by Klaus Molterer and Joachim Hackl

This study focuses on the border regions of Austria and former Czechoslovakia and the rise of distinct border economies over the last twenty years. Investigating the properties of this former iron curtain border we look at the spatial implications of the border as a set of changing conditions rather than an absoluteness, and how these changing characteristics can influence social, architectural and urban development.

Focusing on Vietnamese street vendors and their highly specific strategy of economic survival in those border regions, we try to follow a strict cartographic approach, leading to a series of partly speculative, partly documentary maps complemented by explanatory text and photographs.

Roadside trade