Der zweite Brückenschlag über den Öresund:Vom Bau einer grenzüberschreitenden Region

Abstract

The opening of the bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo offers the opportunity to take a closer look at the Danish-Swedish border region on both sides of the Öresund. The article reviews how the plans to build the bridge have been accompanied by a lively discussion about the effects of the bridge on regional development throughout the last decades. Two basic regional concepts can be identified: one of an “economic region” and one of a “cultural region”. While the former is being supported by the regional elites, the concept of the cultural region is a remnant of the grassroots centre-periphery conflict between Scania and the Swedish capital Stockholm in the seventies. Although the concept of the economic region – not least because of its institutionalisation – is far more visible today there are important findings hinting that the cultural concept cannot be neglected. Conspicuously, the concept surfaces in situations when the regional elites try to justify the “construction” of a new economic region in the public.