On Board to Border(less) Futures. A nomadic archive of culture along Evros/Meriç River
The Evros/Meric river marks a border, fortifying the limits of the European Union. Recent political events, such as the refugee crisis and the militarization of Evros, impacted the use of the river. The only way to rebuild the communication between people themselves and the river, is to remind them of their common culture and past. Creating a “bridge” that can spread values, ideologies and practices that make up the region’s common culture, in order to spark the beginning of a common future.
Cross-border/international
Greece
Other
Turkey
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Region of Thrace
Municipality of Alexandroupoli
Municipality of Didymoteicho
Municipality of Edirne
Evros Delta National Park
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
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No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Vilelmini Maria Last name: Kestsoglou Gender: Female Age: 23 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Greece Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Ambrogio Campiglio 3 Town: Milan Postal code: 20133 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 348 692 6238 E-mail:villykes@gmail.com
First name: Suna Last name: Mertoglu Gender: Female Age: 23 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Turkey Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Sangallo 20 Town: Milan Postal code: 20133 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 333 719 1643 E-mail:sunamertoglu@hotmail.com
This research focuses on the complex realities that define the Evros/Meric river and its overall region of Thrace. A region that now is trisected but throughout its history was home to diverse populations of different ethnicities, religions and cultures, cohabiting it freely. After the Treaty of Lausanne, people of this region faced its division into nations-states, which was followed by a forced population exchange and the construction, by each country, of its national narrative and ideology. This was at times used in order to surface ethnic and cultural differences between the people of Thrace, slowly erasing the memory of their shared past as citizens of Empires. Today, Evros river has become the symbol of this forced division, transforming into an “arcifinious” border, fortifying the limits of the European Union. Recent political events, such as the refugee crisis, have drawn attention to the region, its militarization and the weaponization of Evros river, which have led to its portrayal as a critical zone. Consequently, this has had an impact on the relationship of the local populations with the river, discouraging them to approach and use it in their everyday lives.
The only way to rebuild the communication between, not only the people and the river but also between the divided populations, is to remind them of their common culture and shared past, which is still present on both sides of the border. Evoking their shared memory, through culture can lead to the creation of new networks of communication that break the borders. This idea can contribute to returning the riverfront and landscape back to its people. Going back to this land, that once belonged to all but is now divided by walls. The intention is to create a “bridge” that can spread values, ideologies and practices that make up the region’s common culture, in order to spark the beginning of a common future.
Community building
Shared culture
Art for social change
Participatory action
Inclusivity and cross-border exchange
In terms of sustainability, the project deals with the urban regeneration of the riverfront by working on scenarios of locations with a different kind of spatial character. The selection of locations for each scenario was done according to our on-site observations, having an idea of the specific opportunities, cultural associations we could collaborate with and where we could deal with several of the underlying issues found in the region.
Thus, a site in the ‘City Scale’, one in the ‘Small Town Scale’ and one in the ‘Rural Scale’ were chosen, assuming that they could form examples and general guidelines of how the project could work in similar, to each, contexts.
So, we dealt with the large urban scale in Edirne Turkey by activating the underused areas along the riverfront, approaching the city in its perimeter. The aim is to respect the dense fabric and create new opportunities, erasing the notion of the river as a limit.
In the smaller urban context of Didymoteicho with the underlying issues of abandonment and depopulation, the project spreads within the existing public spaces starting from the riverfront. This activation of the public spaces is achieved through participatory actions, and it is perceived as a starting point for the reuse of more public spaces and buildings, specifically some cultural heritage lanmarks of the town.
Working within the natural habitat of Evros Delta with a small settlement, the project focuses on creating necessary spaces for the community with a minimum impact on nature, introducing a new core of activity within the rural space. This was achieved through the choice of a site with an already built element, the use of its existing electric and water supply and the selection of light materials that respect the atmosphere and simplicity of the surrounding settlements. For this reason, materials such as timber and steel cladding are chosen for the facades and the openings are done in polycarbonate instead of glass.
Our proposal is an itinerant museum in the water giving access to culture and improving the quality of life of people living on the border between Greece and Turkey. The pavilion while traveling has a compact shape but reaching its destination opens into an urban room, spreading its elements in the public space. Its interior space hosts a permanent exhibition showcasing the shared heritage of the region and is used for workshops with local artists and craftsmen. Two mobile modules are used to set up a flexible, informal stage in the public space which can be used for different cultural activities.
The goal of this element is to work as an activator, through minimal interventions that can expand into a series of significant transformations. Becoming in this way the voice of local communities that interact with it and eventually with each other. It acts as a small permanent exhibition reflecting on the region of Thrace, its past and all of its shared values. Workshop activities can be carried out with local artists of the region, working with local artisanal methods and crafts. The cultural experiences that can be hosted through the pavilion are display of local art, movie screenings, musical performances, seminars, social gatherings, theatrical performances and workshops.
In the Evros Delta, the idea was to create a small and light building to serve as a community space that was needed but no longer existed in the area, due to the occupation of the old community center for governmental use. Its role is to provide physical spaces for exchange and interaction between the inhabitants of the Delta and visitors, some necessary services for the activities related to the boat tours such as teaching and workshop spaces, as well as a safe place for the residents in case of bad weather conditions. The building also hosts a small part of the permanent exhibition and is later completed by the arrival of the itinerant museum that spreads within the spaces of the building.
Approaching the project as a catalytic action, the core of the concept is human participation and sociocultural impact. Transforming this concept into reality, what we propose is an itinerant activity in the water so that it can reach every place along the river, crossing the borders that people can’t as freely. By choosing to navigate in the water, the pavilion becomes a witness to demonstrate the opportunities along the river with the intention to spread culture, improving the quality of life. The target group of this intervention is not restricted to a specific age or ethnicity, but is meant to reflect and promote the diverse and inclusive character of the Thracian history. For this reason, all the designed elements are meant to be flexible, easily assembled and made with affordable materials such as timber and aluminum sheets. Eventually they could be constructed with the help of local communities that are participating in the assembly and use of these elements.
During our visit to the region we came in contact with local museums and organizations who are open to the prospect of collaborating with our initiative by contributing to the creative and financial processes. This could help to make this initiative accessible and affordable to even disadvantaged members of the local communities and to promote it for reaching people internationally.
A mentioned before, the regeneration of the riverfront is achieved primarily through human participation intended for sociocultural impact. The itinerant museum is thought as a device that would help in bringing activity to the riverfront and in the long term act as the starting point for its regeneration. This alone can have a great impact on the daily lives of local communities since the physical environment they inhabit will be improved, bringing life back to a region that has been decaying for many years. On a smaller scale, the role of the travelling museum is to spread culture, sparking interraction between the populations on the two sides of the river, restoring the ties between them. Its cultural activities can positively affect locals by giving them easy access to culture and educational activities, enriching their lives.
However, involvement and interraction of people is crucial for the project to succeed and reach its long terms objectives related to the underlying issues found in the region, such as the undersuse of the river and the depopulation and abandonment of its urban fabric. The more people become involved with this intervention, the greater will be the effect on the built environment.
This project is part of a larger research innitiative named "Come Fiume che scorre", funded by the Cariplo Foundation, carried out by Politecnico di Milano - Department of Architecture and Urban Studies and the Municipality of Rivolta d'Adda. The primary stakeholders involved in the design were professors from the Politecnico di Milano school of Architecture, that contributed in the organization of the research programme, aiding with reviews and proposals. They were the main influence in the decision to deal with the interraction between nature and culture as a way to regenerate the region of the Evros river and involve its local communities.
Local actors had a great role in the evolution of the research. Some of them were; Mrs. Aggeliki Giannikidou that is the founder and president of Ethnological Museum of Thrace, Mr. Christos Paschalakis who is the founder of Delta Evros Explorer and tour guide for the Evros region. They were the primary source of information during our research. Mrs. Aggeliki confirmed our vision that a dialogue between the two sides of the river could only be achieved with the use of their shared culture. She also guided us to contact different local organisations that prove to be necessary for the implementation of our project. Mr. Christos was the reason why we decided to focus our intervention on the Evros delta, since he showed us the fragility of this territory. Another actor was Mr. Steven Tagle who is a researcher and part of the Institute of Current World Affairs. He lived and documented the region, his reserach and personal suggestions lead us to explore not only physical but also political and sociocultural aspects of this region.
The main disciplines involved in this project were architecture, urban planning, art, history, sociology and education. This multidisciplinary approach helped us to create a complete strategy that could work with all the challenges found in the region. Also it gave us a humanitarian perspective to understand the local realities. For creating an architecture that acts as a catalyst we had to take in consideration all the listed fields of research, whose representatives lead us to each other in order to obtain more detailed information and knoledge on each topic.
Through our site visit, within some villages we saw small projects dealing with similar initiatives. These works were being done by regeneration and reuse of some abandoned buildings, turning them into small museums. Traveling along the river in various towns we realised that this activity of regeneration was very limited to a few towns and in most cases such museums were not as active as envisioned or completely closed. We also believe that these kinds of small projects are not successful in terms of local participation since they serve to a very limited crowd of people. We believe that the most powerful way to work in this region is to understand its complex character and also invite its residents to be involved in the process, being the voice of many different communities. There are very diverse atmospheres within Evros river. Starting from the south in Evros Delta we could see the lifestyle of the fisherman on the water and reaching north to some of the most important historical landmarks of the past. Due to the geopolitical location and the scale of the settlements in this region compared to other regions people of Evros have a limited access to culture and social activities. Ultimately we understood the need for a larger urban scale strategy rather than a localised project, because the issues we are dealing with are complex and involve many social groups. We believe working with the shared culture and shared past within the two sides of the river cold be a case study to many different cases in the world.
Similarly to our project site, many other borders around the world are shaped by natural elements such as rivers, mountains, etc. Thus, the general concept of the research can be applied in those situations. Additionaly the settlements along rivers mostly have smaller settlements and people living in rural places so also in those cases it could be an example of how waterfront can be used for social interraction.
Regarding the technological and physical aspects of our project, this pavilion is a flexible element that can be applied in many scenarios interracting with water so it can be easily replicated.
Initially the Evros river gained international attention with the Refugee crisis of 2020 and the area was largely affected by this social challange. Also its definition as a political border created a disconnection between the people and the river which was also caused by the militarization of the area. The mentioned political challanges led to the depopulation of the region and the abandonement of the built cultural heritage. Despite all of these issues this region presented great potential because of its strong character that was evident in its past by the coexistance of diverse ethnic groups. The intention is to regenerate the riverfront and its surrounding areas and to restore the sense of landscape and identity of the river and people’s relationship to it, through arts and culture.
