The Feasibility of Cross-Border Cooperation between Non-Capital Cities in Asia : A Case Study of the Concept of Cross-Border Cooperation between Busan and Fukuoka

The purpose of this study is to discuss the current situation of cross-border regions in Asia and to observe how local governments in Asia have attempted to pursue far more innovative regional policies than their overperforming capitals through a case study analysis of the conception of a Cross-Border Metropolis between Busan and Fukuoka (CBM-BF). Divergent actors, organizations and individuals of both cities, have executed various programs since the early 1960s. Both cities have attempted to find synergistic regional policies, and this has consequently led them to issue he CBM-BF declaration, in 2009. Sixty-four projects were proposed to forge a cross-border regional innovation system and subsequently specific projects, based on our main basic directions with nine specific strategies, have been carried out annually. It was found in this study that the cooperation process was primarily designed and conducted by both local governments but was still a top-down approach. The former mayor of Busans enthusiastic conviction, affected by positive formal and informal institutions, played a decisive role in crystalizing the cross-border metropolis. The CBM-BF epitomizes the feasibility of cross-border regional innovation systems (CBRIS) based on horizontal relationships, which are neither vertical nor hierarchical ones dominated by one side or the other. Korea and Japan have confronted the asymmetry of spatial structures and the excessive concentration of economic and administrative functions in capital cities, the so-called “mono-polarization in Seoul and Tokyo.” Given this context, it should be noteworthy that both cities, as non-capital regions, have autonomously attempted to propel CBRIS.