| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
ODA Hironobu Univ. of Tsukuba, Inst. of Geoscience, Assistant Professor, 地球科学系, 講師 (30280001)
KUREHA Masaaki Univ. of Tsukuba, Inst. of Geoscience, Assistant Professor, 地球科学系, 講師 (50263918)
TAKAHASHI Nobuo Univ. of Tsukuba, Inst. of Geoscience, Professor, 地球科学系, 教授 (50015773)
ITO Takahiro Aichi Univ. of Education, Faculty of Education, Associate Professor, 教育学部, 助教授 (10223158)
TAIRA Atsushi Kagawa Univ., Faculty of Education, Associate Professor, 教育学部, 助教授 (10253246)
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| Research Abstract |
Alsace and Lorraine belong to European Megalopolis, which has been characterized not only by many national boundaries, but also by main linguistic divide of Western Europe. Under the integration of European Union, one can observe the extremely diverse and intensive connections of transborder type in this zone. We have examined in this research project several aspects of these diverse connections, that is, transborder commuting, transborder migration, direct investment of foreign companies, regional ( or municipal ) associations of transborder type, and so on. With the abolishments of border controls, national boundaries of Alsace-Lorraine have lost its significance as an obstacle to passengers. Today, inhabitants in this area hardly perceive the influence of these political boundaries in their everyday life. But, as observed in our fieldwork, national boundaries remain the spatially discontinuous lines in terms of juridical, institutional, and cultural aspects, which continue to form an important obstacle to the construction of transborder associations. In this sense, the geographical meaning of national boundaries remain to be one of most interesting questions in the regional geography of Europe.
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