Cross-border urban sustainable planning in USA and EU border cities

Abstract

This article presents a comparison between cross-border urban sustainable planning strategies in two border cities. One is located in the European Union, along the Portuguese-Spanish border area (the Eurocity Elvas/Campo Maior//Badajoz). Another is located in North America, along the USA-Mexico border area (Nogales/Nogales). Supported by a literature review and interviews, the research concluded that cross-border urban sustainable planning is still in its initial phases in both case studies given other cross-border urban planning priorities. In the European case, environmentally sustainable issues are not particularly relevant in the Eurocity cross-border planning strategy. In the North American case, sustainable planning is developed at the national level, in particular with the support of cross-border strategies in the domain of water and energy infrastructure, but not at the border-city level.