Positioning Bratislava in an Emerging Cross-Border Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Since the revolution in 1989, Slovakia, formerly part of the Czechoslovak federation, has entered a new economic and political era. Political independence in 1993 and prospects of EU membership have stimulated complex changes, including stronger and closer relations with neighbouring Austria. This chapter critically appraises these changes, by focusing on urban developments in Bratislava and potential impacts for the Bratislava–Vienna metropolitan cooperation. It will examine the social costs of embedding the Lisbon Agenda in the Slovakian context and the competitive position of Bratislava vis-á-vis Vienna is clearly defined in this context. The chapter analyses the complex interactions between competitiveness and cohesion within this new cross-border metropolitan area.