I’ve even opened an Instagram page dedicated exclusively to the project — something quite new for me — where I’ll share maps, photos, and archival glimpses from the research: @francescomagno_fluidborder. Your interest would be greatly appreciated

FluidBorder aims to shed new light on the international history of Eastern European communism and to reconstruct the infrastructural and ecological evolution of the Lower Danube in the second half of the twentieth century.

Why has the Lower Danube remained such a disconnected space? Does the legacy of the Cold War still shape this borderland?
I seeks to answer these questions by exploring how socialist internationalism attempted, and often failed, to transform the river into a space of cooperation.

The two countries share more than 450 km of riparian border. Both were ruled by communist regimes. Yet only two bridges connect the two shores, no joint hydropower plant was ever built, and even today cooperation on navigation and environmental management remains limited.

Bloomberg has described Bulgaria’s water crisis as a “warning for Europe.” In the coming years, increasing resources will need to be devoted to new water storage solutions across the continent. Treating water infrastructure as an ideological battleground risks proving self-destructive.

Now, amid growing protests from exhausted citizens in the city of Pleven, the government has revived an old communist-era proposal for a dam on the Cherni Osam River—though it faces strong opposition from environmental groups.

and it has seen little renovation since. Despite the country’s access to the Danube for more than 400 kilometers and several internal rivers, in the last 35 years the state has effectively abandoned plans for new dams and reservoirs.

Reduced rainfall has indeed depleted reservoirs faster, but that is only part of the story.Bulgaria suffers the highest water loss rate in the EU due to malfunctioning and broken pipes. Much of the distribution network dates back to the communist era, making it 30 to 50 years old...