Before the war, war, after the war: Urban imageries for urban resilience

Abstract

This article discusses urban conditions in cities that in their recent history experienced war. It puts the social component of the city into relationship with the destroyed and dangerous urban environment. In the period between 1992 and 1996 in Sarajevo and in other Bosnian cities, survival became the most important activity for citizens. In the period directly preceding the war, urban conditions—mobility, infrastructure, and services—started to malfunction. As a result, ordinary city life became an object of new urban imageries influenced by new urban conditions and rules of behavior. The first bombing of the city on 6 April 1992 was a sign that the war had started. It brought with it war urban conditions: lack of public transport, electricity, water, and food. The inability of the city and the people living in it to function normally demanded new patterns of urban resilience, which were partly a product of the city’s prewar conditions. Using Sarajevo as a case study, this article examines whether the city had predisaster coping strategies and, if so, the extent to which these plans were used during the war. Finally, the article observes how citizens, with their own imageries about cities, can participate in the creation of patterns of urban resilience and future predisaster strategies.

Keywords

patterns of urban resilience / Sarajevo / urban conditions / urban imageries / war

References

[1] Alexander C., Ishikawa S., Silverstein M., Jacobson M., King I., Angel S.. A Pattern Language, 1997, New York: Oxford University Press

[2] Ashwort G. J.. War and the City, 1991, London, New York: Routledge 10.4324/9780203409633

[3] Bobić, M. 1996. A Timless Pattern Language. On the Translation of a Pattern Language. Archis No. 7: 54–60.

[4] Bokan R., Stajović N., Vemić M.. Aganović M.. Spatial Development of the City in Terms of National Defense and Protection from Natural Disasters. Program of Construction and Urban Development of Sarajevo for the Period 1971–1985, 1971, Sarajevo: Assembly of Sarajevo, Housing Companies of Sarajevo (Prostorni razvoj grada sa aspekta narodne odbrane i zaštite od elementarnih nepogoda)

[5] Bollens S. A.. City and Soul: Sarajevo, Johannesburg, Jerusalem, Nicosia. City, 2001, 5(2): 169-87 10.1080/13604810120092454

[6] Čengić N.. Sordina R.. Introduction. Into Sarajevo, 2003, Padua: Il Poligrafo xiv-xxix.

[7] Coaffee J., Wood D. M., Rogers P.. The Everyday Resilience of the City, How Cities Respond to Terrorism and Disaster, 2009, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan

[8] Dizdarević R.. From Death of Tito to Death of Yugoslavia, Testimonies, 2000, Sarajevo: Svjetlost (Od smrti Tita do smrti Jugoslavije, Svjedočenja)

[9] FAMA. Sarajevo Survival Guide, 1993, Croatia: Workman Publishing

[10] Del Giudice P., Krstanović D., Kovačević M.. Sarajevo, 1995, Lugano: Galleria Gottardo

[11] Institute for Planning of Development of the Sarajevo Canton. Spatial Plan of the Canton of Sarajevo for the Period 2003–2023, 2006, Sarajevo: Institute for Planning of Development of the Sarajevo Canton (Prostorni plan Kantona Sarajevo za period od 2003–2023)

[12] Karamehmedović M.. Kapetanović A.. Triumph of Art. The Sarajevos’ Memento, 1997, Sarajevo: Ministry of Culture and Sport of Canton Sarajevo 64-89 (Sarajevski Memento)

[13] Lawson R. J., Hawrylak M., Houghton S.. Liotta P. H., Mouat D. A., Kepner W. G., Lancaster J.. Human Security for an Urban Century, Local Challenges, Global Perspectives. Environmental Change and Human Security: Recognizing and Acting on Hazard Impacts, 2008, Dordrecht: Springer 169-202 10.1007/978-1-4020-8551-2_9

[14] Matvejević P., Stoddart T.. Sarajevo, 1995, Milano: Federico Motta

[15] Mazzucchelli F.. Urbicide, the Sense of Places between Destruction and Reconstruction in Former Yugoslavia, 2010, Bologna: Bononia University Press (Urbicidio, Il senso dei luoghi tra distruzioni e ricostruzione nella ex Jugoslavia)

[16] Mumford L.. The Culture of Cities, 1997, London: Routledge/Thoemmes

[17] Muschamp, H. 1995. Architecture Review; Mourning the Gorgeous Mosaic that Was Sarajevo. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/10/arts/architecture-review-mourning-the-gorgeousmosaic-that-was-sarajevo.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm.

[18] SETimes.com. 2005. The History of Dayton Accord. http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/dayton/setimes/special/dayton/history/feature-01.

[19] Simone A.. For the City Yet to Come, Changing African Life in Four Cities, 2004, Durham, London: Duke University Press

[20] Sontag S.. Kapetanović A.. Here and There. The Sarajevos’ Memento, 1997, Sarajevo: Ministry of Culture and Sport of Canton Sarajevo 13-17 (Sarajevski Memento)

[21] Štraus I.. Architect and Barbarians, 1995, Sarajevo: Medjunarodni centar za mir (Arhitekt i barbari)

[22] United Nations Commission of Experts. 1994. Study of the Battle and Siege of Sarajevo, Annex VI — Part I. http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/anx/VI-01.htm#headII.A.

[23] UNISDR (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction). 2007. Terminology on DRR. http://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/terminology.

[24] Vasquez J. A.. The War Puzzle Revisited, 2009, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press

[25] Viganò P.. Elementary City, 1999, Ginevra-Milano: Skira (La città elementare)

[26] Wagner A.. Woods L.. The Nature of Demand. Radical Reconstruction, 1997, New York: Princeton Architectural Press 9-11.

[27] Woods L.. Radical Reconstruction, 1997, New York: Princeton Architectural Press