Urban Visions

GENEVA -- No longer a city-state in the traditional 19th century sense, Geneva is increasingly recognized as the metropolitain hub for a transnational regional entity involving both Switzerland and France. Particularly since the advent of  Schengen,  growing numbers of people, not only French and expatriate, but also Swiss, are living on one side of the frontier and working in the other. While the arrangement has produced numerous positive elements, such as the dismantling of passport controls and employment restrictions, it has also brought new problems, notably increased traffic, pollution, construction, and crime. This steady expanding of the Lake Geneva region accentuates the urgent need for a more longerterm and visionary action plan for the future that not only allows intelligent urban development but also respects the countryside. Essential Edge writer Michael Reyburn introduces two exciting information tools (www.campagnon.ch ) and (www.espace-terroir.ch ) designed to help better appreciate the Geneva countryside. But they also serve as imaginative and down-to-earth examples of what needs to be implemented regionally by local authorities, residents and private sector on both sides of the 1818 border posts.