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Just a train-ride away, but still worlds apart: Prospects for the Øresund region as a binational city

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Abstract

This article considers whether the cities of Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden, recently joined by the Øresund bridge, ought to be considered as one binational city. Working from the assumption that the project of constructing this binational city is a top-down endeavor whose success ultimately rests on the degree of support it receives from regional inhabitants, I focus on public opinion survey data collected one year after the opening of the bridge. Analysis shows that there are sharp national differences in the amount of support for the construction of a binational greater metropolitan region. I discuss how these differences may lead to an asymmetrical development for the emerging binational city, with Malmö eclipsed by the Danish capital Copenhagen, as well as how the heavily multi-cultural population of Malmö can impact Danish-Swedish cooperation on the Øresund.

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Author notes

  1. Gregg Bucken-Knapp

    Present address: Department of Political Science, Goteborg University, Box 711, SE-405 30, Goteborg, Sweden

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Danish Institute of Border Region Studies, Aabenraa, Denmark

    Gregg Bucken-Knapp

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  1. Gregg Bucken-Knapp
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Bucken-Knapp, G. Just a train-ride away, but still worlds apart: Prospects for the Øresund region as a binational city. GeoJournal 54, 51–60 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021188631424

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