Twenty-First Century European B/Orders and Transborder Living-Spaces in Times of Polycrisis

This introduction to the special issue on 21st century European b/orders and transborder living-spaces in times of crisis discusses contemporary dynamics of re-bordering in Europe in the course of the polycrisis. The authors argue that what was once a model of cross-border integration, in which border regions served as laboratories for multilevel governance and transborder living spaces, is now under significant stress as polycrisis reshapes the function and perception of borders across Europe. The special issue brings together interdisciplinary contributions examining whether cross-border regions can remain resilient spaces of cooperation, mobility, and citizen participation in this new environment, drawing on case studies from the Franco-German, German-Polish, Irish-Northern Irish, and other European border regions to assess the adaptive capacity of cross-border governance structures in an era of persistent instability.