#EURegionsWeekUniversity - European border cities for territorial development and cohesion - 13WS22270

The proposed session takes a reflective approach and looks at current strategies for border cities (Eurocities, Twin Cities, etc.) in Europe and their potential positive impacts for the territorial development process of European border regions and the overall territorial cohesion trends of the EU territory. By showcasing current academic research to policymakers and practitioners on current strategies for border cities, their response to covidfencing and cross-border governance and planning processes across the EU territory and the potential impact of the Ukraine war and the related refugee crisis, this session promotes knowledge mobilisation/exchange between policymakers, researchers, politicians and practitioners. Moreover, the session provides a clear contribution to border and regional studies by highlighting practical policy measures which can benefit border dwellers by identifying practical measures and public policies aimed at investing in a fairer, greener and more digital future.

The moderator will interact with the audience by presenting pre-formatted questionnaires to the audience (with three concrete questions) after each presentation. If the event is online, the ZOOM platform will serve to interact with the audience and collect and present the results. If the event takes place in Brussels, the EC application which has already been used to interact with the audience via their phones to collect their responses will present the results graphically.

The goal of this session is to debate the potential contribution of European strategies for border cities to promoting territorial development and cohesion processes in a more effective manner and the potential impact of the Ukraine war on EU Interreg programmes. Moreover, this session aims to promote knowledge exchange between interested stakeholders and to grow networks and alliances which are interested in fostering the role of border cities as key policy vehicles for the development of the surrounding border area. It will allow the practitioners' perspectives on what has worked well and less well in the implementation of the Eurocities strategies to be presented. By focusing on examples across the EU territory, this session will provide new content and perspectives for policymakers and practitioners for the identification of practical measures and public policies aimed at investing in a fairer, greener and more digital future via the implementation of Eurocities.