The aim of the project is to analyze and evaluate the role of the City of Szczecin in relation to the theoretical hinterland of Eastern Vorpommern (Germany) and Western Pomorze (Poland) with special reference to the impact of the state boundary before and after Poland’s entry into the European Union and its possible entry into the Schengen regime. We will try to find the factors that explain developments on different levels. Each factor can be the subject of a major study within the project (a post-doc monograph or a dissertation theme)
a) The importance of super-national developments and their “trickling-down” effects for the region. b) The impact of bi-lateral relations on the national (i.e. state territorial) level. c) Regional and local politics. d) Psychological roots and identity in the local population and the role of language(s) e) The basic relevance of landscape and environmental concerns f) Overarching economic and regional developments.
The theoretical roots for a study of this kind will be found in the central place theory from geography, network theory from various disciplines and functional integration from political science/international relations