The City as a World in Common: Syncretic Place-Making as a Spatial Approach to Peace

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between spatial reconfigurations and peace by examining the practice I call syncretic place-making, identified in cities experiencing conflict. I suggest that this spatial practice reflects the promise of Hannah Arendt’s political vision of a world in common, materialized in the city. I discuss architectural conceptualizations such as the Cypriot 2021 Venice Biennial entry and theorize from architectural practices of resistance identified in Sarajevo, defining syncretic place-making as a process of drawing from multiple traditions to celebrate coexistence in space. The article reflects on both the potential and challenges that such place-making has for conflict cities.