Towards Sustainable Post-War Reconstruction : Reflecting on City- Making and Conflict

Abstract

How should we discuss urban sustainability in the context of conflict and war? This chapter discusses dimensions of sustainability and the horizon of possibilities in urban situations that involve warfare. In the first part, the chapter interrogates categories such as fragile cities, feral cities, and conflict cities, which have been used to highlight the increasing presence of violence in cities. It then focuses on the experience of people in cities who have witnessed war in recent decades, examining the impact on cities of what Mary Kaldor called the “new wars” on cities. It specifically discusses the predicaments of urban development in the aftermath of such wars, arguing that the sustainability of peace and that of reconstruction are related. This chapter thus differentiates security-based approaches to violence in cities—being most prevalent in Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia—from those related to conflict transformation in situations of ethnic/religious conflict. It focuses on experiences in the Balkans and the Middle East in approaching reconstruction in relationship to sustainability and resilience, discussing the challenges and frictions which emerged through reconstruction. This chapter shows how conflict brings predicaments to cities that cannot be responded to through city-making “as usual”. It discusses how post-war reconstruction has the task to restore a sense of place for both pre-war locals and displaced people in the city. Moreover, it highlights a set of alternative modes of engagement with conflict, from conceptual strategies to transformative practices, that emerged in the experiences of these cities, creating horizons of hope: agonistic urbanism, reflective reconstruction, and syncretic place-making.