Book review

Gaining Advantage from Open Borders: an active space approach to regional development.
Marina van Geenhuizen and Remigio Ratti, eds.
Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001. xvi and 398 pp., maps, diags., notes and refs.
$89.95 cloth (ISBN 0 7546 1710 6).


The opening up of many national boundaries for transport, trade, investment and information has created new challenges and opportunities for the countries involved, especially their border regions. Increased traffic, widened contacts, less protection against competition and expanding markets are among the consequences. Geenhuizen and Ratti’s book sets out to examine these changes and the ways in which different regions respond to them in the European context. This 400-page volume originates from the Network of European Communications and Transport Activity Research (Nectar), a European group of mainly geographers and regional economists around Peter Nijkamp, Piet Rietveld and others. Within this context, van Geenhuizen and Ratti have been developing their ideas about border regions for some time. Ratti (with Reichmann, 1993) edited an earlier volume on the subject and also developed the “active space approach”,, first published in English by Ratti and van Geenhuizen in 1998.
Both now compiled a collection of 19 articles by 17 authors who apply this approach to a variety of border regions in Europe. The editors emphasize that every region can, to some extent, be viewed as an active space. Whereas a “passive space approach” would focus on external, often global-scaled forces, the authors stress that internal factors such as creativity and openness play a crucial role for regional development. It might be argued that very similar ideas have been discussed as the learning region or innovative regional milieus, but Ratti and van Geenhuizen introduce the “active space approach” as a universal concept for all kinds of regions.
With its focus on openness, it is obviously a very suitable approach to apply to border regions. The editors define openness as being open to interaction within the region and with neighboring regions (p. 23). While this is a necessary condition for active space, it is not sufficient. Without creative learning abilities and a concern for sustainability, a region might appear as mere transit corridor. However new this approach may be, it serves effectively to integrate the different contributions to this volume. It is always a problem to make an edited volume coherent and valuable beyond the sum of the individual articles. In this case, the coherence benefits from the fact that many authors are familiar with one another's work from their involvement in Nectar activities. So, many of them refer to the active space approach and the impact of open borders. In the first of the book's three parts, the editors introduce and elaborate their approach, drawing on Ratti’s earlier work in French. This is followed by essays on the role of small and medium enterprises (Steiner) and of regional governance (Bramanti) for active regions.
Part 2 provides seven empirically based case studies on the issue of openness. It starts with a very interesting chapter by Rietveld, in which he sets out to quantify the obstacle effect of borders in transport networks. De Boer complements this with a case study on the rural northern segment of the Dutch-German border. His point is that openness alone will not create cross-border interaction if the demand is lacking - a thesis supported by the case of the Finnish-Karelian border as introduced by Eskelinen. As in Krätke’s case of the German-Polish border, an integrated border region has yet to develop. By contrast, the Dutch-Belgian border is one of the most open in Europe. Yet van Houtum finds a significant effect on business activities, which he attributes primarily to psychological barriers. His chapter also is inspiring because of his discussion of national borders as a socially desired (p. 124). Other chapters in part 2 focus on transborder investment (van Geenhuizen) and labor markets (Maggioni and Bramanti, for the Swiss-Italian border). Despite the transport-related background of the whole project, the book goes beyond issues of circulation to present a comprehensive and balanced picture of transborder interactions beyond transport issues.
Part 3 contains seven chapters on border region governance and a concluding statement by the editors. Blatter, in the longest essay, offers a comprehensive, well-informed and well-structured overview of cross-border institution building. His main reference area is the Rhine Valley, but he also repeatedly refers to American examples. His account of related problems and strategies links well to Mlinar’s chapter on the obstacles to cross-border cooperation in Istria (between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia), which emphasizes problems of asymmetry in size and power as well as historical baggage. His chapter is very valuable, as it adds a different perspective. Krätke and Eskelinen also refer to East and Central European border regions, but only Mlinar writes from one of the eastern states applying for EU membership. Thus, the book’s focus on Western Europe can be criticized as unbalanced.
Apart from cross border institutions, part 3 relates to “active space” oriented regional policy for border regions. Examples come from Austria (Styria: high-tech centered regional development, by Steiner and Jud), Germany (Saxony: free enterprise zone allocation, by Siepmann), the Netherlands (Rotterdam: port development, by van Geenhuizen and Nijkamp) and Switzerland (Ticino: proposed public-private partnership holding for tourism promotion, by Ratti and Vitta). Corvers links to both themes of part 3 with his assessment of two major EU regional policy tools for border regions (Interreg) and regional innovation (RITTS/RIS).
Although the editors have effectively made individual contributions support each other and relate to the overall theme of the volume, they could have made a bigger effort to assist and encourage authors to enhance their illustrations. Many contributions include no figures or maps. A number of maps are rather confusing (chapter 8), poorly designed (chapters 12 and 16) or badly reproduced (chapter 11). Especially in a book that correctly stresses the importance of the region and spatial constellations, maps should be essential ingredients. This is even more so, as the book will also appeal to academics outside Europe and practitioners. With its active space approach, its very appropriate focus on border regions and a set of instructive case studies, this volume should certainly be inspiring to all geographers interested in regional development, in border research or in the European integration process. 

Key words: borders, regional development, active space, Europe.

Literature cited:

• Ratti, Remigio and Reichman, Shalom, eds. 1993. Theory and practice of transborder cooperation. Basel and Frankfurt: Helbing & Lichtenhahn.
• van Geenhuizen, Marina and Ratti, Remigio. 1998. Managing openness in transport and regional development: an active space approach. In: Button, Kenneth et al. (eds.) Transport networks in Europe: concepts, analysis and policies. Cheltenham: Elgar.

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