The most comprehensive visualisation project on European border regions to date has now been completed: The ESPON Core-IB project developed about 1,100 maps and 600 charts based on a harmonised evidence base covering all 48 Interreg A cross-border cooperation areas across the ESPON programme area, including 40 land borders and 8 maritime borders. The project provides a scientific foundation for preparing the next generation of Interreg programmes after 2027.
A key outcome of the project is a series of 48 comprehensive border profiles. Each border profile (approximately 90 pages) combines quantitative analysis, maps and visualisations to capture the specific spatial dynamics and challenges of individual cross-border regions.
The project was led by the research group on regional development under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Tobias Chilla and Dominik Bertram. It was commissioned by the ESPON programme on behalf of the European Commission (DG REGIO). The international consortium brought together researchers from the Austrian Institute for Spatial Planning (ÖIR), the European Policies Research Centre (EPRC) at the University of Strathclyde, and Palacký University Olomouc (UPOL).
Further information on the project, including the complete set of border profiles, the final report, methodological documentation and additional outputs, is available on the ESPON CORE-IB project page. The datasets and maps can be accessed through the ESPON portal.