Geodetski Vestnik (Jan 2009)
Dynamics of cross-border spatial development : a case study of the Maribor (SI) – Graz (A) development axis
Abstract
The opening of internal borders among the European Union member states has not only evoked complex socio-economic processes, but also produced new spatial development potentials. This is especially important for the areas located close to the national borders that were until recently regarded as underdeveloped and peripheral. Conversely, the European Union sees them in a completely different light, as key elements in the process of integration, economic, and social cohesion. Consequently, the processes of cooperation and networking have been triggered on different levels, whereby the deterritorialisation of the new economic, social, cultural and spatial relations occurs. The article describes the issue of spatial development of cross-border areas, which are setting up new development conditions by opening the borders. This topic is presented by the case study of spatial development of the area stretching along the axis between two regional centres, Maribor (Slovenia) and Graz (Austria), in the past subjected to numerous demographical, economical and geopolitical changes. In this regard, two viewpoints of spatial development of the area are exposed: the first one explores the influence of the national border on the development of the research area, while the second one reflects contemporary trends of dispersed urbanization along the infrastructural corridor extending between both regional centres, the most indicative among them being the emergence of new urban nodes.
