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The mainstream approach of regional integration impact assessments is mainly limited to assessing cross-border development projects/programmes. There is still a lack of critical assessment of how stakeholders at different institutional levels conceptualise the border. Local (municipal) strategic plans provide a reflection of the spatial imaginaries of stakeholders, perception planners, institutional power structures, and, to some extent meaning of the border to the local people. Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) in South Africa were adopted as an important development planning strategy in the post-apartheid era. IDPs of 49 borderland municipalities were systematically reviewed using the Key-Word-in-Context (KWIC) content analysis technique of the keyword 'border' to determine the importance of state borders in light of regional integration. Border security and management is one of the most common themes associated with the border. This suggested that borders were mainly perceived as threats and barely considered as a potential resource for cross-border cooperation or integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agribusiness has unleashed new territorial dynamics on the Brazil and Paraguay border. Derived from Brazilian public policies influenced by geopolitical objectives, the spillover of agribusiness into Paraguayan territory has created productive, commercial, and logistical networks that have intensified the porosity of this border. In light of this, criminal groups have used these networks to carry out cross-border crimes. Among these illicit acts, the illegal flow of pesticides and agrochemical inputs stands out, since they use the road network to transport and distribute these products to the thriving agribusiness segment, despite the asymmetry between sanitary and legal parameters between Brazil and Paraguay. Through a qualitative analysis of quantitative data and interviews with agents responsible for security in the Brazilian Border Strip, we identified the characteristics of this cross-border illicit flow and built a scenario for the period after the construction of the RILA, which will make the river border of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, with the department of Alto Paraguay, Paraguay, between the cities of Porto Murtinho and Carmelo Peralta, more porous and therefore more vulnerable to these crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the border effect phenomenon affecting the mobility of inhabitants in border regions. It aims to identify the determinants of the border effect in transport at the municipal level, considering the distance from the border, the populations and the characteristics of the closest bordering country. The survey in the Czech Republic eventually involved 675 representatives of municipalities who answered questions on inter-municipal mobility. The results confirmed that the most substantial handicap was population size, with small populations corresponding to the limited use of public transport when travelling beyond a given border. The results confirmed that the characteristics of the state or region that shares the border must be considered when assessing border regions. Therefore, the solution to the problems of individual border regions cannot be viewed with a single instrument. It is necessary to consider substantial differences resulting from the economic level of neighbouring countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyzes the conurbation process of two Peruvian cities on the border with Ecuador: Zarumilla and Aguas verdes. This article studies how different processes and phenomena at local, national, international, and global scales influence the socioeconomic dynamics of borders and shape the urban landscape and residents' ties with cities on the other side of the border. Intensive fieldwork involving surveys, interviews, field observations, and the use of secondary sources took place as part of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper relates to a study of experimental archaeology, executed by Ruben Cataldo, about the forging methods used to produce some replicas of two metal points found during the archaeological excavations carried out between 1992 and 1996 by the University of Salento in the medieval village Quattro Macine (translated Four Millstones), located in the municipality of Giuggianello, a small town in Southern Apulia (South-East Italy). This study has been made by forging several replicas of these two particular finds, describing the step by step forging process of both artefacts. The study also focused on the interpretation problem between arrowheads and crossbow bolt heads, reflecting on the differences between the two types of weapons, and trying to formulate an idea of how to properly interpret the artefacts, to guarantee a certainty on this kind of analysis. The interesting thing about these two points is that not many similar finds have been discovered in the whole area, and none have been found in rural settings like Quattro Macine. For this reason, this study has been made with the aim of trying to understand whether these heads were forged in situ or if they were imported products, and moreover to understand why the village's inhabitants needed them (Cataldo, 2017). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]