Canadian newspaper The Windsor Star has featured new research from UMBC’s Eric Zeemering, assistant professor of public policy, on how government and NGOs in Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan form cross-border cooperative relationships to promote economic development and create sustainable communities (see full article in the Journal of Urban Affairs).
Zeemering told reporter Dave Hall that although there are great opportunities for collaboration between Windsor and Detroit, the international border often serves to keep the communities apart and “there needs to be a concerted effort to forge those relationships.” Zeemering notes, “The danger in creating cross-border relationships at the political level is that those people change, and the best way to forge those relationships is to establish them at the ground level with city employees.” He cites the Windsor-based International Joint Commission, which focuses on water quality in the Great Lakes, as a strong example of lasting cross-border cooperation.
Tags: CAHSS, PublicPolicy
