Conflict in Cities

Description

Seminar Room, CRASSH
Workshop sponsored by CRASSH (University of Cambridge)

'Conflict in Cities' is a multidisciplinary research project that investigates the capacities of architecture and the urban fabric to manifest and absorb conflict. The project will focus on the nature of urban order, and in doing so, consider the traditional role of the city as a receptacle for both commonality and diverse and often opposed phenomena. A team of scholars and professionals from Germany, Israel, Palestine and the UK will focus on specific sites in Jerusalem as vehicles for investigation, and at the same time consider these examples against an international background of contemporary precedents such as Berlin and Belfast. The participants' research expertise covers a number of disciplines, including architecture, urban studies, sociology, anthropology, political geography, conflict studies and law. The project is supported by the ESRC New Securities Challenges programme and the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Cambridge; it is anticipated that it will extend over three years.

A CRASSH workshop planned for 8-10 Janaury 2004 is proposed as the first of a series of ongoing meetings on the nature of conflict in cities. The project 'Conflict in Cities: Architecture and Urban Order in Divided Jerusalem' is intended as the vehicle for such discussions, and its early findings in the form of a pilot study will be presented here. In addition to this, each project-partner is asked to present a brief paper (25-30minutes) on some aspect of his or her own research that can illuminate the problem of urban conflict and offer some indication of the area(s) in which he or she might be able to contribute to the Jerusalem project. With respect to the latter, this might be occasional comments on research findings or it could have to do with a more intensive involvement in a part of the project; in some cases this will come from a direct knowledge of Jerusalem and in others it will have to do with other experience of conflict in cities. In terms of the wider issues, we are anxious to promote an ongoing discussion that investigates the nature and role of conflict in cities, questions how much divided cities might have in common, and explores the spatial and physical relationships of urban conflict. This may be seen primarily in terms of national/ethnic/religious conflict, but may of course spill over into other types of discord.
Convener:

Dr Wendy Pullan (Faculty of Architecture and History of Art)