Overview

The city of Homs, like so many places in Syria, has suffered mass destruction since the war began in 2011. So far, the architectural response to the crisis has focused on ‘cultural heritage’, ancient architecture, and the external displacement of refugees, often neglecting the everyday lives of Syrians and the buildings that make up their homes and communities. In Domicide, Ammar Azzouz uses the notion of the ‘home’ to address the destruction in cities like Homs, the displacement of Syrian people both externally and internally, and to explore how cities can be rebuilt without causing further damage to the communities that live there. Drawing on interviews with those working in the built environment professions, both inside and outside of Syria, but also Syrians from other backgrounds who have become ‘architects’ in their own way as they were forced to repair and rebuild their homes by themselves, Domicide offers fresh insight into the role of the architect during time of war, and explores how the future reconstruction of cities should mirror the wants and needs, the traditions and ways of living, of local communities. Focusing on Homs but offering a blueprint for other urban areas of conflict across Syria and the wider world, the book is essential reading for researchers in architecture, urban planning, heritage studies and conflict studies.

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9781350248106

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Reviews

A deeply moving and clear eyed account of the Syrian conflict from a scholar who has lived its harsh realities on the ground and in exile. Domicide dispels the fiction of a post-conflict Syria, reminding us that the violence continues unabated, just in different configurations, in the wake of war. Azzouz poignantly describes how predatory states weaponize urban reconstruction, enacting new waves of violence in an effort to re-write history and erase communities. Moving us away from the endless mourning of monumental destruction, Domicide tells the bigger story of loss, the deliberate destruction of home. An important book that impels readers to rethink the entire category and contradictions of heritage work that will uncomfortably challenge all of us seeking to capture a world of conflict. * Lynn Meskell, University of Pennsylvania, USA * A harrowing account of everyday violence in contemporary Syria. Azzouz painfully narrates the displacement, dispossession, and compounded grief that Syrians have endured with the loss of home and the social and material fabric that holds it together. In Domicide, we see how Syrians have reimagined and recreated home, against all odds, both inside Syria and in exile. A timely and must-read book. * Rosie Bsheer, Harvard University, USA * A passionate and informed analysis of the deliberate policy pursued by the Asad regime in destroying the built environment of Homs and other Syrian cities. Azzouz’s narrative bears witness to this policy of domicide and also to the courage and dignity with which Homsis defend their city and reconstruct its memory. * Khaled Fahmy, Tufts University, USA *

A deeply moving and clear eyed account of the Syrian conflict from a scholar who has lived its harsh realities on the ground and in exile. Domicide dispels the fiction of a post-conflict Syria, reminding us that the violence continues unabated, just in different configurations, in the wake of war. Azzouz poignantly describes how predatory states weaponize urban reconstruction, enacting new waves of violence in an effort to re-write history and erase communities. Moving us away from the endless mourning of monumental destruction, Domicide tells the bigger story of loss, the deliberate destruction of home. An important book that impels readers to rethink the entire category and contradictions of heritage work that will uncomfortably challenge all of us seeking to capture a world of conflict. * Lynn Meskell, University of Pennsylvania, USA * A passionate and informed analysis of the deliberate policy pursued by the Asad regime in destroying the built environment of Homs and other Syrian cities. Azzouz’s narrative bears witness to this policy of domicide and also to the courage and dignity with which Homsis defend their city and reconstruct its memory. * Khaled Fahmy, Tufts University, USA * A harrowing account of everyday violence in contemporary Syria. Azzouz painfully narrates the displacement, dispossession, and compounded grief that Syrians have endured with the loss of home and the social and material fabric that holds it together. In Domicide, we see how Syrians have reimagined and recreated home, against all odds, both inside Syria and in exile. A timely and must-read book. * Rosie Bsheer, Harvard University, USA *

Author Information

Ammar Azzouz is a British-Syrian architect and architectural critic. He is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK. A researcher and writer on issues of architecture and war, reconstruction, and resilience, his research on Syria has been published with the New York Times, LSE Middle East Blog, the Independent, the New Statesman, the Global Construction Review, CITY and the City Metric.

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