Gabriel Jewell-Vitale | ARC 505 Thesis Preparation

Crisis City: Productive Borders: Gibraltar and Identity Crises

Primary Advisor: Anda French

Secondary Advisor: Mark Robbins

Crisis City Primary Faculty:

Julia Czerniak
Anda French
Brian Lonsway
Brendan Moran
Francisco Sanin
 “Transnationalist discourse insists on the continuing significance of borders,
state policies, and national identities even as these are often transgressed by
transnational communication circuits and social practices.” (Smith 3)

The effects of transnational political situations are radically changing the way
we live. The realities of cross-border conflicts and political disputes of autonomy have
created strife within cities leading to crises of identity, place, and hate within culture.
Transnational borders, in particular, are places where the physicality of
identity crises becomes most apparent.
I contend that transnational borders are places where conflict and identity
crises have manifested in the most cogent and physically attainable form. By
investigating transnational borders, one can study its effects at a local condition,
leading to an understanding about the meaning of place, attempting to produce new
typologies and hybrid solutions to mitigate border disputes.
A site such as the British colony of Gibraltar is of particular interest. Gibraltar
is a dislodged exclave confronting both the Spanish city of Algeciras, and the North
African cities of Ceuta and Tangier by sea. The site is a politically forced stubborn
urbanism; existing as a British colonial exclave due to the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713,
it faces incredible pressure to assimilate into Spain.
Paradoxically, the citizens of Gibraltar have vehemently assumed a British
identity throughout history. Cognizant of the fact that many of the residents are not of
British ancestry (24%), but are made up primarily of Spanish, Italian, Maltese,
Portuguese, and Moroccan ancestry, Gibraltarian British loyalty is due to ingrained
political processes, British nostalgia, and the advantages of a robust and self-
controlled economic situation.
As a result, the 300 years of dispute between Spain and Britain have
produced one of the most stringent border crossings in all of Europe. In 1969,
Francisco Franco closed the border for 16 years, immediately leading to 10,000
workers without work. (Gibraltar Residents Fight…) In 2003, Spain closed the border
in response to a cruise ship whose passengers carried a virus, leading to a public
outrage and temporary crisis. (Fury over…Culture) To this day, Spanish economic
sanctions still exist upon Gibraltar.
However, for the 6,000,000 tourists who enter Gibraltar every year, Gibraltar
exists as a calm façade. With British shops, double-decker buses, and red royal
mailboxes, Gibraltar’s identity and autonomy conflict is masked in a shroud of British
loyalty. The reality of Gibraltar’s situation is difficult to understand.
Thus, Gibraltar is a physical manifestation of the amalgamation between two
dialectics of thought: transnationalism and globalization. While Gibraltar’s site
maintains its transnational presence through the continual boundary between
Gibraltar as an “entity” from Spain, it is an economic hub for “global flows”. The site
is a disjoint between the ideas of homogeneity due to global tourism, and place that
has a diverse array of transnational influences. Jointly, the site becomes a paradox of
definitions.
 Consequently, Gibraltar’s identity both autonomously, culturally, and globally,
is incredibly conflicted. Reliant upon the changing nature of political parties in both
Britain and Spain, Gibraltar’s identity and “placeness” is marginalized.
Gibraltar is a major node of commerce, travel, and access between two
separate continents—literally a place that is “in-between” local, global, and political
boundaries. Further development in infrastructural systems impacting Gibraltar could
heighten it as a hybridized border.
Currently, a tunnel is being dug below the Straits of Gibraltar that will serve as
an artery for traffic between Africa and Spain. Furthermore, in 2008, President
Sarkozy proposed a Mediterranean high-speed rail network that would drastically
change the borders and flows of the Mediterranean. “This single loop of
infrastructure spanning from Gibraltar to the Bosporus would take in 21 separate
states, four time zones and seven major seas, and connect the continents of Africa,
Asia and Europe.” (Lahoud 92)
Gibraltar has the ability to transform itself as a critical location in the future of
our globalized world. The speculation of Gibraltar as a border is paramount.
As a model for a hybrid space that is impacted by both transnational and
global flows within the context of political crises, I propose that the architectural
intervention within Gibraltar should occur exactly where the crises are most
apparent—Gibraltar’s “borders”. Through the construct of an architecture that
confronts both the transnational and global flows, the parameters for design will be
shaped directly by the meaning of place and the hybrid forces at play. The
intervention will provide a productive model for re-thinking the space of transnational
borders and how they affect not only local conditions, but also political spheres of
influence at an international level.
A possible program of interest is the recent development for Spain to build a
cultural institute in Gibraltar. Combining program of necessity and speculation--
“border” control + new infrastructure, and institute-- a productive model for the way
in which Gibraltar is both controlled and viewed at a critical marker in local and
international “place,” may emerge.
Specific locations of interest include the addition of the southeast harbor of
Gibraltar, which increased Gibraltar’s landmass by 17%. (Archer 28) Controversially,
the harbor was land taken from Spain’s Iberian Peninsula, igniting a series of political
disputes. This move, challenged not only the existing boundary of Gibraltar, but
further serviced the tourists coming to Gibraltar by cruise ship.
Additional locations may include the current border between Spain and
Gibraltar, which is a 3/4-mile stretch of “neutral” land. The proposal would
investigate the ways in which a hybrid program could facilitate the design of a
“productive border” allowing for flexibility programmatically and for the functioning of
Gibraltar +, a speculation as to how Gibraltar can adapt in the twenty first century.
_Archer, Edward G. Gibraltar, Identity and Empire. London: Routledge, 2006. Print.

Comprehensive overview of how the complex identity of Gibraltar has been shaped due to
historical, topographical, geographical, political, social and economic factors. Additionally
describes how the idiosyncrasies of Gibraltar have formed through history.

Bittner, Regina, Hackenbroich, and Wilfried. "Transnational Spaces." Volume 3 (2005): 44-
49. Print.

This article talks about the interrelationship between the locality and globalization in case
studies within transnational spaces.

_Daly, Emma. "Gibraltar Residents Fight for Identity." The New York Times - Breaking News,
World News & Multimedia. 30 Apr. 2002. Web. 20 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.nytimes.com/>.

This article reports that the citizens of Gibraltar have been the primary impetus in recent
years for assimilation into Spain.

"‘As Solid as the Rock’? Place, Belonging and the Local Appropriation of Imperial Discourse
in Gibraltar - Lambert - 2005 - Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers." Wiley
Online Library. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-
5661.2005.00161x/pdf>.

Lambert describes in detail how the colonial and military relationship in Gibraltar has
resulted in either British nostalgia or as a “distasteful anachronism.”

Parker, Noel. The Geopolitics of Europe's Identity: Centers, Boundaries and Margins. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.

Parker defines the differences between nation-state border conflicts through the use of
peripherality, marginality, and hybridity. Under his definition, Gibraltar falls under the
category of hybridity.

_Shane, David Grahame. Recombinant Urbanism: Conceptual Modeling in Architecture,

Urban Design, and City Theory. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Print.

Shane describes in length the critical role heterotopias have in changing urbanisms
throughout history. Through the re-use of Michel Foucault’s seminal definition of
heterotopias, Shane argues that heterotopias are part of the three basic city systems of city
models. These models can be recombined to produce any a myriad number of various city
typological situations.

_Smith, Michael P. Transnational Urbanism: Locating Globalization. Malden, MA: Blackwell,

2001. Print.

Smith argues that the globalized world is not necessarily undergoing a ”time space
compression” that previous theorists on globalization such as Thomas Friedman, Saskia
Sasken, and David Harvey have either suggested or aligning their theoretical frameworks
within. These theories do not allow for restructuring of new political possibilities tied
specifically to localize conditions of social restructuring and autonomy from political entities.

Most importantly, he makes a clear distinction from “globalization” and “transnationalism.”

The transnational discourse is paradoxically aligned with globalized flows, but eschews a
discourse that resists the idea of homogeneity tied within globalization. Thus,
transnationalism relies on the continuing significance of borders and national identities even
though transnational processes are produced through them.

_"Spain Easing Its Old Claim To Gibraltar." The New York Times - Breaking News, World
News & Multimedia. 10 Dec. 1997. Web. 23 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.nytimes.com/>.

This article was based on the period of time when Spain was accepting for “shared
sovereignty” with Britain over Gibraltar, but the residents remained steadfast in opposing any
notion of agreement with Spain.

"BBC NEWS | Europe | Fury over Gibraltar Border Closure." BBC News - Home. Web.
07 Oct. 2010. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3237235.stm>.

This article reports on the 2003 Border closure of Gibraltar due to a cruise ship that
harbored passengers containing a virus.

"Project for a Mediterranean Union - Lahoud - 2010 - Architectural Design." Wiley Online
Library. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ad.1140/pdf>.

The massive infrastructural rail proposal by French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposes to
connect seven seas, four continents, and 21 separate states with a high speed rail network.
Projects from the University of Technology in Sydney question how the areas of influence
would change with the development of this rail proposal. Gibraltar would be the connection
between Africa and Europe.
Glossary_

Exclave: territory legally or politically attached to another territory with which it is not
physically contiguous.

Enclave: territory whose geographical boundaries lie entirely within the boundaries of
another territory.

Transnational exclave: territory that is legally or politically connected to another

territory with which it is not physically contiguous, except for access to the sea,
creating it’s own cultural meaning through the relationship to it’s dependency.

Peripherality: denotes “margins” that are not problematic to sovereignty and are
subordinate to the interests, authority and governance of the state.

Marginality: denotes “margins” as problematic and necessary to be eradicated by the

sovereign state’s control.

Hybridity: denotes the ambiguity of “margin” as not threatening. Rather, this

ambiguity is embraced as a resource and the margin is allowed to have autonomy
and a voice.

Liminality: a threshold.

Gibraltar’s thresholds are not only transgressed by global influences, but the borders,
due to its state as a dependency of Britain, manifest themselves through political
spheres of influence that are connected through control over place, not culture.
Culture is a resultant of this threshold.
 Transnational sphere’s of influence

Britain

Globalism manifested through British

autonomy

Spain
Hybridity

Gibraltar Influence accelerated by local condition

(Transnational situation)

Morocco

Ethnicity of Gibraltar Citizens “British loyalty”

Unassigned
Other
4% 2%
Minorcan
British British
2% 27% 100%
Jewish
2%
Maltese
8%
Portuguese
11% Spanish
Italian 24%
19%
1 2 3 4

SPAIN

Neutral Zone
(Transnational threshhold)
3

Airport
(Transnational | Global threshhold)
4

Cruise Customs
(Global threshhold)
1
2

The Rock
(Locating threshold)