The cross-border metropolis hypothesis: Back to the source

The project The cross-border metropolis hypothesis: Back to the source is a visiting research proposal aiming at the secondment of one of LISER's researchers, Christophe Sohn, at the: ? Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies based at University California San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy, the most prominent policy research institute on the US-Mexico border in North America (0.8 FTE) ? Department of Geography, University of California Los Angeles, one of the top ranked departments of geography in the world (0.2 FTE) The objectives of this visiting research initiative are three-fold. They comprise (i) research actions, (ii) capacity building and (iii) networking. Research actions are the primary focus of the intended visit. Two projects will be pursued during the 12 months foreseen for the visit. They build upon and develop Christophe Sohn's research agenda focussing on cross-border metropolises, taking advantage of the expertise of and collaboration with resident UCSD/UCLA researchers as well as the relevance of the location of the visit in San Diego for building a grounded research. The first project takes stock of the seconded fellow's work on the role of borders as a resource and seeks to explore the virtues of a Europe-North America dialogue aiming at context-sensitive comparative analysis. The second project aims at assessing the broader process of the social production of the cross-border metropolitan space through a triadic approach inspired by the work of H. Lefebvre. A second purpose of this visit is to further enhance the research potential and competence of the seconded fellow through (i) integration within the vivid academic community in San Diego and Los Angeles, and (ii) the building of a grounded expertise on comparative cross-border urban development, planning and theory. Finally, the secondment will be an opportunity to establish long-term partnership between LISER and key academic partners in the field of urban studies and border studies in Southern California.