B-ShapeS

B-SHAPES

Borders Shaping Perceptions of European Societies (B-SHAPES) is a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action, in which KREATUS Ltd is one of the partners.

The project analyses and assesses how borders are still a key factor in understanding societies. Eight European universities, one research institute, a national museum, a foundation, a political association, a consultancy, and an art collective have come together for three years. In cooperation with Europeans living in border regions, we will examine the role of borders under three lenses:  

1. Euroscepticism in border regions,

2. minorities in border regions, and 

3. border landscapes as heritage.

B-SHAPES is a part of the European Union’s research program Horizon Europe and is coordinated by the Centre of Border Region Studies at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU).

B-SHAPES

Grant agreement ID: 101095186

Start date

1 April 2023

End date

31 March 2026

Funded under

Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 2 645 732,50

Coordinated by

SYDDANSK UNIVERSITET

Denmark

How geographical borders shape European perception

The 2020 pandemic resulted in border closures to stop the spread of the coronavirus. This border measure clouded the inclusive European perceptions of heritage and culture. Therefore, it is important to refocus on the central role of borders in the European integration project and their influence on people’s perceptions of Europe’s historical and cultural past, heritage and identity. The EU-funded B-SHAPES project reviews the role of borders in shaping perceptions of European societies in the 21st century, confronted with the challenge of re-bordering in Europe. The project applies several participatory and ethnographic citizen science methods, focusing on youth and minorities and on developing strategies to foster shared European heritage.

Objective

The purpose of B-SHAPES is to refocus on the role of borders in shaping perceptions of European societies in the 21st century, confronted with the challenge of re-borderings in Europe. Borders are key in shaping our perceptions of societies, culture, heritage and sense of belonging. B-SHAPES results will open for reconfiguring heritage policies, replacing national approaches with cross-border, European approaches to heritage, and empowering citizens and economic sectors to contribute to creating a more inclusive vision of cultures and values.
Scrutinising the idea of a socially and culturally coherent Europe addressed in the call B-SHAPES uses a people’s perspective to focus on re-bordering as a European crisis with a negative impact on the quality of life in border regions. Border regions are living labs of European integration. The border closures of March 2020, induced by the pandemic, have severely disrupted previous attempts to develop more cross-border, inclusive European perceptions of heritage and culture. Borders have continued to be a decisive factor in shaping perceptions of ‘us’ and ‘them’, of culture, identity and belonging. Therefore, it is necessary to refocus on the central role of borders in the European integration project to influence people’s perceptions of Europe’s historical and cultural past, heritage, culture, identity and belonging. B-SHAPES applies different participatory and ethnographic methods of Citizen Science, focusing especially on youth and minorities, to collect data in different European border regions to scrutinise this challenge to develop strategies and innovative policies using more inclusive approaches to cultivate joint natural, cultural, and historic heritage.

Partners:

B-SHAPES’ academic consortium is multi- and interdisciplinary with a joint focus on border studies. One of its strengths lies in its embeddedness in borderland communities, including dense networks with policymakers and civil society organizations.

For more information about KREATUS participation in B-SHAPES project, contact:

Dorota Wróbel, doradca2@kreatus.eu

For more information about B-SHAPES, contact the coordinator:

Associate Professor Martin Klatt, mk@sam.sdu.dk

University of Southern Denmark, Department for Political Science, Centre for Border Region Studies

https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/en/persons/mk

If you’d like to read more about B-SHAPES, visit https://www.sdu.dk/en/b-shapes .