Stimuleringsfonds

With the Open Call Crossing Borders, the Fund wants to contribute to a new perspective on our border regions. Through design research, different dimensions of borders are explored: ranging from physical and landscape boundaries to administrative divisions and social barriers. The aim is to tackle urgent tasks across borders, together. The selected projects show how borders can be approached and transformed in different ways.

17 February 2025

general impression: infrastructure, ecology and connection

In the selected projects, it is noticeable that borders are increasingly seen as an opportunity for connection and innovation, rather than as a barrier. Three themes stood out in the selection: infrastructural connections, ecological systems and social networks. In their projects, the makers look beyond the traditional administrative borders on the map. For example, Ideate’s Drinkbare IJssel shows how a river can be both a natural boundary and a connecting element. The project explores how this watercourse can bring together different communities and systems. The researchers are focusing on physical boundaries, boundaries in our thinking as well as boundaries between systems. Beyond Borders takes a more theoretical approach and reinterprets the Dutch border as a dynamic zone of ‘borderscapes’, where different networks and relationships overlap. By means of data collections, interviews and field research, these cross-border dynamics are identified and translated into innovative visualisations.

The projects illustrate how designers see borders not as an end point, but as a starting point for new forms of collaboration and development With a focus on connecting people, systems and landscapes, they contribute to a vision on the future of border regions.

nature restoration beyond borders

MUST aims to restore the ecological heart of the North Sea with Rewilding De Doggersbank door verbeeldingskracht. This is important for both marine life and coastal communities. The project uses cartographic imagination to explore four types of borders: administrative, physical, human representation and time. In three steps, MUST is developing drawing and analysis techniques. These techniques help in the public debate on the future of the Dogger Bank. They show what the area looks like now and what is possible. In the follow-up phase, the techniques will be used to take concrete steps in the ‘rewilding’ process.

social meeting in transit spaces

For TRUCK STOP BORDER PROJECT, Studio ilinx and import.export Architecture are exploring possible futures for truck stops at the Dutch border. They see these places not just as logistical points, but as social meeting places. There should also be room for healthcare and welfare here. The project begins by investigating the role of truck stops in the bigger picture. It then zooms in on three locations: Hazeldonk/Meer (NL-BE), Mol (BE) and Dinkelland (NL-DE). They explore how these places can stimulate the development of border areas. All the findings will be included in a publication that looks at different levels of scale: from the large European network to the everyday life of the trucker.

architecture and human dignity

Italy has an agreement with Albania on migration and asylum. In Architectures of Fictionalized Hospitality, millonaliu investigates what this means for the role of architecture when it comes to the accommodation of migrants and refugees. The study raises fundamental questions about how architecture is used as a tool of an inequitable migration system. The inherently inhumane nature of the current migration and refuge system is called into question, as is the complicit role architecture as a discipline plays in it The research uses spatial analysis, site observations, community engagement and evaluations of EU border policy and its implications for the Netherlands. In this way, it questions this form of border management and the role of architecture in it, in order to ultimately achieve a more hospitable migration and refuge system.

numbers

Of the 25 applications taken into consideration, 15 are receiving grants. This brings the percentage of applications receiving grants to 60%. The total available budget of € 510,000 was almost entirely spent with a total amount of € 508,570 going to positively approved projects.

follow up

The selected projects start in January 2025 with the development phase, which runs until September 2025. During this period, design research and new practices, insights and design proposals will be worked on. During this phase, the Fund organises peer review and knowledge-sharing sessions. After the development phase, projects can submit a follow-up application for up to € 44,000 to continue working on the achieved results until September 2026.