| Resumo: | Inner Scandinavia is one of the Swedish-Norwegian INTERRE G-A three sub-programmes, and has been working in operationalizing cross-border projects in the border area since 1994. To date, several cross-border strategies have been implemented, one for each programming period of the INTERRE G-A programme. This article investigates whether these strategies can be regarded as a type of cross-border planning mechanism in promoting territorial development of the border region. It does so by developing a typology, which captures the essentials of spatial planning, against the background of which the article also analyses Inner Scandinavia governance structures, which involves a whole set of interconnected territorial partnerships between five border counties: Hedmark, Østfold, Akershus (Norway), Värmland and Dalarna (Sweden). Here, the main goal is to see if the Inner Scandinavia governance structure, which was recently altered by the inclusion of the Hedmark–Dalarna cross-border committee, also known as TRU ST, is favourable to the implementation of a genuine and long-term cross-border spatial plan, with the ultimate goal of reducing the barrier effect and improving the territorial capital along the cross-border region. Project dokuments and interviews indicate that the existing cross-border governance model in Inner Scandinavia, led by the INTERRE G-A Steering Committee, produced substantial progresses in reducing the barrier effect, in all its dimensions, and in supporting the territorial development across the border area. Consequently, the role of other cross-border governance structures should be confined to promoting the active involvement and mobilization of local and regional actors in the cross-border cooperation process, and in implementing several cross-border projects with local/regional significance.
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