Frankfurt (Oder) Slubice
National Technical University of Athens_ Architecture Department_ Special topics in Urban Planning 8_ Teachers: Avgerinou, Serraos_ Student: Kolovou Ioanna( 04105049) Εθνικό Μετσόβειο Πολυτεχνείο_ Ειδικά θέματα πολεοδομίας 8_ Διδάσκοντες: Αυγερινού, Σερράος_ Σπουδάστρια: Κολοβού Ιωάννα( 04105049) Location_ General Information Geographically, Frankfurt (Oder) lies on Germany’s Eastern fringe, and Slubice, on Poland’s Western fringe; together, they form a cross‐border conurbation of about 81.000 inhabitants. Frankfurt is just 60 km east from Berlin, one hour by the regional express train. On the other hand, Poznan is 182 km west from Slubice and Gorzow 76 km. The two towns are separated by the river Oder, which appears to be the physical border of the region. On the German side, Frankfurt (Oder) belongs to the State of Brandenburg, one of the 16 states (Länder) of Germany. The competences of the state are culture, education, environment and police. At the regional level, Słubice belongs to the region (województwo) of Lubusz. In Poland, the tasks of the regions are economic development, higher education, environment, employment, social policy and regional roads management. across the border. Disparities between the At the local level, Słubice is a municipality German and the Polish part of the region are (gmina). In Poland, the competences of the not decreasing. Poland's EU accession has municipalities are public transport, social maintenance of roads, collecting and removed a number of current obstacles to services, housing, environment, culture, managing household refuse. Slubice and cross‐border integration and left more scope health and primary education. At the Frankfurt are the two cities, which define the for active integration to local and regional intermediary level, Słubice is also the head of nucleus of the Slubice‐Frankfurt border policy makers. One promising aspect of the Słubice county (powiat) of which regions. regional cross‐border collaboration is the competences are road building and The border region of Frankfurt‐Slubice covers Viadrina University which was set up explicitly maintenance, secondary education, civil an area of around 10,000 km² . Separated by as a common German‐Polish endeavor. The protection, environment and employment. On the Polish‐East German border for more than two different state level of jurisdictions, the German side, Frankfurt (Oder) is an urban 40 years, cross‐border collaboration and Lubuskie (Poznan) and Brandenburg (Berlin) district (Kreisfreie Stadt) and then has the social interaction started hesitantly in the make the integration and collaboration even competences of a municipality (Stadt) and of 1990s. Economic performance on both sides more difficult to coordinate. ). Lubuskie’s a district (Kreis): urban planning, water of the border is weak and unemployment population density is only about half of management, youth and social aid, building high. The EU and national obstacles pose a Poland’s average, while Brandenburg’s is only and maintenance of schools, construction and considerable burden on transactions about one third of Germany’s average In the Berlin‐Brandenburg regional hierarchy, East Brandenburg is considered part of the periphery, outside of the metropolitan area and its surrounding industrial areas. Located very “centrally” and not peripherally with respect to the important markets and trading partners further west. Indeed, although Frankfurt/Słubice is located on the important Rotterdam‐Berlin‐Warsaw‐Moscow trade corridor, development may bypass the area, as the metropolitan areas of both Berlin and Poznań pull people and industry away from Frankfurt/Słubice. Frankfurt/Słubice’s physical location causes additional struggles for significance within the national imaginations of the two cities’ respective countries, a placement that may help push the region further toward a European identity .Towns located directly on the international borders of the EU are regularly described as the “laboratories” of European integration, and thus the economy and educational integration and further cooperation withinh these twin Region Unit of Analysis Contributing Jurisdictions cities is gaining ground and become more Frankfurt‐Slubice Slubice Slubice Miasto significant for making the Border Region more competitive and attractive and raising the Frankfurt Kreis Frankfurt (Oder) well‐fare levels of the inhabitants. Border Region Polish Border Region Former Voivodship of Gorzów German Border Region Frankfurt (Oder), Märkisch‐ Oderland, Oder‐Spree Lubuskie Voivodship of Lubuskie Brandenburg Bundesland Brandenburg
Types of BRs and jurisdictions The former voivodship of Gorzow is not entirely contained in the new voivodship of Lubuskie, voivodship reform in 1999. Polish border region + German border region= Border region
Frankfurt( Oder) Slubice Slubice Frankfurt
Country Germany Country Poland
State Bradenburg Voivodeship Lubusz
District Urban district County Slubice County
Area 147.61 km2 Gmina Gmina Slubice
Population 60.625 Area 19 km2 (total)
Density 411 /km2 Population 16.826 History and development of Republic (GDR) has enabled a image by reason of a sinister economic Frankfurt development of the cross‐border area. situation, In 1981, the GDR closes unilaterally the especially on the German side where The town of Frankfurt’s first development took place on the western bank of the Oder; later the border which will be hermetic till the many industries go bankrupt . town was extended to the eastern bank and the German reunification (1990). Turn of millennium: pilot project for suburb of Dammvorstadt. After the World War 1990: With the German reunification the city Communicant Chip Factory, II, in 1945, the new German‐Polish border ran of Frankfurt loses its status, leading to 2003: failure of Chip Factory along the Oder, separating the eastern the crash of the semiconductor factory 2004: Poland membership in the European suburb, renamed Słubice, from the rest of and thus high rates of unemployment. Union Frankfurt. After the Germans were relocated After 1990: the best and most flexible people 2007: Poland membership in the Schengen across the border, the city was resettled by from the former GDR semiconductor zone (agreement in 14/6/1985 removal ethnic Poles. This divided history is plant went straight to the west, mostly of systematic border controls between incorporated into Słubice’s relatively new coat to Bavaria or Baden‐Wόrttemberg, the participating countries). of arms (adopted in 1948), which is half white some to California, getting lucrative eagle, representing Poland, and half red cock, jobs in the flourishing high‐tech sectors representing Frankfurt. there (i.e., brain drain at its worst). At the latter half of the 20th century, the city Only a handful of courageous and of Frankfurt was designated as one of the 14 competent individuals founded a small district capitals of GDR and ever since the end number of successful start‐up firms, accompanied and strengthened by the of world war II is in constant transformation: Frankfurt/Oder After 1959: “ city of the semiconductor innovative state‐financed Leibniz Works” with 8000 employees. Erected on the Institute for Innovations in High Inhabitants (2005) 70,300 banks of the River Oder, this plant produced Performance Microelectronics (IHP). At “the biggest semiconductors in the world.” the same period start some state The town becomes more attractive for indoor support programs for building. Population losses (since 1990 20.6% migration with plenty more jobs, good 1991: the Polish/German border was opened to 2002) to visaless traffic salaries and new better standards of living. A Unemployment rate (2003) 19.6% new district was built as a centre extension, At the beginning of the 1990’s, the situation the Neuberesinchen. is not prosperous. There is a lack of At the middle of the 1960’s, a light opening communication, of language knowledge Trade tax diminishing from 11.5 billion € of the borders allows some factories of and of culture competence. Polish in 1998 to 6.2 billion €in 2003 Frankfurt to employ about 800 Polish border citizens are required to have a visa to workers. cross the border, transformed into the After 1971, the removal of the visa between external border of the European Union Empty flats 7,500 Poland and the German Democratic with all the problems related. Therefore, both cities suffer from a bad The history of the border and the during the forty‐five years between 1946 and completely ruled out, and in many ways the resulting lack of roots 1991, the histories and identities of the two “recovered territories” remain a contested cities diverged. space. ł Both Frankfurt and S ubice were rebuilt and Schultz explains the construction of Słubice in resettled virtually from scratch after 1945. In The construction of Slubice in opposition to Frankfurt, “[Słubice] wanted the last months of World War II, Frankfurt never to share the urban history of Frankfurt. was designated a Festung, or fortress, like opposition to Frankfurt Słubice as border guard of the Polish other fortresses along the river Oder. By the With the movement of the border, Słubice ‘Regained Territories’ built up her own war’s end, the fortress was almost totally was changed from an integral part of a history, rooted in the pioneer period after the destroyed and few civilians remained in the regional center to a relatively isolated small last world war” (Schultz 2002:53). Because it city. The resulting lack of roots is often cited town of only about 15,000 residents. Both the was unclear if Germany would accept the new as a major problem by residents and officials historical city center and the train station border, the border served a dual purpose, on both sides of the border. were located on the German side of the both to keep Poles in and Germans out—‐out Four general periods have characterized the border. The train connection to Słubice was of their former homes, cities and territories. post World War II Polish/German border never reestablished, and after leaving With the liberalizing of internal EU borders, regime. Frankfurt trains traveling east bypass the city. the Polish/German border has now become • By 1946, the border was effectively sealed to It is often still more convenient for Słubice increasingly important for protecting the EU’s the civilian population and it remained so residents to cross the border into Frankfurt to Eastern frontier from illegal traffic of both until 1972. get a train connection to cities in Poland. The immigrants and goods. Although Poles can • On January 1, 1972, the border was opened movement of the border also introduced the now cross relatively freely, the border to limited cross border traffic, including some Polish side to a new language and cultural checkpoint has not yet disappeared from the employment opportunities, but was closed norms that had not been part of the pre‐war everyday life of the residents on both sides. It again in October of 1980 as a response to the community. is thus a regular reminder that Poland is not Solidarity movement in Poland (although not Additionally, many of the settlers in the quite considered part of the EU’s European as rigidly as 1945). Lubuskie region were part of the kresy, or club, or to use Ong’s (1990) terms, • Finally, in 1991 the border was opened to Poles that were from Poland’s former eastern demonstrates an example of an “ethnically visaless cross‐border traffic. The border was territories, and still considered these lands marked class grouping” based on asymmetric officially accepted by East Germany in 1950 (now in Ukraine) to be their spiritual home. power relations. by the Gφrlitz Treaty, but not by West Initially, many Poles settling in western Poland Germany until 1970 when the Warsaw Treaty assumed that their residence would be normalized relations between the two temporary, and made few efforts to establish countries. emotional or physical permanence, often •The subject was not finally put to rest until sending their children to live in central Poland 1991 when the Border Treaty and the Treaty .Only after 1970, was permanent residence on Good Neighborhood were signed between relatively assured. However, the possibility Germany and Poland. that displaced Germans might file indemnity With relatively little contact across the border suits in Polish courts has not yet been Slubice The German‐Polish Border With the movement of the border, native‐ National borders are, of course, the markers born residents were suddenly converted to that delineate where the sovereignty of on “minorities” with potentially subversive state ends, and one state begins. tendencies, which then required, at least in The placement of Polish/German border has the eyes of the policymakers, their been almost continuously contested in one resettlement for the sake of stability . The way or another since Poland regained forced emigration of Germans from Poland independence in 1918. From 1918‐1921, six therefore stems from the same quest for border wars were fought concurrently, two of stability that created the impetus for the which were with Germany (1918‐1922) After integration projects that eventually formed Old East German passport World War II, Poland’s borders were the EU, a rather ironic situation as the EU now stamp from Frankfurt (Oder) renegotiated in 1945 by the “Big Three” allies faces the very problems created by these (United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet policies fifty years ago. Union), which at the end set its western border as the Oder (Odra) and Neiίe (Nysa) rivers. Poland as a whole was thus shifted west of its pre‐war position. As a result of these new borders, about 1.5 million Poles were compelled to move west from behind the Soviet‐Polish frontier, while between 9 and 10 million Germans were forced to emigrate from the “recovered” territories. 4.5 million Poles were then resettled in the Reunified Germany passport stamp from same border crossing recovered territories, mostly from central Poland and the lands annexed by the Soviet Union, while about 1 million residents of the recovered territories were allowed to stay, provided their Polish ethnicity could be verified . As a general rule, all of these transfers were marked by brutality, and at least 1 million Germans died as a direct result of the expulsions, mostly during the winter of 1945 . One of the motivations for creating a mono‐ethnic Polish state was to help establish a more lasting peace in Europe by removing Schengen passport stamp potentially problematic ethnic minorities. for the same border crossing. The German‐Polish border in General Immigration and property rights that is continually cited as unfair in Poland. The history of the Polish/German border has Because of the potentially divisive nature of contributed directly to two of the most property rights, Poland requested an 18‐year derisive issues for EU integration addressed moratorium on land purchases for non‐Polish by the recent EU accession negotiations‐‐the EU citizens. After significant debate, Poland interrelated issues of immigration and finally agreed to a transition period barring property rights. While Germany worries that foreign land purchases for 12 years for it will be flooded by employment‐seeking agricultural land and 5 years for secondary Poles immediately following Poland’s residences (European Commission 2002:14). accession on May 1, 2004 and the subsequent Moreover, by insisting that these issues be deregulation of the border, Poles that settled negotiated, Poland and Germany explicitly in western Poland after World War II have demonstrate the retention of sovereignty by become increasingly fearful that Germans will nation‐states within the EU by qualifying the return and attempt either to reclaim their lost circumstances by which “foreign” EU citizens properties through legal processes, or merely can own property (Poland) or by excluding to take advantage of the relatively low prices “foreign” EU citizens from entering a nation‐ of Polish land and buy properties outright. state’s territory and earning a living Additionally, Poland as a whole is concerned (Germany). that German foreign investors will buy up Following Poland’s EU accession, must be property, especially agricultural lands. protected from the potential threat of illegal Concerns such as these led to concessions by immigration from countries further east both sides during the accession negotiations, (particularly Ukraine). Even though the which have significantly qualified the political Polish/German border checkpoints are not in and economic integration that the EU use any more, they are a tremendous champions as two of its fundamental values: hindrance to the EU’s economic and political the free movement of people and the free integration by acting as a literal barrier to movement of capital. trade and reinforcing the already prevalent In the case of Germany and the fourteen perception of Poles as second‐class EU other current EU members, a two‐year citizens. Poland’s eastern border has been transitional period on immigration will be deemed insecure, and because Poland does implemented, during which national not yet conform to requirements of the measures constraining immigration can be Schengen Convention’s common visa applied by a current member state on a new procedures (another example of “pooled” member state. These policies will be reviewed sovereignty external to the EU). after two years, but may be applied for up to seven (European Commission 2002:6). A point Area (km2) Population Density (population per km2)
Polish BR 6108 63
German BR 4518 101
Lubuskie 13984 73
Bradenburg 29477 88
Poland 312685 124
Germany 357022 230
Area and population density 2001
Unemployment rates( in %)
Real GDP per capita( blue: Poland, red: Germany)
Oder_ Lausitz‐ Trasse Transport infrastructure The Bridge passing over the river Oder, connecting Frankfurt and Slubice Three interconnected dimensions in cross‐border governance in Europe. political‐economic constitution of paradigms for policy action and legitimisation: cross‐ border governance as outcome of processes of strategic selectivity institutional organisational settings and institutional frameworks in co‐ evolution: cross‐ border governance as a combination of institutional design and “institution building” symbolic‐cognitive governance and processes of territorial identity‐formation: cross‐border governance as inventing communities and projecting spaces Examples: Institutional misfits – approaches to conflict and potential learning.
Misfits within formal • National educational (codified) institutions system• University law• Organizational structures• Labor law• Social security system• Curricular arrangements• Other
Misfits within informal • National/regional (non‐codified) knowledge cultures• institutions Value systems/norms• Administrational routines• Work and learning structures• Forms of communication• Behavior in conflict situations• Mentalities The Collegium Polonicum (right) and its library (left)
The Collegium Polonicum
Viadrina European University
Frankfurt( Oder) Slubice
Euroregions in Germany Interreg General characteristics‐ Viadrina Euroregion
Specific border regime Former external EU border (persisting border) Historical background Alienation in socialist period Inter‐State Neighbourhood relationships agreement, rapprochement between Germany and Poland Dominant level of Municipalities, strong cooperation role of higher level authorities Policy problem Attract investment, stimulate economic growth, cultural relationships
Strategic context of Only recent cross‐border agency development of intermunicipal co‐ operation (partly externally imposed) Policy entrepreneurship
CBR organisation Euroregion secretariat (lower degree of autonomy) Resource base Dependent on Interreg CBC appropriation low Background for cross‐border governance
(+)
• direct neighbours on both sides of the River Oder
• common university: Viadrina & Collegium Polonicum (since 1991) • quite strong political focus on the german‐ polish border
• situated at the important european transport axis Paris‐Berlin‐Warsaw‐Moscow
(‐)
• no common language, low neighbour language skills
• low level of own regional or local identification
• economic, historical based and mental differences
• lack in economic development, employment rate and infrastructure
• bad experiences in cross‐border participative democracy
Working structures of Cross Border Governance in European Twin City Frankfurt (Oder) & Słubice
Leader level „Executive“ „Legislature“
Lord Mayor of Common City Frankfurt and Council Assembly Mayor of Slubice (1‐2 times a year) (once a month)
Frankfurt‐Slubice Joint Committee Steering Group (6 times a year) (four times a year)
Working level Working groups (economic development, city development and planning, education & culture, city marketing & international cooperation) (once a month)
Frankfurt‐Slubice coordination team for the Local Action Plan 2010‐2020 society Frankfurt‐Slubice Future Conference 2020 (4‐6 June 2009) Cross‐Border Civil Society Conference (once a year)
Communication platform: www.frankfurt.slubice.pl
Common events: City Hansa Celebrations (July), cultural events: Transvocale, Unithea, Oder Music Festival
Regular reporting in the mass medias Sources: •http://www.flickr.com/photos/temp/119951754/ •http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_(Oder) •http://www.espaces‐transfrontaliers.org/en/conurbations/terri_doc_ag_frankfurt_en.html •urbact.eu/fileadmin/corporate/doc/.../presentation_city_lab_12_02_2010.ppt •http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/gect/index_en.htm •http://urbact.eu/?id=52 •http://www.interreg.gr/default.aspx?lang=en‐GB&page=237 •http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/enlargement/2004_and_2007_enlargement/e50004_en.htm
Articles: •Border Experience and Knowledge Cultures The Twin Cities of Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice Heidi Fichter‐Wolf and Thomas Knorr‐Siedow • Governance Milieus in Shrinking Post‐Socialist City Regions –and their Respective Forms of Creativity, Case Miniatures and Conceptual Propositions, Ulf Matthiesen •The Cross‐Border Region of Frankfurt (Oder)–Slubice, An Economics Perspective, Kristof Dascher •CROSS‐BORDER REGIONS IN EUROPE, SIGNIFICANCE AND DRIVERS OF REGIONAL CROSS‐BORDER CO‐OPERATION, Markus Perkmann •E n r i c o G u a l i n i, Cross‐border Governance: Inventing Regions in a Trans‐national Multi‐level Polity