economic and social development. Thanks to that, the border regions receive the corresponding attention in European structural policy. Nowhere else is the success of European Integration as directly tangible in people’s lives.

We can distinguish three levels of cooperation:

1. Implementation of common projects,

2. Systematic cooperation in the whole area of town (e.g. meeting of mayors, town councils),

3. Creation of joint bodies with the aim of unified town policy (e.g. Eurocities).

Comparing the partner cities on western German border to these on eastern side, the last once has much higher level of cooperation. However, they all cannot be directly compared because of many differences. Saarbrücken/Forbach, Strasbourg/Kehl, Basel agglomeration and Salzburg/Freilassing are partners, where one of the city is dominating with higher level of urban and economic development, more significant history, local importance and tourist attractiveness. The other one can be defined as a suburbia that can benefit a lot thanks to its neighbor. In the end, the cooperation is process that happens at the higher - regional level, where the partnership is more equal.

On the east border the situation is different. The cities were divided short time ago. The relative small size means that the twin towns could only function together as medium sized center for a cross-border region. Inequality of resources, marginal location and the size are strong objectives for closer cooperation between them.

There are still some basic obstacles like differences in national laws and regulations, language barriers, cultural differences, mentality, economic disparities, lack of tools in area of conflict management. Cross-border workers still face a bureaucratic nightmare when it comes to social security and taxation. In some border areas, cooperation still had to heal the scars of history and turn recent “enemies” into “neighbors” to foster sustainable trust along many borders, as a step towards more nature stages of cooperation ranging from emergency response activities to more integrated cooperation approaches.

The fact is that some obstacles are also a meaningful advantage. Differences in taxes, prices, bilingualism and close location to the border are a perfect place for a new investments that want to play an international role and reduce costs. It is “Europe in miniature that can reinforce European economic power”.

With reducing the number of barriers between the people and neighboring cities or regions, they can unite in order to solve common problems unnoticed by national and European authorities.

The free cross-border flows lead to creation of functional urban space without stated limits, despite of natural barriers or trans-national territories we can find an urban continuity. This process is accompanied by a globalization and a general change of way of thinking about the borders. In the light of the current crisis some people want to bring back the “walls”, but in a fact it is against modern economy and lifestyle. The cross-border agglomerations are also a place of experimentation of European policies. There, on the edge of two or three countries, the concept of multiculturalism and European are tested in daily use. In my opinion, in all the places I visited, there is visible a positive impact of this experiment.