Fables of the Reconstruction
Cursus
In light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the severe destruction in Gaza by the Israeli government, the Independent School for the City is organising another edition of the Fables of the Reconstruction seminar in November 2024. Building on the insights from last year’s edition, we will this time focus on the mechanisms behind the reconstruction of cities, contrasting the involvement of global conglomerates and multinationals – often characterised by generic concepts – with the need for locally rooted solutions.
The seminar departs from the notion that rebuilding a destroyed city is not just about replacing or rebuilding its infrastructure and architecture. It is about making the choice which and whose city should be rebuilt. It is a choice as much about the Idea of the city as about its form. A reconstructed city is not just a brick and mortar replacement of everything that was damaged, but also a story of the history and the future of the city. A heavily idealised and edited story that tells of power structures and ideology. In the reconstruction of cities ruined by war or disaster, questions of identity, ethnicity, history and culture are paramount.