COURSE
CRITICAL CARTOGRAPHY
University of Basel, Urban Studies, MA Critical Urbanisms, Fall 2023
GRAY ZONE
EXCURSION: BORDER, POWER AND SPACE
A CRITICAL COMPONENT OF INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPLORATION INTO SPATIAL POLITICS
POST-FIELDWORK CRITICAL ESSAY
Fieldwork
October 13, 2023
PERFORMATIVE
CROSS-BORDER RELATIONS
The fieldwork was a valuable opportunity to experience the exceptional border dynamics between Switzerland and Germany and to observe the intricate relations among prison, asylum, and border systems, all centered around a building still situated within the city. This setting provided insight into the daily border practices occurring at control points.
Exploring the non-physical, intangible, and often invisible dynamics surrounding this border—elements not immediately apparent—encourages us to reflect on the true meanings of being exceptional, being on the edge, and being restricted. Simultaneously, it prompts considerations of scale, transition, and the social dimensions of space, leading us to revisit many aspects of the urban landscape. As we examine these complex spatial patterns, which unfold within a paradoxical framework, we encounter a narrative interwoven with identity, obstacles, and impasses, all viewed through the lens of the politics of space. This profound influence, which challenges us to confront our own limitations, evokes a multitude of emotions, including freedom, security, and anxiety.
BORDERS ON THE AIR
A GRAY NON-SPACE
Perhaps the most striking phenomenon of this experience is the realization that power, space, and resistance are not only constrained and controlled but also transformed into political discourse. In this sense, borders are far more than passive, neutral physical areas or definitions; they actively shape and transform urban spaces, functioning as tools for social organization. This realization led me to ask: Can we speak of a specific aesthetic of the border—a unique existence and a distinctive geographical formation?
Borders are zones that construct, represent, and alter our relationship with the city. They act as interfaces where the initial interaction between the urban environment and individuals begins, making them active, dynamic places. Moreover, the border is a narrative—a powerful context where human stories unfold within cultural, political, and socio-economic frameworks. Borders embody a social dimension and should be seen as critical areas of struggle, extending beyond their role as instruments of hegemony, legitimized in the name of power and control.
MEASURES
TERRITORIAL AND PARADOXICAL CONFLICTS
Borders also serve as instruments of control, attempting to impose new realities, erase traces of the past, and delineate certain regions as areas of intervention. On an urban scale, they can be perceived as marginalized, violent, and unsettling spaces. This prompts me to ask: Can we consider the concept of spatial ethics in relation to borders?
What do these borders reveal about the urban panorama of Basel, and what kind of semantic landscape do they create for the city? These localized interactions hold critical insights into how power relations manifest spatially in our immediate environment. By thinking beyond the physical border, examining its dynamic interplay with the socio-political dimensions of space, and recognizing its significant presence within the urban fabric, we can establish a critical framework. This framework sheds light on power dynamics, ethical considerations, and social consequences within the urban context.
BADISCHER BAHNHOF: GERMAN RAILWAY STATION
MATERIALITY OF BORDERS
This highly specific border interaction between Switzerland and Germany involves unique and complex dynamics concerning distinct borders, control points, and the way the border is enacted. While these relationships prompt us to question what a border signifies in its materiality, they also compel us to consider how we understand the border through the "things" that constitute it—in the context of a train station, both inside and outside. Most importantly, it raises the question of what the border truly represents and how it defines physical and psychological space beyond being a mere line.
This structure, operating under the control of German border units within Swiss territory, reveals that this ambiguously defined gray area encompasses varied social forms, power relations, and emotions, far beyond its role as a physical border.
The presence of German units, particularly the police, as the dominant authority in this space evokes diverse emotions, sensitivities, and contradictions. It signifies how one country asserts itself, becomes visible, and takes shape within the bounds of another. This structure, which is more than symbolic, not only unveils spatial mechanisms but also creates a new sensory experience defined by security, distances, and obstacles.
The question of how the border is performed within this train station invites reflection on the actors of this performance: police, control units, customs officers, passengers, and the indescribable feelings of anxiety, fear, and danger. In this tense zone of interaction, one immediately senses that even the air seems controlled, extending beyond physical boundaries.
This hybrid space, which might not immediately resemble a border, actually embodies stronger, harsher, and more complex political, social, and spatial relations than one might expect from a conventional border—this is an exceptional area. Giorgio Agamben’s ideas help us analyze the semantic relations within this "state of exception," suggesting that the exception both explains and defines the general. When we truly want to understand the general, Agamben argues, we need only to examine the exception.
BÄSSLEERGUT
DETENTION FACILITY, ASYLUM CENTER
Walking around a prison building always evokes a sense of unease. This feeling is no different here; this extended space, where the complex relationships between prison, asylum center, and border are rearranged, emerges as a unique special zone—a weaponized landscape and a panoramic space where people are taken in or out. This context raises questions about the high walls, fences, and the isolating presence of a destructive structure in its relationship with the city. I find myself asking: How are we, those of us outside, affected when we pass by such a building? Examining the layered structure of a prison compels us to confront both its physical and psychological dimensions, which seem to mirror the struggle of the border—the tension between being inside and being outside.
The location of this building on the Swiss-German border provokes another question: Why does Switzerland place a prison building so close to Germany’s urban landscape, and what impact does its presence have on those living nearby? This gray area, the borderline between existence and nonexistence, paradoxically defines a boundary as stark as black and white—perhaps even one drawn with much thicker lines on behalf of Switzerland: We have positioned our most unwelcoming building close to you; we have created a structure undesirable to anyone but made it visible to you. Our border with you reflects the same sentiment as this building.
This gray area is a non-place, an extended space where the city fades, life diminishes, and sounds fall silent. Unlike the invisible boundaries in the air, the paradoxes, conflicts, and obstacles of this place are starkly visible. It remains unclear to everyone here what kind of identity this spatial organization holds, what physical and emotional thresholds it entails, and to what extent it can truly be considered part of the city. Agamben highlights Foucault's enduring focus on the concrete ways power penetrates the bodies and lifestyles of subjects. Similarly, Mark B. Salter emphasizes that borders are unique political spaces where both sovereignty and citizenship are enacted.
What do we truly understand about prisons? These structures appear as architectural entities defined by high walls, numerous cameras, and boundaries that extend beyond mere security. They exist as silent, almost non-existent spaces caught between freedom and imprisonment, where spatial design is tied to notions of crime. Is there such a thing as a perfect prison? For architects, these buildings—reinterpreting individual and social spaces, the inside and outside—become prosthetic spaces, unique in their materials and detached from their surroundings. These solitary structures, which seem to lack a place within the urban scale, struggle with belonging and resist interaction with their environment. They embody uncertainty, grayness, and contradiction—much like borders themselves. Shaped by contrasts, this area establishes its own scale in relation to the social dimensions of space, a scale that ultimately erases the human scale.
CHECKPOINT BORDER
FRAGMENTS OF ORDER
Another context where borders become difficult to comprehend is checkpoints. These areas convey not only political messages but also symbolic, spatial, and social messages that the state employs to make itself visible.
The checkpoints on the borders between Switzerland and Germany, accessible to cars, bikes, and pedestrians, function as fields of power that extend beyond merely delineating the boundaries between the two countries. This power establishes its own dynamics through the hidden interplay of checking, monitoring, and rule-setting. These spaces operate as zones of alignment, order, and law-making.
Agamben asserts that rules require a homogeneous environment; no rule can apply to chaos—a sense of order must exist for legal systems to hold meaning. Mark B. Salter complements this by emphasizing the critical role of border officers and state bureaucrats in deciding where, how, and on whose body the border is enforced. Balibar furthers this idea, noting that by marking a border, one defines and delimits a region, thereby ascribing an identity to it.
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