Language:
English
Pages:
xvi, 242 Seiten
,
Illustrationen, Diagramme, Karten
Uniform Title:
The Space In-Between - Towards a Spatial Genealogy of Nicosia’s Buffer Zone through Tracing Transformative Processes in a Post-Conflict Cityscape
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als Foka, Zinovia The Space In-Between
Dissertation note:
Dissertation Bauhaus-Universität Weimar 2020
DDC:
306.3
Keywords:
Hochschulschrift
;
Zypern
;
Urbanistik
Abstract:
This thesis examines urban partition in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, and how its changing roles and shifting perceptions in a post-conflict setting reflect power relations, and their constant renegotiation. Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, was officially divided in 1974 in the aftermath of an eighteen-year-long conflict between the island’s Turkish- and Greek-Cypriot communities. As a result, a heavily militarized Buffer Zone, established as an emergency measure against perpetuation of intercommunal violence, has been cutting through its historic centre ever since. This thesis departs from a genuine interest in the material and ideational dimensions of urban partition. How is it constructed, not merely in physical terms but in the minds of the societies affected by conflict? How is it established in official and everyday discourses? What kinds of mechanisms have been developed to maintain it, and make an inseparable part of the urban experience? Moreover, taking into account the consensus in relevant literature pertaining to the imperative for its removal, this thesis is inquiring into the relevance of peace agreements to overcoming urban partition. For this purpose, it also looks at narratives and practices that have attempted to contest it. The examples examined in this thesis offer pregnant analytical moments to understand Nicosia’s Buffer Zone as a dynamic social construct, accommodating multiple visions of and for the city. Its space ‘in-between’ facilitates encounters between various actors, accommodates new meanings, socio-spatial practices and diverse imaginaries. In this sense, urban partition is explored in this thesis as a phenomenon that transcends scales as well as temporalities, entwining past, present, and future.
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