The aim of the ESPON project “Alps 2050” is twofold: On the one hand, it seeks to develop a vision and a set of common spatial perspectives for the Alpine area that would facilitate and strengthen harmonized cross-border territorial cooperation among Alpine countries towards sustainable development. On the other hand, the project aims at developing guidelines for a multi-actor and sustainable territorial planning paving the way towards implementation. Overall, the project is addressing challenges of general development trends like globalization, Europeanisation, climate change, demographic change and contributes to territorial cohesion. The territorial visions on the transnational scale will be elaborated by an iterative triangulation of analysis about the political frameworks, quantitative and qualitative information on the territory, as well as participatory elements e.g. workshops and surveys.