Following the conference "Cities and Metropolises in France and Germany" on March 14th, this report of the ARL (Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association) is available in French and in English. It includes a contribution by Jean Peyrony, Franziska Sielker and Thomas Perrin, entitled "Cross-border territorial cooperation between France and Germany: evolution, convergence and perspectives".
Following the model of the IBA that has been set up in Basel, a laboratory workshop has been commissioned by the Saarland to study the feasibility of an "Internationale Bau Austellung" (International Architecture and Urban Planning Exhibition) in the Greater Region.
On December 14th, 2022, the closing conference of the first Franco-German spatial planning pilot project (MORO) was held in Strasbourg, with Jean Peyrony, director general of the MOT, and other experts sharing their knowledge at several round tables.
The gradual conversion of a quarry in Saint-Louis, close to the French, Swiss and German borders, offers a promising opportunity for the agglomeration.
The Terres Rouges slag heap is a strategic site for the Alzette-Belval territory.
In the Franco-German region of Strasbourg-Kehl, the municipalities are in the process of implementing a flagship cross-border cooperation project for the extension of urban heating networks. Soon, the waste heat from the local steel mill will supply thousands of households on both sides of the Rhine.
On September 30th, 2022, the closing event of the QUALICANES Interreg project took place.
As a further step towards the construction of the European electricity network, a new 190 km EHV line, entirely underground, is being built between Savoy and Piedmont. It will increase the electricity exchange capacity between France and Italy by 40%.
This study on planning and permits regarding projects for sites intended for major retailers in the SaarMoselle Eurodistrict, on the Franco-German border was carried out by the MOT and the German consultancy Junker+Kruse, for the Saarbrücken Regionalverband.
The MOT is a partner in the research project GeRTrUD – Gestion et régulation transfrontalière de l’urbanisation diffuse (Cross-border management and regulation of scattered urbanisation).
The Saarbrücken Regionalverband has just published a study on planning and permits regarding projects for sites intended for major retailers in the SaarMoselle Eurodistrict, on the Franco-German border. This assignment was carried out by the MOT and the German consultancy Junker+Kruse.
The call selects inspiring projects focused on the transformation of infrastructures or public spaces that promote the three complementary values of the "New European Bauhaus": sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion. Towns (or groupings of municipalities) of fewer than 100,000 inhabitants can apply. EGTCs are also eligible.
More than 30 years after the creation of the INTERREG programme, the European Commission has teamed up with some of the most renowned experts* in the field of ETC to produce the very first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) entirely dedicated to European Territorial Cooperation!
The 3DS bill (standing for differentiation, decentralisation, deconcentration and simplification of local public action) was adopted in its final reading at the Assemblée Nationale and the Senate in France on 8-9 February. The MOT is delighted about the inclusion for the first time of a chapter devoted to cross-border cooperation in a piece of legislation.
With the start of the 2022 marking the launch of France’s presidency of the European Union, it is an important time to champion the construction of a Europe that is closer to its citizens, a Europe of daily life, notably embodied by the cross-border territories, which contribute to cementing the European edifice.
After the AGUR(1), AGAPE(2) and the Saint-Omer AUD(3), the MOT has the pleasure of welcoming two new urban planning agencies into its network: the Besançon Centre Franche-Comté Urban Planning Agency (AUDAB) and the Atlantic-Pyrenees Urban Planning Agency (AUDAP).
On the occasion of the 42nd national meetings of the FNAU*, the MOT jointly led a workshop with the Agence d’Urbanisme Atlantique et Pyrénées (AUDAP) on the topic of public service provision and access in cross-border contexts.
Initiated by Anne Sander MEP, the European Parliament's pilot project "Cross-Border Crisis Response Integrated Initiative" (CBCRII) has just been approved. It can now be implemented by DG REGIO.
On 19 November, the French President Emmanuel Macron came to the Avesnois and the Thiérache to sign a second-generation contract between the French state and the territory.
The four roundtables held during the MOT’s annual event on 21-22 September gave rise to rich discussions among the 200 participants present in Morteau and La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Concrete expressions of the Aachen Treaty, two MORO* pilot projects on the Franco-German border aim to strengthen the cross-border dimension of territorial development practices, using an innovative method that has been widely tried out in Germany – the "Planspiel"**:
In the presence of Joël Giraud, Minister of State for Rural Affairs under the Minister for Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Government, more than a hundred participants from all of France’s borders gathered for the MOT’s general assembly on 21-22 September in Morteau and La Chaux-de-Fonds, at the invitation of the Doubs Urban Conurbation.
"The Doubs Urban Conurbation was set up in 2006. Initially an informal collaboration, it led to the creation of a local grouping of cross-border cooperation, the only one in the Franco-Swiss Jura Arc running between the Basel Trinational Eurodistrict and Greater Geneva. Today the LGCC comprises the Val de Morteau group of municipalities and the towns of Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle.
Seven years after its creation, the LGCC* of the Doubs Urban Conurbation (Agglomération Urbaine du Doubs – AUD) has shown its effectiveness in helping local elected representatives to get to know one another better, which has enabled them to set out joint projects while at the same time speaking with one voice on behalf of the binational territory.
The Basel trinational conurbation is a genuinely shared living area that is strongly interconnected. In designing our Strategy 2030, it seemed extremely important to us to set our goals in accordance with what matters to the region’s population.
