The paper analyses regional modes of governance by conducting a comparative investigation of growth alliances in two regions: the newly emerging so-called Central European Region Centrope, in the border region of four nations: Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, and the well established Greater ABC Region, formed by seven municipalities of the metropolitan area of São Paulo, in the south-eastern part of Brazil. The analyses of both modes of governance will show how these territories are socially produced, therefore not coinciding with existing political or administrative units. The comparative analysis focuses on forms of spatio-temporal fixes, comparing the regional institutionalised class compromises in terms of participation and exit options of capital and state. It aims at a better understanding of the peculiarities of these new modes of governance.
