Dwelling in border regions – discourse matters

Effects of cross-border mobility resulting from uneven development in border regions can be perceived very differently by city councils or planners and the local population. This paper focuses on the consequences of the cross-border mobility in relation to housing markets in four cities in a transnational cross-border polycentric metropolitan region in Western Europe. It applies Clarke’s situational analysis and Keller’s sociology of knowledge approach to discourse, in order to represent the complexity and contradictions going along with this development. Until now, the study of cross-border mobility focused mainly on the motives of citizens that left their country of origin to dwell in the close by border regions, while the related impacts on neighbouring communities remain mostly unexplored. A quick review of recent media coverage could easily lead one to describe the situation as a sort of love-hate relationship. Analytic cartographies are employed to show that similar effects can be perceived quite differently.