As part of the Interreg UniGR-Center for Border Studies project, the 5th seminar on borders, entitled "Planning culture in the cross-border regions", took place on February 27th and 28th 2020. The two-day seminar was organized by the International Planning System Department (Prof. Dr. Karina Pallagst and Dr. Beate Caesar) and the chair of Regional Development and Planning (Dr. Kirsten Mangels) of the Technische Universität Kaiserslautern (TUK).
The seminar gathered the researchers from the Greater Region universities (University of Luxembourg, Saarland University, Université de Lorraine, University of Liège and Technische Universität Kaiserslautern), but also researchers from external organizations, for instance, the TU Dortmund University, the GECT Alzette-Belval, and the city network Quattropole. The objective of the seminar was to deliver knowledge regarding planning cultures and to place them in the interdisciplinary context of cross-border studies.
After Karina Pallagst (TUK) welcomed the participants and Christian Wille (University of Luxembourg) made a short introduction of the Center for Border Studies of the Université de la Grande Région (UniGR-CBS), the opening speeches by Prof. Dr. Frank Othengrafen of the TU Dortmund University and the members of the working group "Spatial Planning" Nicolas Dorkel (Université de Lorraine), Estelle Evrard and Tom Becker (University of Luxembourg), presented the topic of the seminar on planning cultures, in general and in a cross-border context. After the lunch break, the working groups "GRETI", "Labour and Education", "Spatial Planning" and "Bordertextures" introduced themselves and summarized their current and future activities. Afterward, the participants discussed the importance of (planning) cultural diversity in border studies during an interactive session of World-Café. The tables of World-Café were animated by the representatives of the working groups, leading to an interdisciplinary exchange with thoughts regarding the benefit of planning cultures. At the end of the day, the discussions were summarized in plenary session. After a summary of the day and an overview of the next day of the seminar by Karina Pallagst, the evening ended with a dinner with views of illuminated Kaiserslautern.
The second day was specifically dedicated to the work within the working groups of the UniGR-CBS. The conclusions of the World-Café were first considered within the working groups, then discussed in a plenary session. A future exchange between the working groups was approved because of the interesting suggestions and interdisciplinary discussions. Then the professor Machteld Venken of the University of Luxembourg called for cooperation and the creation of a new working group in historical sciences and highlighted the importance of an interdisciplinary exchange with other fields of research. Florence Renaud also took the opportunity to report the current activities of the working group "Tourism-Hotel-Catering".
Before the participants dedicated themselves to the pursuit of the exchanges in the working groups, Sylvain Marbehant (University of Liège) introduced the program of the sixth seminar on the borders.