On the Boundary: Local Authorities, Intergovernmental Relations and the Governance of Border Infrastructure in the Detroit-Windsor Region

A growing and diverse academic literature exists on the functional, cultural and political linkages between border communities. These examinations of borderland communities seek to explain why and how linkages develop and assess the strength and implications of these relationships. In North America, Detroit-Windsor is the quintessential metropolitan border region along the Canada-US border. It is a community that shares many problems and policy concerns as well as strong functional linkages. One of these concerns is the reform of the Detroit River border crossing. This is the busiest land border crossing in North America and it is central to the regional economy as well as the wider North American economy. Over the past decade, the senior governments have debated reform of border infrastructure and the access routes to planned and existing crossings. One of the central considerations in this set of reforms has been the construction of a new crossing to reduce waiting times and increase infrastructural redundancy at this key choke point. Any new crossing will have a major impact on the local communities and various local actors on both sides of the border have sought to participate in the policy debate and influence the decision-making process. This article examines the extent to which local actors in Detroit and Windsor have interacted and sought to co-ordinate their policy positions and strategies within the border reform debate. The article focuses on the extent of the interaction among municipal governments and community groups in an effort to map and understand functional and political relationships between local actors in this dynamic border space.