ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the urban development of Ouanaminthe and Dajabón, two towns located on the Haitian-Dominican border of the Hispaniola island, by looking at the influence of the island’s complex history since the times of French and Spanish colonisation and exploring the impact of the economic opening of the border since the 1990s. The resulting binational trade and busy market in Dajabón had brought remarkable demographic and spatial growth to the place, but mistreatment and inequality endured by the Haitians crossing the border did not disappear. Despite the fact that both towns play common roles in cross-border economic networks, the border has maintained a strong separation, improvement of relations depending on local initiatives that foster cross-border solidarity and the recognition of common problems.
