Cross-Border Central Places in the Bavarian-Czech border region – Closing the gap for services of general interest?

Creating equal living conditions in rural border regions poses a particular challenge for policy-makers and planners. In addition to demographic factors, national borders negatively affect the sustainability of services of general interest. However, overcoming border-related barriers also holds potential to compensate for gaps in service provision. It is therefore noteworthy that Bavarian federal state planning has designated so-called cross-border central places (GRZO) since 1994. Since the instrument is not legally binding abroad, its effectiveness appears to be limited. Moreover, it is unclear to what extent cross-border public services on the basis of cross-border central places are perceived as a potential by the population concerned. In order to discuss this, guided interviews were conducted with citizens in affected Bavarian municipalities on the Czech border and complemented by expert interviews. On the one hand, the results indicate a limited perception of cross-border public services as a relevant potential. On the other hand, they point to some concrete expectations of the cross-border central places designation that have not yet been fulfilled and at times reinforce a latent feeling of being left behind.