Transurbicide investigates processes that influence post-war reconstruction of built environment in transitional, post-socialist societies. Although the militarization of built environment has been recognized as a phenomenon in recent years, this remains relatively underdeveloped and above all fragmented field of study. To tackle these urgent issues, the project proposes new innovative methods for studying relationships and hierarchies between various actors that take part in these processes, and by doing so it re-examines the role of practitioners—architects, urban and spatial planners—in them.

The main scientific objective of the project is to explain architectural engagements with violent transformation of urban morphology within the broader framework of urban geopolitics and post-war recovery in post-socialist societies, using as a test-bed the reconstruction of Belgrade after the 1999 NATO bombing. Operating within the domain of digital humanities, the project managed to construct a histoire croisée of the multiple actors (their roles, influences and decision-making processes) and sources that are involved in post-war reconstruction. Investigating the complex relation-scapes and hierarchies of various stakeholders that took part in urban transformation of Belgrade is both innovative and fruitful methodology that contributes significantly to the current state-ot-the-art in urban conflicts studies.

The first specific objective is to develop a new research protocol for management and interpretation of the big collections of architectural documents from all actors of interest, using the cutting-edge big architectural data analysis technology. The project relies on the CIDOC-CRM semantic data model, commonly used in conventional heritage archives such as museums, and tries to rethink how modelling semantic data can be applied in architectural research and production. The second specific objective is to use the analysis of collected documents to contribute to develop interdisciplinary research guidelines for investigation of cities in war and post-war contexts. These guidelines can ultimately serve as a tool for developing informed design strategies for rebuilding urban zones after violent conflicts.

https://transurbicide.gta.arch.ethz.ch

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 798115.