Overview

A sustained critique of postwar reconstruction in Syria as a politically neutral process In 2011, emboldened by the Arab Spring, the Syrians rose up against their government. The Syrian regime used violence to suppress the protests, so that what began as pro-democracy protests eventually morphed into a civil war with heavy outside intervention. Today, the Assad regime has fallen, but large parts of the country lie in ruins, millions of Syrians are displaced, and the economy is in freefall. Reconstruction as Violence delves into the complex interplay of post-conflict reconstruction in Syria, challenging the traditionally held dichotomy between the end of violence and the commencement of rebuilding. The contributors to this volume—architects, urbanists, geographers, and historians—employ critical concepts such as urbicide, domicide, and “civilian crisis architecture” to argue against the conventional theoretical frameworks that support a neat separation of phases. They illustrate how reconstruction often extends the dynamics of conflict into the urban and social realms, suggesting that the built environment becomes a battleground for further violence. They emphasize the importance of acknowledging the historical, economic, societal, legal, and bureaucratic contexts that shape reconstruction efforts, arguing for initiatives that prioritize equity, inclusivity, and community participation. Reconstruction as Violence starkly underscores the authors’ stance that to overlook any of these dimensions, or to disengage from the reconstruction process altogether, represents a political choice with potentially detrimental effects on Syria and beyond in the Arab world, where countries like Palestine, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, and Sudan are undergoing similar cycles of destruction and rebuilding. It calls for a reimagined approach to reconstruction, one that fosters peace, resilience, and social justice in post-conflict societies. Contributors: Sawsan Abou Zainedin, Madaniya, London, UK Ammar Azzouz, University of Oxford, UK Valérie Clerc, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France Emma Katherine DiNapoli, human rights lawyer, London, UK Omar Ferwati, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Rim Lababidi, architect and independent scholar, Ohio, USA Wendy Pullan, University of Cambridge, UK Nasser Rabbat, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA Hashim Sarkis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA Deen Sharp, London School of Economics, UK Heghnar Watenpaugh, University of California Davis, CA, USA

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9781649034137

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Reviews

""This is an immensely important work and particularly timely as it emerges after the fall of the Assad regime. Whether Syria is restored or reconstructed, this no longer need be viewed as violence as long as Syrians, both in the country and abroad, are part of the process of recovering from the existential challenges that the country has most recently faced.""—Dawn Chatty, University of Oxford ""In post-Assad Syria, a country grappling with recovery, this book is more timely than ever. Reconstruction as Violence in Syria challenges conventional narratives that frame reconstruction as merely an act of development. It reveals the entanglement of destruction and construction, highlighting how violence shapes urban space, built heritage, memory, and citizenship. Through the book's chapters, we come to understand how architecture takes shape as an act of either sustaining or resisting oppressive structures in Syria’s evolving socio-political landscape—one shaped by both hope and anticipation.""—Wesam Al Asali, IE School of Architecture and Design

Author Information

Nasser Rabbat (Edited by) is the Aga Khan Professor and Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT. His interests include Islamic architecture, urban history, heritage studies, Arab history, contemporary Islamic art, and post-colonial criticism. He has published numerous articles and several books on topics ranging from Mamluk architecture to Antique Syria, nineteenth-century Cairo, Orientalism, and urbicide. His most recent books are ‘Imarat al-Mudun al-Mayyita (The Architecture of the Dead Cities, 2018), and an online book, The Destruction of Cultural Heritage: From Napoléon to ISIS, co-edited with Pamela Karimi (2016). His book on the great fifteenth century Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi came out in late 2022. Deen Sharp (Edited by) is a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science in Geography and Environment. He was formerly a fellow at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is the co-editor of Beyond the Square: Urbanism and the Arab Uprisings (Urban Research, 2016) and Open Gaza: Architectures of Hope (American University in Cairo Press, 2021). He has written for a number of publications, including, Jadaliyya, Portal 9, MERIP, Arab Studies Journal and the Guardian. He has worked for several UN agencies, including UNDP and UN-Habitat, governments and international NGOs.

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