In 1871, the traveller Browne described the ‘geographical lines’ of the picturesque landscape between northern Italy and Switzerland as ‘very puzzling, especially as regards boundaries’ (Browne, 1871), claiming that it was impossible to grasp the transition between one country and the other. With all evidence, he had no internet issues._x000D_
Nowadays, in Europe, the border is sensibly palpable; its presence can be anticipated up to a few kilometres before reaching it. Indeed, among what makes the passage become tangible are, paradoxically, the intangible infrastructures, data networks and “deeply subsoil interventions”_x000D_
underlying the processes of “urbanization of the subsurface” (Kissling & Bonsack, 2020)._x000D_
The border – at first a mark drawn on the map, invisible in the geographical and spatial experience of the place – becomes tangible when discontinuous services are offered by different and heterogeneous territorial development approaches, disrupting the natural landscape continuity._x000D_
To provide useful points for further consideration about the Alpine borderscapes by taking a distance from its dominant geomorphological features, the presentation offers a comparison with a non-alpine borderscape. Through a transdisciplinary approach, the intervention aims to reveal the potential of the border as a space of resilience (Luperca, 2020) given by the inter-action between different territorial management practices and different interpretations in the collective imagination (Hagerman, 2020)._x000D_
The proposed case study is the ‘Three Countries Park’ project area at the core of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (BE-NL-DE). Here, as in the Alpine landscape, cross-border countries have experienced similar economic and social development, drawing on the same territorial resources. _x000D_
Today, building on the recognition of this history based on a shared landscape, local stakeholders are teaming up to tackle the current ecological crisis and move together towards sustainable territorial development.

Chiara Caravello
PhD student LabVTP, URA – Faculty of Architecture, University of Liège (BE) & AUID Programme XXXVII cycle, DAStU – Politecnico di Milano (IT)

 
ID Abstract: 586