REGIONS, BORDERS AND NETWORKS

The title of the conference “Borders and Regions ” was considered by the major-ity of the lecturers as problems of a region at the border of a larger region (country, European Union). This lecture deals rather with the relation of a region to its own border: sets out the main functions of the frontiers of a region and concludes how certain networks can help to fulfil the same tasks. Nowadays both in strict sense and figuratively there is a shift from using sharp administrative borders towards creating indistinct frontiers. Sharp spatial borders become concentration of tension rather then solving problems (iron curtain, US-Mexican border etc.) As an analogy we can also refer to the general shift from regula-tion with sharp administrative limits towards market-type regulation with softer fron-tiers. (in economy, environmental protection etc.) Over the roles supplied by a frontier zone (buffer, filter and barrier) it is a char-acteristic spatial structure within the region that has a chance to select the external effects arriving to the region. The physical networks that are spatial imprints of the existing relation systems have four possible roles as internal provision, external ac-cessibility, to assure through-cut and of avoiding a region.