Misselwitz, Philipp; Rieniets, Tim (Eds.): City of Collision

W+B Agentur-Presseaussendung September 2006
Buchbesprechung
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Jerusalem and the Principles of Conflict Urbanism
2006, 391 p., 131 illus., 48 in colour, Softcover;ISBN: 3-7643-7482-9, 42,69 €
Verlag für Architektur, Birkhäuser; Basel, Berlin, Boston;  www.birkhauser.ch;

Content
War has entered the cities. Since September 11, 2001 at the latest, it has become apparent that this is the case not only in Jerusalem and the Middle East, but also in Western metropolises. This book presents a thorough investigation of the current situation in Jerusalem from a trilateral perspective: Israeli, Palestinian, and international experts air their views. The discussion centers on the production and use of urban space under the conditions created by the conflict, including, for example, the so-called security fence, urban enclaves, exclaves, the approach to monuments and no-man’s-land, and the instrumentalization of infrastructures, which leads to the crass juxtaposition of highly developed and impoverished urban spaces.

The conflict, however, does not bring with it destruction and violence alone, but also exhibits ambivalent effects and, along with them, new cultural and urban realities. Jerusalem has become a prototype in the age of new urban violence.


Fazit
Am urbanem Muster Jerusalem werden die Schlüsselbegriffe Architektur und Urbanismus abgearbeitet. Der Einfluss Terror und Krieg wird von internationalen Experten diskutiert. Dabei werden Produktion, Nutzung von urbanem Raum inmitten des Konfliktes: Sicherung, Enklaven, Umgang mit Kulturdenkmälern und Niemandsland sowie die Instrumentalisierung von Infrastrukturen sind der Inhalt des Diskurses dieses Buches. Das Nebeneinander von hoch entwickeltem Urbanität neben Slumbildungen führt sowohl zu Destruktion und Gewalt als auch neuartige ambivalente kulturellen Merkplätzen die Innovation und Destruktion gleichermassen beinhalten