From corridor to region: Trans-border co- operation on infrastructure, innovation and research as participative planning in practice

The corridor between Oslo and Berlin is by the politicians of the regional authorities in the Scandinavian part of the corridor seen a region with unique qualities and a large innovation and growth potential. In order to explore and develop this potential an Interreg project has been launched. Even though development of transport infrastructure is seen as pivotal in this process, there is a commitment to see transport as a means for development, which has to take the three dimensions of sustainability seriously into account. This paper describes how we as researchers are approaching this task by applying principles of participative planning and with action research methodology are involving stakeholders in the process of defining, developing and disseminating the idea of the Corridor of Innovation and Cooperation COINCO.