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In this lecture, Shoshan will present case studies from Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory’s (FAST) ongoing investigations and engagements with conflict and post-conflict areas. On the intersection of research and design activism, Shoshan will examine how global and national processes and policies contribute to the formation of the built environment. With a focus on border dynamics, migration and systemic segregation, FAST’s projects explore the agency of design in supporting and enacting actions of solidarity.
The Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST) is an Amsterdam- and New York-based architectural think-tank that initiates and develops cross-disciplinary research, advocacy, and design projects at the intersection of architecture, urban planning, and human rights. FAST is directed by Malkit Shoshan.
The second symposium in the ANCB programme Borders and Territories: Identity in Place with Nadine Godehardt, Malkit Shoshan, and Lucas Verweij.
The Global Alliance for Urban Crises is a global, multi-disciplinary and collaborative community of practice. It is a ‘network of networks’ working to prevent, prepare for and effectively respond to humanitarian crises in urban settings.
To read more: http://dimensionsofcitizenship.org/form-n-x00/malkit-shoshan/
The Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST), the Center on International Cooperation (CIC), and the Permanent Missions of the United Kingdom, Liberia and Australia are pleased to invite you to a presentation of preliminary findings and recommendations related to the project “UN Peacekeeping Missions in Urban Environments: The Legacy of UNMIL.”
On April 30, 2018, FAST hosted together with the NYU Center on International Cooperation a brainstorming event to discuss the impact and legacy of peace operations on cities with a focus on Liberia.
The 2010 cholera outbreak in Haiti, triggered by the UN mission there, killed more than 9,000 people and affected nearly 807,000. This disastrous case drew attention to the negative effect UN peace operations can have on the surrounding communities and environment—something peacekeepers had started paying attention to with the deployment of new large-scale operations in the 2000s. As operations have grown in size, so too has the size of their environmental footprint.
This report looks at the environmental impact of peace operations and how the UN has responded, including through policies and guidelines, dedicated staff, and training material. In particular, it assesses the challenges the Department of Field Support faces in implementing its Environment Strategy.
Based on this assessment, which includes a detailed examination of the UN mission in Mali, the report puts forward a series of short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations. It concludes that a UN presence should not be a source of stress but should improve local environmental sustainability and build resilience.
Photo: UN super camp, Gao, Mali. FAST, 2016.
Since the 2000s, UN peace operations have increasingly had to address environmental challenges related to their own impact and the conditions in which they operate.
Map: FAST
The Gaza Strip is surrounded by a 25-foot-high barrier that runs along 38.8 miles of land and includes six crossing points. Continuous military surveillance throughout its 12-miles-long coastline is imposed by warships and drones. The Gaza airport is shuttered and its airspace is restricted. The Gaza Strip, a territory of 141 square miles, is the home of 1.85 million Palestinians that have been trapped inside hermetically controlled borders since 2005.
More on Border Ecologies/Yale Paprika
The relationship between architecture and urban planning on the one side, and peace and conflict on the other, has increasingly been acknowledged. After all, the built environment does not only reflect a physical structure, but also manifests social, economic, and political factors that form part of a society’s daily life, giving meaning to places and helping form identities. While, for example, divided cities are key sites in territorial conflict over state and national identities, cultures, and borders, the architecture of buildings can facilitate or hinder human interaction. Consequently, the built environment can serve as a powerful lens to understand and shape behavior. Exploring this link and seeking sustainable options to facilitate peace through architecture and urban planning lies at the heart of the architecture-and-peace nexus.
