On June 6, 2025, the conurbation of Gorizia-Nova Gorica-Šempeter-Vrtojba hosted the workshop “Re-Commoning the Italo–Slovenian Borderlands Civic Infrastructures and Shared Futures after GO!2025.” The event was organised by the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) at the Politecnico di Milano, with the organisational support of the Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia (ISIG), as part of the PRIN project “Italian Borderscapes After 2020.”

This workshop marked a continuation of the field research that began in May 2024, focused on the Italo-Slovenian border territory. The initial phase involved site visits and stakeholder interviews across the conurbation and the broader cross-border territory.

The aim was to gain a deeper understanding of territorial dynamics, institutional challenges, and grassroots strategies adopted in response to the region’s evolving geopolitical and socio-economic context, particularly in light of recent episodes of re-bordering, broader European polycrises and the specificity of Nova Gorica-Gorizia GO!Borderless, the first cross-border European Capital of Culture 2025 (ECoC).

The primary aim of the June 6 workshop was to share the preliminary research findings and to foster a collective reflection on emerging critical issues and strategic development pathways. Participants included a diverse group of civil society actors and institutional stakeholders from both sides of the border, all playing active roles in cross-border collaboration and the legacy of GO!2025.

Two co-design activities structured the workshop with participatory exercises that helped to surface key tensions, clarify differing perceptions, and map out shared priorities for the future of cross-border cooperation. Through these activities, the workshop was able to identify priority thematic areas for future interventions, explore desirable versus likely territorial development scenarios and strengthen existing collaborative networks.

By blending local expertise and knowledge in an interactive dialogue, the workshop reinforced the idea of this cross-border region as a “European testing plot for borderless collaboration”