In the fourth workshop at the colloquium ‘Building bridges: towards territorial cohesion in Europe?’ on cross-border areas as models for territorial cohesion, chaired by Marie-Thérèse Bitsch from the University of Strasbourg, Jean Peyrony from the European Commission’s DG Regio gives an introduction on the concept of territorial cohesion. Martin Kurt Weber from the University of Basel looks at the prospects for territorial cohesion in the trinational metropolitan region of Basel. Marco Trienes from RWTH Aachen University examines the possibilities for innovation in life sciences within the Meuse-Rhine Euregion. Olivier Thomas Kramsch from Radboud University Nijmegen analyses the extent to which cross-border cooperation can serve as a model for European integration in general. Frédéric Durand and Antoine Decoville from the GEODE Department at CEPS/INSTEAD in Luxembourg shed light on the concept of cross-border metropolitan integration in Europe. Finally, the presentation by Raymond Woessner from the University of Strasbourg focuses on the role of bridges over the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Conference.