Human Rights and the Architecture of Conflict

Human Rights and the Architecture of Conflict exposes how governments, public officials and private actors on both sides of the Atlantic entrenched racial and ethnic divisions through manipulation of the planning and design of the built environment.

Based on interviews, never-before-seen documents, and field work carried out in Belfast, Chicago, Miami, Washington D.C., and New York City, this book shows how the planning and design of our built environment impacts the physical, mental, social, economic, political, and environmental well-being of communities. Tim Cunningham, an urban scholar and human rights advocate, reveals how the British Army set about reconfiguring the urban fabric of Belfast as part of a counter-insurgency strategy in the 1970s. His research shows how the techniques used in Northern Ireland during this period mirror earlier processes deployed in U.S. cities under urban renewal and the Interstate Highway Program. A global genealogy of segregation, that examines the trajectory of colonial urbanism in the twentieth century, the text highlights the real-life walls and barriers that cleave communities along ethnic and racial lines and the role of architects, planners, developers, and public officials in erecting them. The final chapter considers some contemporary efforts to address the legacy of these practices through restorative architecture and planning initiatives that aim to deliver more cohesive, sustainable, and inclusive urban spaces.

This book is ideal reading for courses in architecture, city planning, community development, geography, human rights, sociology, transitional justice, urban studies, and Irish history.