Exploring Subbordia – the impact of suburbanisation in cross-border metropolitan regions. The case study of Szczecin and its German hinterland

Abstract

Abstract This paper focuses on the largely unexamined phenomenon of the developing trans-national suburban area west of Szczecin. Sadly the local communities in this functionally connected area struggle with national planning policies that are unsuitable for the region. The paper examines the impact of those processes on the border region in general and on the localities in particular. The paper investigates the consequences for local narratives and the cohesive development of the Euroregion and what position Polish and German communities took to develop the region, even without the necessary planning support. The region has succeeded in establishing grass-roots planning mechanisms which have helped to create a metropolitan-region working from the bottom up.