The urban geopolitics of memory: War, destruction and reconstruction in cities

Talk by Gruia Badescu, 2024-2025 Paris IAS fellow, 2024 Tschudi Annual Lecture at the University of Oslo.

This lecture explores how urban spaces are reshaped during and after conflicts, highlighting the relationships between geopolitics, the built environment, and memory politics. By examining the destruction and reconstruction of cities in Europe and the Middle East, it argues that these processes are deeply intertwined with power struggles, memory conflicts, and symbolic violence. The lecture traces how such urban reconfigurations spatialize memory battles between groups, often leading to enforced erasures, amnesia, and silencing. Through a multiscalar approach, the lecture investigates the interactions between local, national, and international actors in the spatial reconfiguration process. Drawing on experiences from wars in cities such as Belgrade, Sarajevo, and Beirut, it underscores the role of international interventions in reshaping both urban landscapes and domestic memory politics. Finally, the lecture shows that rebuilding efforts influence how urban communities process their traumatic pasts and envision their futures.

Open to the public.
More information: https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/research/news-and-events/events/tschudi/upcoming/tschudi-2024-g-badescu.html