The Öresund Area: Pre- and post-bridge cross-border functional integration: the bi-national regional question

Author: Matthiessen, Christian

Source: GeoJournal, Volume 61, Number 1, March 2004 , pp. 31-39(9)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden were connected in 2000 by the 18- km fixed Öresund link. This meant that the time distance-barrier was reduced dramatically and that the land-sea bottleneck was eliminated. High-profile pre-bridge expectations of a new regional development regime towards a functionally integrated, bi-national region are assessed in this paper. The paper relates to the continuing discussion on development of border-regions and bi-national cities. Data on cross-Öresund flows of people and vehicles, together with data on migration and commuting, indicates a modest post-bridge shift in the development of functional integration. The Öresund Area development towards a bi-national, integrated, functional urban region is in progress, but the progress is much slower than expected.

Keywords: bi-national; Copenhagen; cross-border; functional integration; Lund; Malmö; Öresund; urban development

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/sGEJO-004-5234-6

Affiliations: 1: Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark, Email: cwm@geogr.ku.dk

Publication date: 2004-03-01