RT Journal Article
T1 Gateway to Europe Eurocity: a failed project of local cross-border cooperation on the Spain–Portugal Border?
A1 Vila Lage, Roberto
A1 Amado Acedo, Alexander
A1 Martín Jiménez, María Isabel
K1 Eurocity
K1 Cross-border cooperation
K1 EGTC
K1 Cross-border urban areas
AB The Gateway to Europe Eurocity European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (GEE EGTC), located in a low-density area of the Portuguese–Spanish border, serves as the case study for this research. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, the paper examines local perspectives on the Eurocity and cross-border cooperation. The findings reveal deep demographic and socio-economic challenges, particularly depopulation and the decline of border-related activities, alongside the persistence of symbolic and cultural ties that foster shared identity. While the GEE EGTC has so far remained largely inactive and disconnected from everyday life, the study highlights both the obstacles that hinder its implementation—such as political discontinuities, institutional fragmentation, and limited resources—and the opportunities to reshape cross-border cooperation through more bottom-up and multi-scalar approaches. These results contribute to the debate on the role and limitations of Eurocities in rural border contexts and invite further reflection on the need to adapt this concept beyond predominantly urban settings.
PB Springer
YR 2026
FD 2026-03-26
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/46677
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/46677
LA eng
NO Vila-Lage, R., Amado, A., & Martín Jiménez, M.I. (2026) Gateway to Europe Eurocity: a failed project of local cross-border cooperation on the Spain–Portugal Border?. GeoJournal 91(54), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-026-11586-8
NO Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.
NO This study has been undertaken within the broader framework of the research project “From Cross-Border to Inter-Regional Cooperation: Challenges and Opportunities for Spanish State Governance. Learnings from the Spanish-Portuguese Border” (TRANSINTER-A, code PID2021-126922NB-C22), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Spanish State Research Agency (https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033) and the European Regional Development Fund “A Way to Build Europe”. Roberto Vila Lage acknowledges financial support from the Xunta de Galicia through the Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme (Consellería de Educación, Ciencia, Universidades e Formación Profesional).
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026