A Temporary Space Where Development and Planning Emergencies Meet? Notes on an International Building Exhibition (IBA) in the Cross- Border Territories of France and Luxembourg

An International Building Exhibition (IBA) is currently being planned for the cross-border area of southern Luxembourg and north-eastern France (Alzette-Belval). This planning approach, mainly known in the German building and planning context, was developed as a temporary activity to foster planning innovation and experimentation, in order to bring both formal and informal processes and regulations forward. Some have also argued that an IBA can be considered a temporary case of planning emergency, a means for trying the unusual in settings where business as usual has failed to address important problems properly. Organising an IBA has recently become increasingly popular in other European countries, such as Austria, the Netherlands or Switzerland. The aim of this note is to address some general questions as to the particular role that this instrument can play, and what it may promise (and not) to spatial planning. We also discuss the specific framework conditions and problems the French-Luxembourgian border region is confronted with. Our comment should contribute to clarifying what the underlying problems are actually about and, more specifically, in what ways an IBA could help dealing with them. Particularly, we suggest decision-makers and practitioners to follow a practice of ‘reflection before selection’: to address the very specificities of both the region and of an IBA before turning to ‘project’-based routines. This would avoid rendering the IBA as an empty signifier or a mere branding tool, while practice remains challenged by vested interests, complex policy terrains and powerful political economies.