Interdisciplinary Dialogue Series: Wars and Peacebuilding—What Can the Spatial Disciplines Do?

Wars and Peacebuilding: What Can the Spatial Disciplines Do?

The proliferation of violent conflicts across the world has brought the question and experience of warfare to the forefront of our lives and politics. Recent and ongoing wars (from Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza, and the West Bank to Yemen, Ethiopia, Sudan, and beyond), as well as increasingly possible future wars (Lebanon, Iran, China, Russia), are destroying the lives of many and creating anguish and polarization in the rest of the world. Equally worryingly, the broader disruptions and impact of these wars, from rising poverty in the global south to the displacement of tens of millions of people, have not been adequately understood or addressed and will reverberate for decades in human settlements around the world. Architecture, historic preservation, urban planning, real estate development, and related design disciplines may not be able to do much to prevent or resist war. Still, they can play a significant role in emergency response and reconstruction. What lessons can these disciplines' past and current practices offer that can give us hope? Which ones should we sustain and amplify?