Bas Spierings

Cross-Border Differences and Unfamiliarity: Shopping Mobility in the Dutch-German Rhine-Waal Euroregion

Many international differences can be experienced in shopping spaces on both sides of a national border. Other languages, unfamiliar goods and unknown spatial codes are only a few of the physical-functional and socio-cultural differences that could cause exciting and stimulating situations but could also be perceived as problematic and deterring. This paper analyses perceptions, motivations and practices of cross-border (non-)shoppers and provides insights into ways in which people from cross-border regions deal with differences and the extent to which they interact across borders. The aim is to both theoretically and empirically substantiate the dynamic concept of (un)familiarity by scrutinizing the impact of “push”, “pull”, “keep” and “repel” factors on shopping (im)mobility in the Dutch-German Rhine-Waal Euroregion. These factors are seen as rooted in dynamic processes of constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing differences between places on both sides of the border. In so doing, attention is paid to changing shopping practices and motivations and influencing changing perceptions of international differences. As such, the paper also discusses “familiarization processes” in cross-border regions. The concluding section provides critical reflections on the current European policy approach towards cross-border regional development. In fact, the paper ends with a plea for more instead of less borders, as borders are markers of international differences which could promote cross-border mobility.

Cross-Border Mobility, Unfamiliarity and Development Policy in Europe

In this special issue, we seek to explore experiences, performances and effects of both “unfamiliarity” and “familiarity” across a diversity of inner and outer borders of the European Union. In EU integration discourse, cross-border unfamiliarity is usually considered to obstruct international mobility and diminish opportunities for cross-border cohesion and communities to develop. European development policy, therefore, often focuses on creating mutual understanding in border regions, especially through diminishing the barrier effect of borders. One of the consequences is that more cross-border familiarity is created. However, too much familiarity may also have undermining implications for cross-border mobility, integration and community-building. This special issue, therefore, scrutinizes what “being” and “feeling” (un)familiar imply in cross-border contexts and what consequences both have for spatial practices in and representations of borderlanders in several Euroregions—as well as for European regional development policies aiming for cross-border mobility, integration and community-building.

Consumer Mobility and the Communication of Difference: Reflecting on Cross-Border Shopping Practices and Experiences in the Dutch-German Borderland

Abstract The current debate on consumption and retailing represents shoppers as highly mobile and looking for different experiences. In an attempt to find satisfaction, shoppers are assumed to explore many places and countries. It is in cross‐border regions that large functional, physical, and socio‐cultural differences can be experienced in a relatively small area. Such differences could make crossing national borders appealing as well as unappealing. This contribution scrutinizes what cross‐border shoppers are looking for and what level of “unfamiliarity” they are willing to accept. A brief analysis of cross‐border shopping practices in the EU is combined with a detailed case study of Millingen in the Netherlands and Kranenburg in Germany to explore what shoppers see as (un)appealing. We argue that the knowledge shoppers have of people and places on “the other side” and information that is communicated may (re)arrange differences as “ familiar” and “unfamiliar”. Places promising “ familiar unfamiliarity” seem to appeal to shoppers and therefore generate cross‐border shopping practices. Paradoxically, the construction of borders and the communication of appealing differences seem necessary to sustain and promote shopping mobility.

The Brave New World of the Post-society: The Mass-production of the Individual Consumer and the Emergence of Template Cities

Abstract Aldous Huxleys novel Brave New World (Longman, Harlow, 1932/1991) portrayed a post-human world, a world where human beings were mass-produced like clones and kept in complete happiness through an endless variation of seductions and pleasures. This essay explores parallels in contemporary urban society by analysing why and how we consume—goods, places, and ultimately ourselves—in our daily shopping spaces. In todays post-society, new fashions, representations and make-overs are introduced onto the global market at breakneck speed. Globalization implies an inexhaustible resource for change in local consumption spaces, creating continuous opportunities to transform our personal identities as well as our urban environments. In our world of globalization, hyper-capitalism, and mass-individualism, there seems to be no escape from having and parading a personal identity, no escape from the commercial template for seductive urban shopping spaces. Are we in control of our own destinies? Who are we fooling when we hide in the consumerist maze of fiction and fantasy? What brave new world are we living in?

Socio-cultural proximity, daily life and shopping tourism in the Dutch–German border region

ABSTRACT This paper analyses feelings of socio-cultural proximity and distance with a specific focus on the tourist experience in cross-border shopping and everyday life practices in border regions. We examined shopping practices of Dutch border crossers who visit the German town Kleve in the Dutch–German border region. This particular border context has allowed us not only to reflect on a multidimensional approach towards socio-cultural proximity and distance, but also to examine how these different dimensions express themselves in the tourist experience when it comes to people and places that are geographically ‘close’ but assumingly socially and culturally ‘distant’ from home. Although some differences prompted feelings of discomfort, in particular, differences in social engagement, feelings of comfort stand out in our analysis of cross-border shopping tourism. Furthermore, our study shows that shopping tourism and exoticism, on the one hand, and everyday routines and the mundane, on the other hand, are closely intertwined in the lives of people living in a border region, resulting in a fluid interpretation of the exotic and the mundane in the cross-border context.

Encounters with Otherness: Implications of (Un)familiarity for Daily Life in Borderlands

Abstract While the European Union aims to diminish and remove borders as obstacles for integration, state borders continue to mark differences between countries. People living in borderlands may feel near to and familiar with “the other side” but far away and unfamiliar at the same time. Scrutinizing the concept of (un)familiarity promises intriguing insights into understanding how people perceive and interpret differences and similarities in borderlands, their implications for cross-border leisure and labor practices, and related attitudes towards sameness and otherness. With a relational perspective on borders, this paper therefore aims to unravel the complexity of the (un)familiarity concept by attempting to find an answer to the question how familiarity and/or unfamiliarity come into being and develop during daily encounters in borderlands? Our examination of the (un)familiarity concept reveals dynamic and interrelated dimensions of (un)familiarity—i.e. experiential, informational, self-assessed and proximate. Depending on the ways in which people perceive and interpret sameness and otherness, different degrees and forms of (un)familiarity are at play, resulting in cross-border attention, interaction or avoidance in everyday life.

Parallel Lives on the Plaza Young Dutch Women of Turkish and Moroccan Descent and Their Feelings of Comfort and Control on Rotterdam’s Schouwburgplein

In the last two decades, many city center plazas in the Netherlands have been redeveloped to become more attractive “meeting spaces” and not merely profitable “market places.” This article analyzes the use and experience of Schouwburgplein, an urban plaza in Rotterdam, as meeting space by young Dutch women of Turkish and Moroccan descent. Our analysis reveals a paradoxical interplay between “social comfort” and “social control” in public space. To feel comfortable, the young women avoid interaction with non-befriended young men of immigrant descent and use the plaza in company of friends and family, mostly young females of immigrant descent. However, being among known and unknown youth of Turkish and Moroccan descent on the plaza also implies subjecting oneself to uncomfortable social control. Moreover, the young women of Turkish and Moroccan descent seem occupied with being part of what they consider “their” youth group and some even reveal indifference toward “others” on Schouwburgplein—resulting in “parallel lives” on the plaza.

Gezonde steden, buurttuinen en nieuwe ongelijkheid

Het aantal buurttuinen in Nederland groeit de laatste jaren in een snel tempo, mede gestimuleerd door lokale overheden en onderbouwd met positieve effecten op onder andere de kwaliteit van voeding en de leefbaarheid van wijken. Dit artikel geeft een kritische reflectie op deze hype en nuanceert de hooggespannen verwachtingen rondom buurttuinen.