The origins of cross-border institutions date back to the second half of the 1950s, when sub-national authorities across European borders felt the need to establish structured forms of cooperation in order to tackle common problems or to seize shared opportunities for development and for improving the quality of life for border communities. These initiatives were taken up and supported primarily within the Council of Europe, partly as a means of fostering peace following the Second World War. This led to the creation of the first ‘Euroregions’ (the first is traditionally identified as having been established on the border between Germany and the Netherlands by three municipal associations in 1958), followed by the emergence of ‘Working Communities’, generally focused on economic development and covering a wider area. At the same time, in 1972, the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) was established – the first collegial body representing the interests of border regions.

With the first reform of the Structural Funds (in 1989) and the establishment of a genuine European regional policy, cross-border cooperation was allocated specific funding through the creation of the Interreg programmes.

Since the 1990s, thanks in part to the resources made available under cohesion policies, attempts to institutionalise cross-border and territorial relations have multiplied; it is in this context that the adoption of the EGTC Regulation must be understood; since 2006, this Regulation has sought to provide a ‘ready-to-use’ tool for the establishment of cross-border, transnational and interregional bodies at sub-national level.

EGTCs have grown in importance and become increasingly widespread in recent years, partly due to the ever-greater strategic focus on European territorial cooperation, which has been one of the priority macro-objectives of cohesion policy since 2007. Furthermore, whilst the Covid-19 pandemic has, on the one hand, highlighted the fragility of integration processes at sub-national level, with local and regional border actors finding themselves caught off guard by national border closures often adopted unilaterally and suddenly by Member States; on the other hand, it has also strengthened a coordinated movement of European border regions, which are strongly calling for recognition of their specific status and a greater expansion of cross-border public services. The issue of cross-border cooperation and the instruments dedicated to it is now highly topical and relevant.

As of August 2025 (the latest available update), 91 groups operating within and across the European Union were listed in the official EGTC register (managed by the Committee of the Regions); of these, fourteen include Italian participants. Furthermore, other EGTCs involving Italian entities are currently being established, with processes at various stages of development.

The experiences of EGTCs inevitably share certain common features, given that they are based on the same legal framework. At the same time, however, they also exhibit numerous differences, which can be identified and analysed from various perspectives. These include the specific characteristics of the territories in which they are located, the year of establishment and thus their longevity, the objectives they choose to pursue, the governance models they adopt, the main sources of funding and their projects, the level of integration achieved and experience gained, the level of political and technical involvement, their shared membership of certain Member States, and the possible participation of non-EU territories.

Until now, there has been no in-depth, systematic study of the experiences of EGTCs in Italy that could, on the one hand, help us understand what has been achieved so far through this instrument and what the future prospects are; and, on the other hand, enable the Groups themselves to get to know one another by learning through an exchange of experiences and best practices.

The project “European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation in Italy: Current Status and Policy Recommendations” aims to fill this gap. Funded as part of the ITALIAE2 Project, the project stems from an agreement between the Department of Regional Affairs and Autonomies (DARA) of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, which is responsible for processing applications for authorisation to establish EGTCs and for maintaining the National Register of EGTCs (pursuant to Article 46 of Law No. 88 of 7 July 2009) , and the Institute for Studies on Regional, Federal and Autonomous Systems of the National Research Council (CNR ISSIRFA). To carry out the planned activities, CNR ISSIRFA has chosen to collaborate with two centres of recognised prestige with specific expertise in the field of territorial cooperation: the FULL – Future Urban Legacy Lab at the Polytechnic University of Turin and the Institute for Comparative Federal Studies at EURAC Research.

The activities carried out during the project period (July 2024 – December 2025) can be divided into three categories:

Research activities: the project aimed to examine the EGTC instrument and its practical implementation in Italy, including through a direct survey of the experiences of Italian public bodies in this area;

Support activities: the project provided a platform for existing EGTCs and those in the process of being established to connect with one another and discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by this instrument. Specific support activities were also carried out for a number of EGTCs currently being set up;

Regulatory support activities: the project provided a forum for discussing the European and national regulatory frameworks and proposing that the latter be brought into line with the changes introduced by Regulation 1302/2013.

This volume covers all these activities and is structured as follows.

Chapter 1 presents a review of the main existing literature on EGTCs at national and international level. In addition to providing an overview of the state of the art in publications that have examined the EGTC experience over the last 20 years, the review served as the starting point for identifying the outstanding issues subsequently addressed in the analysis of EGTCs in Italy. Chapter 2 outlines the current regulatory framework, at European and national level, governing EGTCs and discusses prospects for reform. It also presents aspects of national legislation in certain European countries, particularly those hosting EGTCs with Italian participants. Chapter 3 presents, through a comprehensive set of maps, an overview of EGTCs with Italian participants, described and categorised on the basis of the various elements that characterise them (e.g. Italian/foreign law; year of establishment; type of territorial cooperation; type of participating actors; resources mobilised). The chapter also includes a description of each EGTC and the types of activities carried out. Chapter 4 reports on the research activities carried out. Following a brief methodological introduction, the survey results are presented, organised around four main themes: internal organisation (bodies and decision-making processes; any internal regulations; frequency of meetings, staff management, etc.); funding and resources (sources of funding, with a particular focus on Interreg programmes, and use of resources); external organisation (institutional relations at various levels; relations with the local area; visibility and communication); administrative issues (related to the implementation of activities and the cross-border nature of the bodies). Chapter 5 discusses the potential and challenges of EGTCs in Italy, based on the findings of the analysis. It examines the added value of the EGTC instrument, including in light of the different types and approaches identified, as well as the main limitations and issues arising from its application and any future prospects and potential for improvement. Furthermore, based on the study’s findings, the chapter identifies several key elements to be taken into account when establishing an EGTC. Chapter 6 discusses the operational activities carried out as part of the project, including a series of online seminars (held between May and June 2025) and support activities for training initiatives; the possibility of replicating the adopted model is also discussed. Finally, Chapter 7 sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations for DARA and for the optimal use of the EGTC instrument in the Italian context.

The report is accompanied by two appendices: a checklist setting out the steps required to carry out the preliminary assessment of EGTCs; and an extensive bibliography on European territorial cooperation and EGTCs. The research and support work – and therefore this volume – presents the results of an initial attempt to systematise and share the knowledge accumulated by EGTCs with Italian participants, almost 20 years after the adoption of Regulation 1082/2006. The findings of the research paint a picture of a dynamic and evolving instrument, which has so far enabled very significant results to be achieved and, at the same time, appears not yet to have fully realised its potential. From this perspective, the volume also offers a series of ideas for further study and activities, in which research and support can bolster the effectiveness and usefulness of European territorial cooperation initiatives.

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Border regions exhibit considerable territorial diversity. They may be peripheral or metropolitan, and the border itself may be a mountain range, a river or a plain. Disparities can be very high even along the same border, as can differences in labour markets and mobility patterns (Hippe et al. 2024). At the same time, political cultures and multi-level governance systems on both sides of the border can be very different, often characterised only by selective cross-border agreements. Territorial diversity in border regions can therefore be highly complex.

A paradoxical situation can be observed: although the importance of cross-border integration is widely recognised, governance solutions are often incremental and analytical insights remain limited (Berzi et al. 2026). It is against this backdrop that the CROSSGOV project was launched, with the aim of achieving a ‘new level’ of analytical understanding and implementing measures to unlock the potential of governance in border regions.

The CROSSGOV project supports EU, national and regional policies in addressing the following key questions:

• How should cross-border functional areas in Europe be defined? How can analytical definitions be aligned with the actual realities of the cross-border functional areas in which people live and work?

• How can we expand our understanding, based on indicators, of how border regions function within a complex data landscape?

• What are the main patterns and dynamics, as well as the challenges and solutions, within border regions and their cross-border functional areas?

• What governance structures are in place in cross-border regions? How can vertical and horizontal policy coherence be ensured in order to harness the potential of cross-border functional areas?

Addressing both the functional and governance aspects of border regions across Europe, the project is organised into three activities. Tasks 1 and 2 focus on the European level and involve a review of academic and policy-relevant literature on border regions, with a particular focus on cross-border functional areas. A further key output is the pan-European database, which will provide cross-border spatial data.

Task 3 provides a complementary analysis of the functional areas and governance structures of the ten study areas, discussing not only the current situation but also exploring future scenarios for cross-border contexts with regional stakeholders.

The FULL centre contributed to the ESPON CROSSGOV project by working on this final report and on the case studies of Espace Mont-Blanc and Kras-Carso-Trieste.

• Official website ESPON featuring all the information and research outputs
• ESPON page for the Final Report and its annexes
• Casi di studio analizzati da FULL: Espace Mont Blanc e Kras-Carso-Trieste

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Episode 4 – Participation and active citizenship

Participation is actually a spectrum of practices, which are also defined as a “ladder” or “tree of participation” to represent its various forms: from information to citizen consultation, to more active forms of collaboration and greater responsibility in decision-making processes. Listening to the voices of those who want to contribute to tomorrow’s change is useful for achieving the transitions that our cities and territories need.

• Texts by Erica Mangione (FULL), Cristian Campagnaro, Giorgia Curtabbi, and Martina Leo (PoliTo for social issues).
• Voices of Cristian Campagnaro, Giorgia Curtabbi, and Martina Leo from PoliTo for social issues, Claudio Jampaglia

Zeta _ Cities in Transition is a podcast by FULL – Future Urban Legacy Lab, the research center on cities and territory at the Polytechnic University of Turin, produced for the ZetaLab project of the City of Turin, funded by the Piedmont Region, to promote participation and active citizenship among young people.

• Coordination Mauro Fontana, Erica Mangione, Manuela Ronci.
• With the participation of PoliTo per il Sociale and Lucio Beltrami.
• Post-production and editing Claudio Jampaglia at Radio Popolare studios.
• Music by Gaetano Nicosia.
• Graphics by Giuseppe Mangiola.

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Episode Three – The Right Transition

The just transition is not a destination, but an ongoing process that requires placing socio-spatial justice at the heart of urban transformations, guiding every decision on spaces, resources, and rights.

• Lyrics and lead vocals Erica Mangione
• With contributions and voices from young participants in the course Challenges for the Contemporary City.

Zeta _ Cities in Transition is a podcast by FULL – Future Urban Legacy Lab, the research center on cities and territory at the Polytechnic University of Turin, produced for the ZetaLab project of the City of Turin, funded by the Piedmont Region, to promote participation and active citizenship among young people.

• Coordination Mauro Fontana, Erica Mangione, Manuela Ronci.
• With the participation of PoliTo per il Sociale and Lucio Beltrami.
• Post-production and editing Claudio Jampaglia at Radio Popolare studios.
• Music by Gaetano Nicosia.
• Graphics by Giuseppe Mangiola.

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Second episode – the digital transition

The digital transition is not a race for innovation. It is a transformation of the way we live, participate, and make decisions.

• Lyrics and lead vocals Mauro Fontana
• With contributions and voices from Maria Ferrara, Tommaso Listo, and the young participants in the course Challenges for the Contemporary City.

Zeta _ Cities in Transition is a podcast by FULL – Future Urban Legacy Lab, the research center on cities and territory at the Polytechnic University of Turin, produced for the ZetaLab project of the City of Turin, funded by the Piedmont Region, to promote participation and active citizenship among young people.

• Coordination Mauro Fontana, Erica Mangione, Manuela Ronci.
• With the participation of PoliTo per il Sociale and Lucio Beltrami.
• Post-production and editing Claudio Jampaglia at Radio Popolare studios.
• Music by Gaetano Nicosia.
• Graphics by Giuseppe Mangiola.

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First episode – the ecological transition

Even before being a technical or political issue, ecological transition is a cultural transition. It is a change that prompts us to question the way we inhabit the world and live in cities.

• Lyrics and lead vocals by Manuela Ronci.
• With contributions and voices from young participants in the course Challenges for the Contemporary City.

Zeta _ Cities in Transition is a podcast by FULL – Future Urban Legacy Lab, the research center on cities and territory at the Polytechnic University of Turin, produced for the ZetaLab project, promoted by the City of Turin and funded by the Piedmont Region to promote participation and active citizenship among young people.

• Coordination Mauro Fontana, Erica Mangione, Manuela Ronci.
• With the participation of PoliTo per il Sociale and Lucio Beltrami.
• Post-production and editing Claudio Jampaglia at Radio Popolare studios.
• Music by Gaetano Nicosia.
• Graphics by Giuseppe Mangiola.

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The European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs), established under EC Regulation 1082/2006, are the first European cooperation structures to be granted legal personality. They evolved from forms of cross-border cooperation started in the 1950s, and gained strategic importance with the Interreg programmes (1989) until the recognition of territorial cooperation as a macro-objective of European cohesion policy (2007).

The research focuses on the growing relevance of EGTCs in the post-pandemic context, where COVID-19 highlighted both the fragility of sub-national integration processes – with the unilateral closures of national borders – and the strengthening of a coordinated movement of border regions claiming specific recognition and greater dissemination of cross-border public services.

The project analyses the 14 EGTCs with Italian participation officially registered with the Committee of the Regions (out of a total of 88 in Europe), which are characterised by considerable territorial, institutional and functional heterogeneity. This diversity – ascribable to specific territorial characteristics, longevity, pursued objectives, governance models, funding sources and levels of integration – calls for a systematic analytical approach that has been lacking until now.

The multi-disciplinary methodology combines legal-institutional, territorial and strategic-functional analysis through four operational phases:

• preliminary framing with comprehensive mapping and structured questionnaires;
• comparative analysis with taxonomy and modelling;
• in-depth interviews with the 14 case studies;
• and the elaboration of policy-oriented recommendations for DARA.

FULL conducts the analysis of the territorial aspects of EGTCs, focusing on spatial dimensions, multi-level governance and operational performance. The research examines internal and external governance models, organisational and financial dynamics, contextualising them in the European territorial cooperation landscape. Particular attention is devoted to the litterature review, as well as to the identification of the distinctive features of the most effective experiences in order to gain an understanding of the factors that determine operational success or criticality.

The objective is to produce in-depth scientific knowledge of the legal, organisational and operational forms of the Italian EGTCs, developing taxonomies and systematic comparisons in order to identify performance improvement guidelines. The project also aims at facilitating the exchange of experiences and good practices among EGTCs, supporting DARA in the definition of policies and guidelines for ex-ante evaluations and future assessments.

The results will include a concluding scientific report with policy-oriented recommendations, operational guidelines for EGTCs, academic publications and a public presentation event. The dissemination activities will involve diversified stakeholders – EGTCs, local institutions, civil society, research centres – using the communication channels of the National Research Council – Institute for Studies on Regional, Federal and Autonomous Systems “Massimo Severo Giannini” (CNR ISSIRFA).

Thanks to ITALIAE, it will be possible to set up the first systematic study on Italian EGTCs, providing a solid empirical basis for evidence-based policies and scientific support for the strengthening of European territorial cooperation in a context of increasing cross-border challenges.

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Border regions in the ESPON (European Spatial Planning Observation Network) area face complex obstacles that transcend legal and administrative dimensions, involving economic, political, cultural, cognitive and interpersonal aspects. The diversity of contexts – characterising the 27 EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom – requires specific bottom-up approaches for multi-level cooperation, going beyond traditional ‘universal’ solutions.

Developed under the ESPON 2030 programme, CROSSGOV proposes an innovative approach centred on cross-border functional areas as a means of reducing barriers and facilitating the flows of people, goods, materials and knowledge. The perspective adopted goes beyond traditional definitions of ‘border regions’, developing new analytical frameworks to understand real interactions across administrative borders.

Integration is analysed through two dimensions: spatial interactions based on flows and barriers, and convergence of spatial characteristics driven by processes of homogeneity and discontinuity. However, these areas remain inadequately explained in their daily activities, representing a knowledge gap for European cohesion policies.

The methodology combines official Eurostat statistics, georeferenced big data and advanced web scraping techniques to dynamically represent functional areas. The main challenges include: scarcity of harmonised European data, lack of systematic information on functional flows (labour mobility, access to services, production networks), and complexity in the cartographic representation of institutional-territorial intertwining.

Comparative mapping, interactive visualisation and spatial analysis are the key tools to support more effective and evidence-based cooperation policies. The objective is to provide rigorous scientific understanding of functional areas and to formulate concrete recommendations for improving governance mechanisms in the ESPON space.

The research examines status quo and unexpressed potential of functional integration, identifying drivers, structural obstacles, emerging opportunities and evolutionary trends. Specific focus on multi-level governance mechanisms applicable to different European contexts.
FULL is also currently implementing two strategic case studies: the Espace Mont Blanc (Italy-France-Switzerland), an Alpine area with high functional integration and consolidated governance, and the Trieste Karst (Italy-Slovenia), a post-frontier region in the process of re-integration. These cases will make it possible to empirically test the models developed and develop recommendations that can be transferred to other European contexts.

Project outputs:

• Official ESPON website
• Final report
• Case studies analysed by FULL: Espace Mont Blanc and Kras-Carso-Trieste

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The project was developed in collaboration with the City Council’s Department for Urban Care, Public Green Areas and Riverbanks of the City of Turin and the collaboration between Palazzo Madama and key national partners, who have always been committed to environmental conservation and protection, primarily the Po River Basin Authority (ABDPO) and the Interregional Agency for the Po River (A.I.Po) together with the Po Biosphere Reserves, now united in the UNESCO MaB Po Grande Reserve. Alongside them are Turin-based interpreters, from the Polytechnic University of Turin to the University of Turin and the European Research Institute, who carry out daily research and study of the Po and water in general from different disciplinary perspectives, with the media partnership of Rai Radio3.

Addressing the essential issues of climate change in an exhibition that weaves together a visual narrative developed entirely through the interaction between large-scale painting and photography, illustration, and infographics capable of narrating the Italian landscape in all its complexity and articulation, from the Alps to the sea, the exhibition project focuses on the theme of water and in particular on our Great River, which for millennia has determined the landscape and the life of the population, is a means of communication but also an essential support for agricultural and industrial activities, and explores the consequences and analyzes the potential solutions implemented in the area by the various research and protection agencies of the Po.

652 kilometers long, 141 tributaries, almost 87,000 square kilometers of river basin, 19,850,000 inhabitants, 37% of Italian agricultural production, 55% of the national livestock industry: the Po and the Po Valley, where 40% of the national GDP is produced, constitute one of the areas with the highest concentration of population, industry, and commercial activity in Europe.

This incredible development has been made possible thanks to the historic stability and abundance of Italy’s largest river, which is fed by countless sources and diverse natural processes—mountain springs, snowmelt, glaciers, large lakes, and plains springs—but which have undergone significant change in recent decades, leading to a crisis that is occurring everywhere on a global scale.

Precisely because of its unique characteristics and its wealth of history, historical stratification, and landscapes, the Po—Roman and pagan, Byzantine and Lombard, feudal and ruled by lords, countryside and cities, romantic, agricultural, industrial, touristic, and cinematic—is capable of symbolically and clearly conveying the climate crisis and its effects: the face of the planet is changing more rapidly than it has done in the last millennia, and the role that humans have played in this process has now been proven.

The Change! exhibition aims to describe these changes, offering opportunities to reflect on the crisis and possible scenarios for adapting to it, but also to urge action and awareness: it is time to act.

Change!, curated by Tiziana Caserta, Anna La Ferla, and Giovanni C.F. Villa, is accompanied by a catalog published by Silvana Editoriale, with contributions from scholars at the University of Turin, the University of Bergamo, the Polytechnic University of Turin, the Polytechnic University of Milan, ENEA, Slow Food, Adaptation.it, and Mondoserie.it, among others.

Change! Ieri, oggi, domani. Il Po. (Milano: Silvana Editoriale, 2024), ISBN 978-88-3665-882-4: 170-179, catalog of the exhibition Change! held at Palazzo Madama, Turin.

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