InTerAlp – Interface Territories across the Alpine region
Projects
InTerAlp sets out to contribute to the ongoing discourse around an Alpine Spatial Planning Perspective (ASPP)
January 2023 – November 2024
EUR 243,250.00
The Alpine region is a diverse and complex territory composed of the Alpine Arc from the Mediterranean Sea in the south-west to the plains along the Danube in the north-east. Among core mountain and low-lying areas there are strong flows of people and goods, and strong dependences on ecosystem services provided by inner Alpine areas. The Alpine-specific territorial trends and challenges are often cross-border in nature and require cross-border cooperation to tackle challenges in the fields of demography, climate change adaptation, economic development, ecological connectivity, spatial organisation and living conditions.
The core Alpine area is functionally strongly intertwined with the low-lying areas, which are highly populated and developed. The region is furthermore characterised by a high level of global interconnectedness. While the complexity of the different areas that make up the Alpine territory is a richness, it also creates challenges for spatial planning within the fuzzy borders of the Alpine region.
The diverse phenomena affecting and shaping the Alpine region, the multitude of flows and relationships, and the global interconnections need to be analysed beyond administrative boundaries. This is a precondition for designing more effective, operative development policies in such a complex European region.
The complex territorial setting of the Alpine region is addressed by a high number of spatial development strategies, planning and governance institutions. The numerous institutions and stakeholders involved in the latter have contributed to a multi-faceted knowledge on spatial development in the Alpine region. However, the transition areas between the mountainous Alpine territory and the pre-alpine lowland have not yet been addressed systematically. This space can be labelled as ‘interface territory’, ‘transition zone’ or ‘fringe area’. These interface territories are spread across the Alps – some of them with a cross-border character (e.g. Milan - Ticino, Munich - Tyrol, Bozen), others with a national character (e.g. Ljubljana – Triglav area, Vienna – Lower Austrian Alps).
Interface territories are characterised by a high number of interlinkages and flows that bring about a strong need for effective territorial planning and governance tools. Effective spatial development and scenarios for future sustainable development are crucial to ensure a good quality of life of the Alpine population. At the same time, ecological fragmentation significantly increases along these interface territories due to settlements, transport infrastructure as well as intensive agriculture, making impactful and coordinated management of (still) existing green and blue infrastructure corridors all the more crucial.
In a complex landscape of multiple institutions dealing with Alpine spatial planning, this ESPON targeted analysis will serve as a joint basis for ever-closer cooperation and coordination among stakeholders. Therefore, InTerAlp sets out to contribute to the ongoing discourse around an Alpine Spatial Planning Perspective (ASPP) that has gained momentum over recent years and shall be shared by responsible regional and national decision-makers and embedded in the work of the Alpine Convention and EUSALP.
The following questions shall be addressed by this targeted analysis:
- What are the relationships, flows and interlinkages between inner- and pre-Alpine areas?
- What kind of functional areas/regions can be delineated on the basis of environmental/social/ economic characteristics defining the Alpine macro-region, in order to design more effective operative policies at cross-border and transnational levels?
- What are the common and specific challenges for the interface territories (in particular non-sustainable trends and imbalances, external effects, weak governance tools)?
- How to face the relationship between the core Alpine area (i.e. Alpine Convention perimeter) and the part of the macro-region beyond the morphological Alps (i.e. EUSALP perimeter) in a comprehensive and holistic way, with their commonalities and differences considering their somehow competing and imbalanced relationship in the use of resources and territorial character (e.g. remote areas vs metro-regions)?
- What kind of governance solutions are most promising (intermunicipal, interregional, cross-border, transnational, functional, soft or binding) for tackling common trans Alpine challenges?
- How can cooperation and cross-border relations be improved to support a more cooperative and synergic relationship between the core (i.e. Alpine Convention perimeter) and the larger Alpine area (i.e. EUSALP perimeter) by effective operative policies promoting a more balanced core-periphery relationship?
- How can the various existing bodies and initiatives be better used and coordinated?
- Which partnerships might be of particular interest at European or global level?
- How to promote effectiveness of soft planning instruments and planning tools, founded on a cooperative and a place-based approach?
The main outputs of the service shall be:
- Territorial evidence on the existing interlinkages and flows in Alpine interface territories;
- Identification of common development challenges that could be addressed by tailored governance mechanisms;
- Delineation of functional areas that are defining the Alpine macro-region;
- Assessment of the effectiveness of existing governance structures for Alpine interface territories for an integrated sustainable development of the Alpine region;
- Proposals of ways/measures/tools to better and more effectively plan for and develop Alpine interface territories in a sustainable manner, addressing possibilities for improving cooperation and cross-border relations and indicating ways of using existing bodies and initiatives better.
- Proposals for the promotion of effective soft planning instruments and tools.
Stakeholders
German Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building (DE) Lead Stakeholder
Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management (AT),
Federal Office for Spatial Development (CH)
Lombardy Region ‐ Department of Environment and Climate (IT).
More information
Contractor: Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany)
Joint Partners: Politecnico di Torino (Italy), OIR (Austria)
Contact
Michaela Gensheimer (Research and Policy Manager)
Caroline Clause ( Financial and Budget Manager)