Discussion on cross-border integration using non-dominant mobility flows

On the edge of two different countries, cross-border regions exhibit very peculiar features. While borders can be seen as an interface or a barrier, analyze the interactions between two sovereign spatial entities is extremely important for political reasons, economical development, land use management, etc. Because of data availability issues, spatial cross-border integration is mostly characterized using cross-border workers commuting flow information, or more rarely, by using activities performed by cross-border workers in the country they work.

Despite its small size (2586 km2), the Grand-duchy of Luxembourg is a strong economic locomotive. Among the 380 000 available jobs in the country, 42% are occupied by cross border workers from France, Belgium and Germany. While the commuting behavior and the activity chains of the cross border workers have been largely studied this is not the case for the population living in Luxembourg.

This study, using two weeks of travel diary data of 35 staff members of the University of Luxembourg living in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, aims at analyzing the relationship that the respondents have with borders. Our hypothesis is that cross-border integration characterization would gain in robustness if non-dominant centripetal flows were taken into account as well.