Divided cities are generally linked with civil wars in which group identity is threatened. This type of war dominated the late twentieth century, leaving many cities vulnerable. According to J. Calame and E. Chalesworth(2009) in Divided Cities: Belfast, Beirut, Jerusalem, Mostar, and Nicosia, since World War II there has been a marked shift in global warfare trends from inter - to intrastate conflict: of 64 wars between 1945 and 1988, 59 were intrastate or “civil” wars, and about 80 percent of those who perished were killed by someone of their own nationality. Mostar can be added as one more case some years later. Because of the division these cities hypofunction spatially and socially. In the case of Mostar, Neretva River is used in the frame of the politics of division, providing mental and physical spaces of shame. More specifically, it forwards a surface common memory, as supposed effort of reconciliation of the past with scattered stones, calling them monuments, around the city, leaving the core of its identity, the river, as an abandoned area. In order for the city to start functioning social normally again, it’s necessary to be created a common space of history, which will produce common memories for the future generations. The thesis tries to give a new insight on how to deal with a landscape where ordinary pleasant memories replaced with memories of terror (Neretva), responding to the need of the city for a new memorial architecture. Even though, it addresses a specific area (Neretva), could be influence for many other cities which suffer from post-traumatic events, since it will propose a memorial, not as a spot but, as a system, taking into account the complexity of social, historical, religion, economical, morphological parameters. The new memorial scape in Mostar will not represent a reason for being sad but rather a way to look and hope for the future, becoming with the river a symbol of the city. It is designed as part of the history, being a powerful reminder of society and how citizens of Mostar should stand together in the face of the tragedy of the war. It redefines the relationships between the local community helping the future generations to understand a bit of their history as well. The memorial scape tries to become a part of the Mostar culture, being based on the powerful connection between man and nature. The idea is not only to create a space that stands as a symbol of memory but also to allow people the opportunity to relax and enjoy a new green space. It is just as important for the memorial scape to serve the collective memory as it was to have a high functionality level, providing residents of the area with a new space to enjoy the open outdoors.

This graduation thesis aims to reactivate an old axis connecting two different parts of the city of Mostar. The choice of this particular corridor has been adopted not just because of its strategic location - it crosses the city from East to West, two sides that have been rebuilt after the Bosnian war without a coherent urban strategy - but also because every street, square, park and building along it belong to a common heritage, which after the Bosnian war is lost. Therefore, this axis ( I will name it Axis Rondo-Old HIT Square-Musala Square, due to the main squares that it crosses) is ideal for a design strategy, which will have a dual nature: renewing three degraded areas facing the axis and, at the same time, introducing into those spaces one of the most important, natural and partially forgotten heritage: the Neretva River. The use of a natural, dynamic and “memory keeper” element – the river - to connect those three spaces, in particular two squares and one ruin of a terrace garden, could represent the link missing in the Axis and create a new social use, enhancing a sense of responsibility for a common heritage that nowadays is mainly used as a public dump.

Politics no longer works like the democratic ideal presumed it did. We need to find other ways of doing politics: not just representational and abstract, but situated and performative. Architecture can help us doing this. This project focuses on the situation of Reyeroord, IJsselmonde, Rotterdam. I propose a building process of three theatre typologies that provide a place for theatre as well as community gatherings. Using local building methods and materials, these three structures and their building process, aim to increase the response-ability of this place and its inhabitants. Through the building process, a "Skilled Practice involving Developmentally Embodied Responsiveness" (Ingold 2008) inhabitants learn new ways of relating to their environment, and by changing that environment, it becomes easier to respond to it. Building together can thus be a performative political practice, creating micro-kosmic instances of a reality as it could be, situated in the mud of a place, materials, bodies, thoughts and values. Even if this happens on a small scale, the experiences, agencies and skills emerging in this process will taken far beyond this immediate situation.

We are nowadays constantly being confronted with images of conflicts. It is a reality that seems far away from us, until we are not called to confront it closely. Throughout this research, I questioned the role of landscape architects in post-war cities and how we can intervene in a scarred territory. Enhancing the survival landscape investigates the Siege of Mostar (1993-1994) from a morphological point of view. Since the beginning, I questioned the way the conflict has played out through the space, the reactions of citizens to reorganise and reshape the city in order to respond to the basic need of survival. All of this resulted in the creation of spaces of resilience, the starting point of this research. Structuring and visualising these notions, and developing a coherent project that deals with the survival landscape defined by citizens between 1993-1994 are the aim of my graduation research. The project explores urban and landscape transformations, looking at the transitional spaces between military violent destruction and the spatial reactions of the inhabitants.

BK Booths Exhibition 24 May - 25 November 2018, Venice Biennale 2018