En- Route Seminar: Bridging the Limits. Borderscapes as continuities and contexts

En-Route International Seminar
Bridging the Limits. Borderscapes as continuities and contexts.
Bucharest and Drobeta Turnu Severin (Romania), 23 – 26 May
Organised by Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning of Bucharest and UNISCAPE.

website : https://borderscapes.ro/

Called by the Romans “Danubius” (the god of rivers), by Napoleon “the king of European rivers”, and by Nicolae Iorga, “the richest in gifts”, the Danube is the most expressive and defining feature of the Southern Romanian borderscape. The river’s sinuous course crosses the landscapes of Europe, connecting in time and space capitals, communities and places steeped in history

The gorge that the Danube carved at the entrance to the country has assumed, throughout history, a strategic role, while defining a cultural area of exceptional importance, generating architectural values and a specific way of life.

Reconsidering the existing relationships within the borderscapes adjacent to the river and the pattern of settlement, and drawing on existing or disappearing landscape landmarks, the intention of the workshop is to find ideas, solutions and answers for the conservation and management of the cultural values of this area through a research approach, started with the workshop Ada Kaleh – The Never Never Island developped at  WAVe – edition 2021, organised by IUAV, which later continued with the workshop held in Bucharest at UAUIM, Ada Kaleh – a Waterscape for the Future,  in october 2021. An example of this is the enhancing of the potential offered by the sunken island of Ada Kaleh, still present in the collective memory. 

A broader aim of the workshop is to create a system of cultural landmarks as key points for a future development strategy for the area, having in view the the ruins of Trajan bridge connected with the Drobeta Castrum, ?imian island and the two big natural parks: Djerdap, on the Serbian side an Iron Gates Natural park, on the Romanian side of the Danube. 

The workshop is adressed to the students of the university members UNISCAPE, specially to the students involved in the workshop Ada Kaleh – The Never Never Island within W.A.Ve – edition 2021.