The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning

Research Project: Results of the COVID-19 crisis in the border areas

Project briefing

  • Status Ongoing
  • Started July 2021
  • Programme MORO

This project is to contribute to the spatial differentiation of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by identifying possible consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in German border regions and, as far as possible, describing them quantitatively. In the Franco-German border area, the French regions are included in a more detailed analysis.

Background

Since the first few months of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has massively influenced and changed almost all areas of human life. Not only did the health risk rise change our direct behaviour, the scope and the way we do business, work, live, commute, are mobile, learn, maintain social relationships, communicate, consume, spend leisure time or travel has changed massively.

The long-term development and effects of many of the consequences of the pandemic are still not foreseeable. But the consequences are becoming increasingly tangible and also quantifiable. This is done primarily at the macro level, such as the overall economic dimension.

At the regional level, the pandemic itself, with incidences and COVID-19-related deaths reported for districts and cities independent from district administrations, is well known to the population. However, the social and economic consequences have so far been spatially differentiated and not very systematically recorded and analysed. The regional dimension of the wider consequences of the pandemic often remains at the level of reports on individual cases and anecdotes. This also applies in particular to the border areas between Germany and neighbouring countries.

Objective

This project aims to contribute to a spatial differentiation of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus is on the border regions to Germany's nine neighbouring countries. For this type of region, which may be particularly affected, there is currently a lack of evidence on the consequences of the pandemic and associated measures.

The aim of this study is to identify the possible consequences of the crisis in the border regions and, as far as possible, to describe them quantitatively. For this purpose, the German regions at all external borders of the Federal Republic are to be analysed. In the French-German border area, the French regions are to be included in a more detailed analysis

Contractor

Contact us

  • Claire Duvernet
    Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development
    Division RS 3 "European Spatial and Urban Development"
    Phone: +49 228 99401-2328
    Email: claire.duvernet@bbr.bund.de

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