Content Rem Koolhaas et al

Whether it is the destruction of civic infrastucture in Sarajevo and Mostar, the roll-out of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and in Gaza, the violence against Muslim civil infrastucture in Ayodhya, India, the government land policy in Lagos, Nigeria, or the “clean up” of the Bronx, it is clear that conflict and struggle sometimes erupt into the sphere of organized space, thereby destroying the condition of plurality that defines a city. This can happen either through human intent or through the erosions of neglect. Violence against architecture, dubbed urbicide, deploys urban planning and architecture as a tool of conflict. The Israeli army employs architects and civil engineers as commanders of its military bulldozers. “The application of international law as the most severe method of architectural critique has never been more urgent,” writes Eyal Weizman. Passive urbicide (“[...] the slow smokeless burning of decay”, Robert Frost) is less dramatic but more insidious, and in some cases outright perverse, even if ostensibly benign — a city can be ruined through acts of construction as well. Urbicide doesn’t always imply hatred of buildings and their occupants. Arrogance and obliviousness often accomplish the same thing.

Content is a message from the messy border of architecture, critical thinking, geopolitics, and urbanism. It is also a history record of 10 years of work (1993-2003) at Koolhaas’ OMA/AMO bureau and, as such, is the sequel to S,M,L,XL.

Links:

• New wars of the city: ‘urbicide’ and ‘genocide’
• Cities in transition: a strategic view of urban and local government issues