Naboregioner

Naboregioner is a term used in geography and regional planning to denote the set of administrative regions that share a border with a given region. The concept is geometric and contiguity-based, emphasizing physical adjacency, though some planning contexts also consider strong functional ties across borders.

Definition and scope: Naboregioner refers to the neighboring regions of a focus region. They are identified by shared boundaries; in many definitions, only contact along a boundary of non-zero length qualifies, while mere corner touches are excluded.

Identification and data: Identifying naboregioner requires polygonal boundary data for the regions, typically available as GIS shapefiles. An adjacency test checks whether polygons share a boundary. Analysts often construct an adjacency matrix with entries indicating neighbor relations, optionally applying a minimum shared-border length to reduce noise from coincidental contacts.

Applications: The concept is used in regional planning, transport and infrastructure studies, environmental management, and cross-border governance. By focusing on naboregioner, planners assess potential spillovers, coordination needs, and regional economic linkages between neighboring areas.

Limitations: The concept depends on how borders are drawn and on data quality. Results can change with different boundary definitions or at different scales. Naboregioner capture only direct neighbors and do not by themselves reflect broader functional regions formed by flows, commuting, or supply chains, which may include non-contiguous areas.

Example: In a hypothetical region A, its naboregioner would include regions B and C if they share borders with A; region D that only touches A at a point would typically not be counted.