JRC study "Living spaces, flows and structures across the EU internal borders"

A new study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) examines how people move across EU internal borders and how better data can help understand the functional realities of border regions. Published in August 2026, the study highlights the importance of understanding border regions as living spaces shaped by everyday movements and interactions, rather than solely by administrative boundaries.

The study finds that the scale of cross-border interaction is frequently underestimated because available data are not sufficiently granular, reliable or comparable. It also shows that combining conventional sources, such as administrative records, surveys and transport data, with newer sources including mobile data, web scraping and geospatial AI can provide a more detailed picture of cross-border flows and help identify functional areas based on how territories are actually used.

The publication also points to the need to consider the legal, administrative, infrastructural and linguistic barriers that can limit cross-border interaction when assessing the socioeconomic potential of border regions. In all, it argues for a more data-driven approach to understanding cross-border territories and supporting policies that reflect their actual patterns of use and interaction.

You can find the JRC publication below.