to the cooperation area and change over time as the TCA evolves
A majority of cases have a multi-sectoral, integrated focus on strategic spatial development, but only few focus explicitly on regional spatial planning (e.g. strategic planning regions in Lower Austria) or strategy development (e.g. the Territorial Pole ‘Pays de Retz’ that is involved in the development of a territorial coherence scheme (SCOT) through the elaboration of a territorial vision). However, some of the cooperation initiatives (e.g. Metropolitan pole ‘Sillon Lorrain’) are mainly implemented through individual projects within single sectors, while others have not yet really moved beyond on the level of networking activities (e.g. European Region Danube- Vltava).
It appears that detailed holistic strategy documents of ‘visions’ are not a prerequisite for soft cooperation. In many cases, relatively vague shared understanding of the purpose of cooperation and shared objectives is sufficient for the implementation of successful cooperation. However, agility to quickly absorb and react to current cooperation issues and topics is important to generate an active and dynamic cooperation environment. A good quality of dialogue between involved stakeholders making it possible to design and implement solutions to concrete issues may in this respect be more important that an elaborate strategy
ESPON 2020 48 document. Flexibility and adaptability regarding the thematic focus of the cooperation seems to be an asset.
Most of the analysed TCAs have an integrative, multisectoral focus and only few are rather single-topic. Often TCAs start out with one (dominant) topic and add new cooperation topics over time, adjusting the cooperation to recent policy developments. The Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino started out in the 1990s with a focus on culture and transport, lobbying for the construction of the Brenner base tunnel. Since then, the strategic focus has both shifted and broadened. It currently addresses all important spheres of life and policy areas, and is also flexible and agile enough to react to recent issues, e.g. to the recent migration and refugee crisis. What could also be observed is that a process of deepening of the cooperation often goes hand in hand with a broadening of its thematic focus. This is, for example, the case of the Greater Copenhagen Cooperation that developed as a follow-up cooperation of the Öresund cooperation (Box 2.18), which focused mainly on taking advantage of the bridge between Malmö/Sweden and Copenhagen/Denmark over the Öresund sea strait that opened in 2000.
Today’s TCA has a broader thematic focus, notably on economic development in the region.
No clear patterns could be observed regarding typical types of cooperation topics, which is rather an indication that TCAs take a place-based approach and focus the collaboration on specific regional needs. Topics that come up frequently are spatial planning, transport &
infrastructure, economic competitiveness & business development, tourism, cultural cooperation, environment & energy. Cooperation topics represent the common denominator of interests of all cooperation partners. This sometimes means that some important issues are not picked up by the cooperation as there is too little common ground for cooperation. A balanced representation of stakeholders from all parts of the cooperation area is therefore important to ensure that the cooperation properly reflects the needs of the entire TCA.
Box 2.18 Greater Copenhagen Business Region
The Greater Copenhagen Business Region is a cooperation between municipalities and regions in Eastern Denmark (Zealand) and Southern Sweden (Skåne). The main aim is to promote business and growth in the region for example by attracting foreign companies and investments, but also by facilitating cross-border labour mobility. The cooperation has a longer history. In the 1930s the construction of a bridge between Denmark and Sweden was first proposed. However, it was only in 2000 that the bridge over the Øresund strait, connecting Malmö and Copenhagen via a rail and road was opened. Following the Øresund Cooperation, which primarily focused on the development of the Øresund bridge, Swedish and Danish politicians developed the idea to transform the existing cooperation into a new organisation, which further aims to intensify cooperation, which led to the establishment of the Business Region.
Figure 2.15: Greater Copenhagen Business Region
Source: ESPON ACTAREA (2017)
ESPON 2020 50
3 Soft cooperation as emerging instruments of territorial governance
The review of soft territorial cooperation frameworks and concrete instances in Switzerland and in the rest of Europe has shown that these are not alternatives, but complements to ‘hard’
structures. They are set up for a variety of reasons, and the initial impetus may come from national, regional or local actors. Similarly, the implementation of the strategy, renewal of the strategic objectives and networking of involved partners can be organised with different combinations of top-down steering and bottom-up processes. The choice of arrangement depends on each cooperation instance’s institutional frameworks, its governance context (i.e.
pre-existing relations between relevant actors) and on the objectives it pursues. Observed frameworks and initiatives are therefore very diverse, and it may be difficult to identify how ‘soft cooperation’ may constitute an object of European policy-making.
One of the core hypotheses of the present study (see definition of TCAs on p.2) is that soft cooperation instances could be approached as ‘communities of intent’. This implies that they are essentially about identifying, structuring and promoting groups of actors that share a development vision embedded in a specific territory. The review confirms that this approach helps to identify an overall coherence and shared rationale of the variety of cooperation instances. On this basis, one may formulate proposals on how soft territorial cooperation can both help to renew the discourse on territorial governance and, on this basis, be mobilised in the pursuit of the European Union objective of ‘territorial cohesion’.