An Interpretation of Social Resilience at the Spatial Level across the Hungarian-Romanian Border

Abstract Today, resilience can be regarded as an attribute of complex (spatial) systems. However, the extent to which this concept can be applied in practice remains the subject of debate. Can we, for instance, speak in general terms about the social resilience of a region, when the effectiveness of adaptation and the parameters of its functioning are subject to significant fluctuations in space and time, and when the diverse social, economic, and political conditions that prevail in different localities may necessitate the implementation of different adaptation strategies? Can the social resilience of individual groups be equated with the successful adaptation of an entire settlement? To understand change at a regional level, it is apparently not enough to start from present-day social processes; we must also examine the holistic picture on a historical scale, which makes defining the process of resilience in temporal terms a challenging task. In my study, I seek to respond to these questions and specificities by examining the issue of social resilience at a regional level, focusing on settlements close to the Ártánd border crossing point in the historical Bihar region, the center of which is the formerly Hungarian city of Nagyvárad, now Oradea, Romania. I argue that the crisis of the demarcation of the Trianon borders was attenuated by the reassessment of the role of borders following European Union accession. However, in terms of individual settlements, we can also talk about the success, or possibly failure, of specific, constantly changing, alternating, or simultaneous adaptation strategies.