Join BIG_LAB and CFGS on Wednesday, December 10 at 10:30 am (PST) at the University of Victoria (SED C168) or online via Zoom for a Global Talk by Martin van der Velde on Cross-Border Regions as Synergetic Spaces.
Across the globe, considerable efforts are directed toward fostering cross-border integration and cooperation, grounded in the premise that “the whole exceeds the sum of its parts.” This principle is particularly evident within the European Union, which has provided financial support for cross-border region-building initiatives for over thirty-five years. Intended as seed funding to stimulate self-sustaining synergetic processes, these programs have yet to achieve their anticipated outcomes, as evidenced by the continued expansion of available funds. The principal objective of this presentation is to examine the existence of regional synergy and to try and identify the conditions for establishing synergetic spaces.
Martin van der Velde is an associate professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environmental Sciences at the Radboud University Nijmegen. He has extensive experience in coordinating and research in the field of borders, migration and mobility. He is interested in the effects borders do (still) have on mobility in a constantly changing process of bordering, debordering, and rebordering, not only on a (more concrete) (inter)national scale, but also in more abstract forms in societies and communities (e.g. during the so-called refugee-crisis in the EU).
