Learning from Gevgelija

Abstract

This paper presents a research that originates from a journey between Ida, a small agricultural village in northern Greece and Gevgelija’s Strip, a border/customs area in southern North Macedonia, permeated with various commercial facilities. For the realization of the trip, it is necessary to access the E-75 (European route 75) which connects the two countries. By performing this itinerary, from Ida to Gevgelija’s Strip, a series of dipoles unfold: the passage from a rural village to an area influenced by supermodernity, or a non-place, as well as a passage from the field of production and accumulation of surplus/capital to the field where it is being consumed and wasted.
As a research strategy, research by design was extensively used in different scales, as a strategy and method to de-code the circuit of spaces, programs and infrastructure. Furthermore, it was used to define a relationship between the infrastructures of production on one side, and the infrastructures of consumption on the other, but also the role of the national border in the development of this relationship. The study puts a special focus on the area of this development and the way it has taken form due to its proximity to the critical point where two important - but with opposite roles axis- (the border and the motorway) coincide and create a threshold