Der Grenzraum als Experimentierfeld: regionale Entwicklungskonzepte für Sonneberg-Neustadt bei Coburg als Grundlage für regionale Wirtschaftsimpulse und als Hilfe zu einem besseren gegenseitigen Verständnis

Abstract

There are three essential challenges that cities and villages in the Federal Republic of Germany are faced with: the weak economic basis, which has been declining in the last few years; the large-space nature of political systems, which has been accelerated by the European Union and eastern and western Europe coming together; and new urban and regional policy systems, whose development is being shaped on the European level. The value of consolidated areas is being enhanced by their increased importance and increasing competition from (European) metropolises as this is expressed by the national urban and regional policy. This forces the rural regions to be especially insistent upon their interests by forming regional initiatives. This supports the co-operation between cities and villages within one region and their institutions with regard to politics, economics and finances. The region under investigation has its two medium centres Neustadt near Coburg and Sonneberg. They initiated a regional development strategy to work towards a reversal from short-term measures towards medium- and long-term strategies for regional policy. This instrument was intended not only to utilise the stimulation produced by reunification and link it to ideas for regional development. It was also important to take an independent path in comparison to the possibilities for action that consolidated areas have. A number of strategies and measures can contribute to a strengthening of regional development from a wide variety of partial areas. For instance, agriculture could be supported by promoting direct marketing, intensifying sales to local restaurants in the sense of regional economic flow or by being orientated towards quality ecological products. With regard to the labour market and the economy, improving paths of information and communication or promoting training and further education could play an important role just as much as a co-ordinated policy on commercial areas such as is being stepped up by Neustadt and Sonneberg. The future development of the region under investigation will decisively depend upon how much it is capable of motivating the regional protagonists to act jointly and constructively. The current buzzwords here are the much-discussed terms if "intermunicipal cooperation" and "public-private partnerships". There will be significant opportunities for improving the region's competitiveness only if the cities and villages cease to think in terms of competing with one another and when the enterprises, associations and interest groups are made aware of their responsibility for the region. For this purpose, it is important to tackle the existing problems with regard to cooperation among cities. Furthermore, the projected staff office for regional management has to receive the appropriate amount of launching aid from the Free States and municipalities.