Construction of new territorial scales: a framework and case study of the EUREGIO cross-border region

Abstract

The article proposes a framework for analysing re-scaling processes and applies it to a case study of the Dutch-German EUREGIO cross-border region. While much of the scale debate focuses on the causes and consequences of re-scaling, this article addresses the conditions and circumstances in which new territorial scales emerge and suggests a framework of necessary components of re-scaling processes. Informed by neo-Gramscian thinking, the scales debate and recent analyses of regionalisation, these are formulated as: political mobilisation, governance building and strategic unification. The case study locates the EUREGIO case with respect to these dimensions. The article concludes that this framework can be used for studying and comparing other re-scaling cases and presents an initial typology for classifying cross-border regions.