Intro Socrates Stratis

Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces

Introduction

Through this essay we will look into the challenge of architecture to support the city commons in contested spaces by establishing relations between modes of reconciliation and processes of urban regeneration. To address such challenge, we need to look into architecture as urban practice, recognizing its inherent non-conflict-free interventional character. Architecture as urban practice in contested spaces has a hybrid character, since its agencies, modes of action, as well as its pedagogical stance, emerge thanks to a tactful synergy across material practices, such as architecture, urban design, planning, visual arts, and Information and Communication Technology. The moving project lies in the heart of architecture as urban practice, since the process of making, the agencies of the materiality of such a process, as well as the emergent actorial relations, get a prominent role. Modes of reconciliation are embedded deep into the making of by establishing platforms of exchange of designerly knowledge to support the project actors’ negotiations, and even change their conflictual postures, especially in contested spaces.

By contributing to the city commons, The essay consists of three parts. Firstly, architecture as urban practice may provide we will situate architecture in different alternatives, both to dominant divisive kinds of contested spaces and show how, urban narratives and to the neoliberal urban by withdrawing from the political, it is reconstruction paradigm. The “Hands-on indirectly caught in consolidating politics Famagusta” project, which is the protagonist of division. We will, then, focus on an of this Guide to Common Urban Imaginaries agonistic approach of architecture as practice in Contested Spaces, contributes to such by unpacking its agencies, modes of action, approach, supporting the urban peace- and pedagogies. In the second part, we building processes in . will present the “Hands-on Famagusta”

Intro 13 project and unfold its challenges in regard stories emerge from the multiple activities of to the Cypriot contested space, showing the the “Hands-on Famagusta” project and are kind of conflictual context the “Hands-on written by the author of this essay, Akbil and Famagusta” project team operates in. We will Constantinou. also make apparent three imminent scenarios of Famagusta urban reconstruction the day Contested spaces and the urban role of after a political settlement is found between architecture the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities: partition, privatized urbanism, We quite often associate the urban role of and clean slate approaches. In the third part, architecture as part of urban design with the we will revisit the “Hands-on Famagusta” establishment of tangible continuities creating project as a pertinent example produced by homogeneous urban environments through what we call architecture as urban practice. master planning at the physical intermediate We will point out its agencies, modes of scale between building and city. We see urban action, and pedagogical approach aiming to design, through master planning, gaining provide alternatives to the aforementioned popularity since it has become a legitimate urban reconstruction scenarios. Such tool to city authorities that have gained alternatives may emerge by transforming importance over national planning. However, mental geographies based on ethnic conflict, the pertinence of master planning certainty, by introducing counter mapping as matter- as well as that of the well-defined scale of of-common-concern, and by developing operation between building and the city, seems themes that advocate for the city commons. to be insufficient. Authors who search for a Even more so, new possibilities may appear by new role of architecture in the making of the developing strategies around thresholds that urban,1 coin-in adaptive strategic incremental transform enclaves, or by introducing urban approaches and make their morphogenetic controversies as a platform of re-allying urban and trans-scalar characteristics explicit. They actors across the Cypriot divide. provide alternatives either to the “poeticality Through this essay, we will also of fragmentation”,2 or to the certainty of the connect the four essays and the seven stories master planning mode of operation. that are part of the Guide to Common Urban When searching for such new role, Imaginaries in Contested Spaces with the we firstly need to situate architecture within a problematics around architecture as urban heterogeneous contested urban environment, practice. As already mentioned, the essays increasingly fragmented into an archipelago are written by Condorelli, Potte-Bonneville, of juxtaposed enclaves, linked loosely through Yaneva and Gaffikin, and Sterrett. The seven an ecology of armatures.3 Consequently, the

Notes 1. For more detail reference see: Socrates Stratis, “Architecture-as-urbanism in uncertain conditions”, in Europan 12 Results: Adaptable City (Paris: Europan editions, 2014) pp. 28-35. 2. Bernard Reichen, “For a Sustainable Urban Debate”, in Europan 6: In Between Cities, (Paris: Europan editions, 2001) pp. 20-21. 3. David Grahame Shane, Recombinant Urbanism, Conceptual Modeling in Architecture, Urban Design and City Theory (UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2005) pp. 14, 15.

14 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces politics of edges get a prominent position in Belfast is an example of such ethno-religious urban transformation processes, lying behind conflict. Both kinds of contestation promote the degrees of exclusivity of such enclaves. territorial segregation. However, each Politics of edges depend on the special one requires its own understanding and interests of publics and urban actors. Such interventions.5 In regard to the ethno-religious interests are divergent—see conflictual— kind of division, an additional level of marked by class distinction, gender, and difficulty raises due to the fact that citizenship ethnicity leading to the fact that all cities are itself is contested. bound by contestation. Richard Sennet refers The new role of architecture is to politics of edges by making a distinction about taking a stance on such politics of between borders and boundaries in his article edges in contested spaces. More specifically, in the catalogue of the 2006 Venice Architecture it is about advocating for urban porosity6 Biennale.4 He sees borders, on the one hand, by transforming edges to urban thresholds, as devices which allow infiltrations that thus confronting trends behind territories generate all sorts of urban dynamics between of exclusion responsible for shutting out the parts of the contemporary city, enhancing urban commons.7 Having said that, we are the possibilities of coexistence. Boundaries, faced with two major challenges: firstly, the on the other hand, are impenetrable urban maneuvering left for material practices such features that segregate entire areas within the as architecture, urban design, and planning city. Contested spaces are, therefore, deeply is quite small since urban segregation is the segregated with disputed edges and increased outcome of socio-economic and ethno- surveillance of fortified enclaves of all sorts. religious dynamics. Secondly, advocating Gaffikin and Morissey distinguish for urban thresholds could allow for dis- between two forms of urban contested space. segregation only as a part of overall socio- In the first form, dispute and antagonism have economic or ethno-religious reconciliation to do with issues of pluralism coming from processes. Consequently, when we talk about contentions due to power, status, and welfare practices that advocate for urban thresholds imbalances among particular social groups. we do not start from the physical intervention Chicago may be a relevant example of a in the territory but from alterations of the segregated city due to socio-economic conflict. modes of action, means of representation, The second form of contested space is about and pedagogies so as to influence those urban sovereignty. Various disputes about rights and actors that have the territory as a matter- equity are weaved together with an ethno- of-concern. We depart from the fact that nationalist conflict in regard to the legitimacy contested spaces are extremely fragmented due of the State itself. to both socio-economic and ethno-religious

4. Richard Sennet, “Architecture and the City” in Cities: Architecture and Society, 10th Venice Biennale of Architecture, editions Marsilio, 2006, p. 86. 5. Frank Gaffikin, Mike Morrissey, Planning in Divided Cities (UK : Wiley-Blackwell 2011) p. 1. 6. Socrates Stratis, “Welcome Back In My Back Yard: an urban porosity interrogation”, in Ideas Changing Europan Implementations (Paris: Europan Europe editions, 2012) pp. 46-50. 7. For an analysis of the concept of thresholds see Stavros Stavrides, “Towards the city of thresholds”, Professional dreamers, Vol.10, Italy, 2011.

Intro 15 factors. We acknowledge the conditions that advocating for commons that act across have caused such territorial fragmentation and divided territories”. He is searching for an we focus on potential roles of such enclaves “intensified set of collected things, actors, spaces, in regard to the urban commons. Having said disagreements and conflicts that could formulate all that, we are becoming gradually aware a strong and resilient controversy”. that we need to revisit the practice dimension (pp. 166-195). of architecture within such contested urban By focusing on architecture as environment. practice we are able to reveal its political dimensions, unfolding the agencies of Architecture as practice: Architecture architecture through its spatial, programmatic, as practice is about “…an action, a material, as well as actorial virtues. Politics is performance…a method of action in the in the heart of architecture practice, a battle sense of the habitual, customary routine…”.8 where disagreement makes the political. We Architecture as practice shifts the focus from can identify matters of contention12 within the static object to the moving project,9 architecture, making explicit its inherent evolving around non-linear processes. It is interventional non-conflict-free character, as about communication tools to adapt, means well as the permanent conflictual priorities of of representation, and regulations that are the the actors involved in the moving project. baseline of negotiations among the actors’ conflictual agendas. Practice in architecture Agencies of architecture in contested spaces may have the negative connotations of habit and unreflective action.10 Nevertheless, we The notion of agency is relatively recent in the would like to focus on that aspect of practice architectural discourse but it has a long history that revolves around controversies, making in social and political theory. Some consider apparent its reflective aspect. Controversy is agency as the ability of the individual to act a synonym of architecture in the making,11 independently of the constraining structures of pointing to a series of uncertainties that a the society, where structure is the way a society design project, a building, an urban plan, or a is organized. Awan, Schneider and Till point construction process undergoes. The essay in out that agency should not only regarded in this Guide, entitled “Mapping Controversies reaction to structure, but also in duality with as a Teaching Philosophy in Architecture” it.13 Bjorkdahl, in political science, considers by Yaneva, is quite relevant, showing the agency as active, defining it in three types: pedagogical importance of the moving project localizing (complying), co-opting (adopting, in architecture (pp. 147-161). “I found a adapting), and counteracting (resisting, controversy”, Akbil exclaims in the story in rejecting).14 She goes on saying that space itself the Guide, entitled “Transformative themes: may enable, or disable agencies.

Notes 8. Dana Cuff, Architecture: the story of practice (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1991) p. 4. 9. Bruno Latour, Albena Yaneva, “Give me a Gun and I will Make All Buildings Move: An ANT’s View of Architecture”. in Reto Geiser, (ed.), Explorations in Architecture: Teaching, Design, Research (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2008) pp. 80-89. 10. Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider, Jeremy Till, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture (London: Routledge, 2011) p. 29. 11. http.www.mappingcontroversies.co.uk, accessed 30-03-2016

16 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Fig.1 Map of the Mediterranean region

We can see roughly all these types of agency in agendas is the first type of agency, such as the regard to architecture operating in contested rebuilding of down town Beirut. The whole spaces. Quite often they are manifested in an center of the capital of Lebanon was given out implicit manner, just when architecture claims to one private company, shutting out from withdrawal from the political, accepting the reconstruction processes the inhabitants indirectly to serve the dominating politics of the capital and avoiding any associations of division. Some other types of agency to reconciliation processes. The second one come forward when architectural practice is consolidating the power of the parties in claims an active role in the politics of edges conflict by extending ethnic and religious by advocating for thresholds. Localizing fight for dominance into real estate wars. (complying) neoliberal reconstruction Akar and Hafeda demonstrate how Sunnite

12. “Architecture as Matter of Contention”, Candide Journal Conference, Aachen 2015. 13. Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider, Jeremy Till, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture (London: Routledge, 2011) p. 30. 14. Annika Björkdahl and Ivan Gusic, “Global norms and local agency: frictional peacebuilding in Kosovo”, in Journal of International Relations and Development, 2015, 18, pp. 265-287.

Intro 17 real estate companies are in constant conflict That is where architecture as agonistic urban with the Christian church property owner practice supports processes of commoning in Beirut. They use strategies of infiltration that bound communities and the non- into Christian populated areas where the commodified resources together,18 thus Church employs tactics of disuse by letting the confronting the “laisser-faire” neoliberal urban buildings derelict.15 The third type of agency paradigm.19 Akbil unfolds such relations consolidates the State plans, as it is the case of in the story, a part of this Guide, entitled Israel’s strategy of colonizing the Palestinian “Engaging roundtable: transition from the territories, turning the construction of bi-communal alliances to the pluriverse of Jewish settlements into a military weapon potential collectives” (pp. 196-215). The as eloquently made explicit by Segal, and agencies of such practice enable twin relations Weizman in their book entitled A Civilian between urban regeneration and reconciliation Occupation: politics of Israeli Architecture.16 processes,20 contributing to the urban turn of Despite their limited power, we could peace-building processes. In other words, they also see architectural practices claiming a role find where peace is rather than where conflict in the politics of edges by focusing on the is, and they advocate for shifting power urban porosity challenge. In this case, we can balance, allowing local peace-builders to see counteracting but also co-opting types of challenge prevalent narratives and identities.21 agency that contribute to the change of the Such shifting of power balance takes place by status quo of division. We are talking about introducing plural experiences and designerly agonistic practices that recognize better the methods that support non-representational social untidiness of the contemporary world democracy, based on the emergence of the and take into account the positive aspect of commons across divides. conflict. Such practices accept the different source of knowledge production (tacit and Modes of action for architecture as urban experiential knowledge). They seek to bring practice forward the implication of a plurality by endorsing multiple forms of valid expression The modes of action of architecture as urban and to advocate for civic empowerment, practice have a trans-contextual character. In mediation, and negotiation on common other words, they are inscribed in physical, social imaginaries as brought forward by temporal, and pragmatic contexts creating Castoriades’s Imaginary Institution of our synergies among physical space, programming, society.17 actorial dynamics, and policies.

Notes 15. Hiba Bou Akar, “Ruins and Construction, Crosses and Flags: The political-sectarian spatiality of a Beirut frontier” in Hiba Bou Akar and Mohamad Hafeda, (eds.), Narrating Beirut from its borderlines (Beirut: Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2011) pp. 104-137. 16. Rafi Segal, Eyal Weizman, (eds.), A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture (New York: Verso, 2003). 17. Cornelius Castoriades, “L’institution imaginaire de la société” (Paris, France: Éditions du Seuil, 1975). 18. Massimo de Angelis, “Plan C&D: Commons and Democracy” in Marc Angélil and Rainer Hehl, (eds.), Collectivize: Essays on the political economy of the urban Vol 2, Ruby press, 2013, p. 121. 19. Roemer van Toorn, “Fresh Conservatism: Landscapes of Normality”, 1997, in Jeremy Till Architecture Depends (Cambridge, Massachusetts; Lon- don, England: The MIT Press, 2009) p. 15.

18 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Consequently, such modes of action have a We gradually become aware that the moving hybrid character borrowing means and ends project is in the heart of architecture as from fields, such as planning, urban design, practice, giving importance to the processes of visual arts, information and communication making. We could consider actions during the technologies (ICT), and game practices.22 process of making a project to be an inherent Participative methods become part of such part of the final outcome of the project. Such modes of action, aiming to distribute power23 actions transform the project into interrelated among the urban actors rather than to activities, bound with a specific aim, adaptive diminish their resistance to neoliberal urban means of communication backed up by developments. Participative methods may also ICT, physical meeting spaces, and temporal have a hands-on urbanism approach,24 where communities. The materiality of the process is we can see a self-initiated urbanism searching the project, especially when it is bound by an for self-governance and autonomy. The story off-institutional character, helping to bypass in the Guide entitled “Action Dove Graffiti or deadlocks of conflictual narratives produced Upscaling Hands-on initiatives” (pp. 70-75) by institutions across divides in contested by the author of this essay brings out a set of spaces.25 The process is the project when it challenges in regard to a hands-on approach. influences in various ways the final outcome, Such modes of action introduce co-creating, avoiding to fall into the trap, which Gaffikin co-modifying, and co-supporting moments, and Sterrett mention in their essay entitled the essence of collective decision making on “Problems and Solutions in Planning Divided which non-representational democracy is Cities: The case of Belfast”, part of this Guide based. The modes of action adopted by critical (pp. 217-229), of having all creativity of such spatial practices have a lot in common with activities lacking any statutory authority and such an approach. The essay in this Guide, commitment for practical delivery, where the entitled “Support Structures: Directions for dominating practices of official institutions Use” by Condorelli, is quite pertinent (pp. continue their divisive bureaucratic business 53-65). In fact, Condorelli refers to all those as usual influencing over actual development. architectural spatial practices that go under Gaffikin and Sterret give recommendations the radar of the theoretical discourse of concerning the formidable dilemmas facing Architecture. planning in a deeply contested society.

20. Frank Gaffikin, Mike Morrissey, Planning in Divided Cities, p. 5. 21. Build Peace 2015 International Conference (Nicosia, Cyprus, April 2015) was based on the same concept. 22. Socrates Stratis, “Encouraging Co-existences through poly-rhythmic urban environments: the Urban-A-Where project”, in Socrates Stratis (ed.), The UAW BOOK: About Urban Awareness (Seoul: Damdi, 2013) pp. 17-39. 23. Bernd Upmeyer, “Distributing Power-Interview with Jeremy Till”, in MONU, Magazine on Urbanism, # 23, Autumn 2015, pp. 6-13. 24. Elke Krasny, Hands-on Urbanism 1850-2012: the Right to Green Architekturzentrum Wien, 2012, p. 11 25. Socrates Stratis, “Learning From Failures: Architectures of Emergency in Contested Spaces; (Pyla, Cyprus)”, Footprint Journal, Delft, Vol 7, No 2, 2013, pp. 143-151.

Intro 19 A pedagogical approach for architecture as “Must We Defend Society?: Governmentality, urban practice Civil Society, and Political Activism According to Michel Foucault” is the title of one of The third aspect to introduce in regard to the essays in this Guide, written by Potte- architecture as urban practice in contested Bonneville. He invites us to better appreciate spaces is its relation to pedagogy in terms a new perspective that Foucault’s notion of of both programs of architecture and civil governmentality brought to the analysis of society. Supporting future architects and active civil society. He revisits the notion through citizens for the demanding compositional and the paradoxes that currently accompany the conflictual culture of urban engagement in reference to civil society in both western contested spaces requires high performance and eastern sides of Europe, focusing on the in negotiating, awareness of the common debates around two events, that of the French good, transforming communication and referendum on the Treaty Establishing a representation tools into active agents, Constitution for Europe (TCE) in 2005 and translating politics into space, as well the so-called Orange Revolution that took as projecting images of potential urban place in late 2014 in Ukraine (pp. 95-111). commons. What kind of pedagogy for civil Critical pedagogy is reference society? But then, which civil society? We pertinent to the programs of Architecture26 focus on the pedagogy for civil society plus the alternative pedagogy of the moving for agonistic practices that may offer project, introduced by Yaneva in the essay transformative learning opportunities for the entitled “Mapping Controversies as a participants, where not only their argument Teaching Philosophy in Architecture” (pp. may change but they, themselves, may change 147-161). We can see, firstly, the fostering too.27 Such pedagogy may also support civil of learning environments that encourage the society to grasp urban complexities and to shift of power relations between students claim a role in collective decision making in and tutors. Secondly, there is the increasing post conflict reconstruction processes. Lastly, interaction and knowledge exchange it could foster environments where dialoguing among students informed by competing may take place, generating issues of common interpretations. Thirdly, the students are concern across divides, readjusting well encouraged to formulate their own questions embedded distorted mental geographies and developing critical thinking. The story in the narratives about the other. Akbil, in the story Guide, entitled “Atlas of Designerly Visual entitled “Transformative themes: advocating knowledge: urban commoning through the for commons that act across divided critical pedagogical project”, written by the territories”, takes a step further by alluding to author of this essay, is quite relevant the notion of the general intellect, according (pp. 234-253). to Paolo Virno, and the sharing of general

Notes 26. C Greig Crysler, “Critical Pedagogy and Architectural Education”, in JAE 48/4, May 1995, p. 215. 27. Frank Gaffikin, Mike Morrissey, Planning in Divided Cities, pp. 275-278.

20 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Famagusta

Fig. 2 Map of Cyprus intellect becoming the actual foundation of all The “Hands-on Famagusta” project in the praxis (pp. 166-195). Cypriot contested space Actually, that is where we find the pertinence of the “Hands-on Famagusta” In this part of the essay, we will see firstly what project feeding the seven stories written by the the “Hands-on Famagusta” project is about author of this essay, Akbil, and Constantinou, and unfold the challenges in regard to the all members of the “Hands-on Famagusta” Cypriot contested space. We will hence, revisit project team; stories about the emergence “Hands-on Famagusta” as a pertinent example of temporal communities across the Cypriot produced by architecture as urban practice in divide thanks to the tactful employment of contested spaces. We will point to its agencies, ad-hoc technology and the rearrangement of modes of action, and pedagogies as they are physical meeting spaces. unfolded through a multiplicity of projects

Intro 21 LEFKOSIA (NICOSIA) AMMOCHOSTOS

Gialia (FAMAGUSTA)

Polis Prodromi Androlikou Meladeia Melandra Tera

LARNAKA Ag. Nikolaos Agios Ioannis Lempa Agios Georgios PAFOS Agia Maronas Koloni Varvara Timi Mandria Fig. 3 LEMESOS Map of internal displacement (LIMASSOL) of to Famagusta during the 1974 war with Turkey

LEFKOSIA (NICOSIA) AMMOCHOSTOS (FAMAGUSTA)

LARNAKA

PAFOS

LEMESOS (LIMASSOL)

Fig. 4 Map of internal displacement of Greek Cypriot Famagustians during the 1974 war with Turkey

22 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces that are the backbone of the seven stories, part of the Guide to Common Urban Imaginaries in Contested Spaces.

About the “Hands-on Famagusta” project: The “Hands-on Famagusta” project consists of support structures for public debate regarding the foundation of the urban commons in the Cypriot city of Famagusta, the day after a political agreement takes place Fig. 5 Famagusta-Varosha area during the 1974 war with Turkey on the island between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities. Such project may be handy for the civil introducing a playful mode of designerly society initiatives to confront two major knowledge exchange. It aims to transform challenges in contested spaces. The first one representations of ethnic conflict into those has to do with operating in actual hostile of urban controversies, making apparent the environments where institutions produce potential re-allying of actors across the divide. narratives based on division. The second one The face-to-face roundtable workshops, has to do with confronting actual trends consultation meetings, and presentations are of post conflict reconstruction processes. part of off-line activities linked to the on-line Such trends are firstly large scale segregating ones of the web platform. They all serve as private developments that ignore issues of exchange of knowledge, a confrontation of reconciliation, as well as collective decision mental geographies and narratives of the other making processes about the city commons. through exposure to designerly knowledge. Also, such trends are about inflexible plans The portable physical model of the city assists based on bureaucratic, non-transparent Famagustians and all Cypriots to visualize procedures, incapable of handling the ever the city as a whole rather than as a divided changing contested urban environments. territory due to the ethnic conflict. They are The “Hands-on Famagusta” project is built all material agents that play a decisive role in around an interactive digital interface, face- encouraging the emergence of informal groups to-face roundtable workshops and a physical (collectives), with members coming from transportable model of the city. The digital areas across divides. They all have to do with interface is an interactive web-platform means of engagement, means of representation which hosts a smart archive that advocates and communication, as well as the tactful for the commons of a unified Famagusta by organization of physical spaces, and the initiation of events and rituals.

Intro 23 ANTALYA TURKEY ISDEMIR MERSIN

TASUCU

KERYNEIA

AMMOCHOSTOS (FAMAGUSTA) CYPRUS

Fig. 6 Map of population flows from Turkey, settling to Famagusta after the 1974 war

24 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Contested urban spaces: Famagusta, Cyprus president of the Republic of Cyprus. 150,000- 200,000 Greek Cypriot (GC) refugees had to “Just when you thought it was safe…” was flee to the south part of the island and 45,000 the front cover title of the The Economist on Turkish Cypriots (TC) to the north part.28 In March 23, 2013, describing the neo-liberal fact, the ethnic segregation in Cyprus dates bail-in experiment that Europe was imposing back to late nineteenth century fueled by to the Cypriots after the meltdown of their the Nation State concept. The second wave banks. The front cover image was showing a took place during the 1963 inter-communal sketch of the island of Cyprus sinking in the conflicts, leading the TCs to take refuge into sea, with some sharks making circles around enclaves located mostly in the major cities of it. In fact, Cyprus, up to 2013, was notorious the island. One of the actual main disputes for its not so transparent bank transactions is that of the properties left behind by the and flows of wary international capital despite refugees, mostly of the GCs in the north part the State effort to comply with the euro zone of the island, but also of the TCs in the south regulations since 2008. The Greek Cypriots, part of the island. The unwillingness to share who have lived in the south part of the island any common vision of the island backed up by since 1974, were in fact profiting from high the geopolitical dynamics of the area, has led rate interest deposit bank policies, substituting the members of each ethnic community to be for the insufficient, rather non existing, trenched in their own unwelcoming spheres, Cypriot welfare state with their high interest profiting from the comfort zone of the actual rate incomes. Since 2013, the word Cyprus is non-violent conflict.29 Actually, the Republic rather linked to the euro bail-in experiment. of Cyprus (RC) is a member of the European However, the word Cyprus is also Union with the north part being in a limbo linked to the enduring ethnic conflict condition since RC has no control over it, on the island (fig. 5). Actually, the Greek and the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cypriots (GCs), the majority of the Cypriot Cyprus” (“TRNC”), founded by the Turkish population, live on the south part of the island Cypriots, does not have an international and the minority, that of Turkish Cypriots status, recognized only by Turkey. Since 1974, (TCs), on the north part. The most recent Turkey has been extending its colonial agenda and massive ethnic segregation was caused transforming the north part of Cyprus into by the war with Turkey in 1974, following a Turkish region, controlling it politically, a military coup by the Greek Junta and its financially and military with 40,000 troops Greek Cypriot collaborators, overthrowing the parked on the island.

Notes 28. Olga Demetriou, Displacement in Cyprus: consequences of civil and military conflict- report ,1 Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), 2012, p. 6. 29. Socrates Stratis, “Learning From Failures: Architectures of Emergency in Contested Spaces; (Pyla, Cyprus)”, Footprint Journal, Delft, Vol 7, No 2, 2013, pp. 143-151

Intro 25 Famagusta is a Cypriot coastal city, a part of such contested spaces. It is located on the east edge of the island just north of the UN cease fire military zone and east of a UK military base. Famagusta, Ammochostos, Magusa are the respective English, Greek, and Turkish names of the city. Its inhabitants are Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. However, after the 1974 war, the city has been deprived of its Greek Cypriot inhabitants who were displaced to the south part of the island during the war, and the Turkish Cypriots moved to the north (figs. 3, 4). The Famagusta population was 38,960 inhabitants in 1973, of which 31,960 were Greek Cypriots and 7,000 Turkish Cypriots (figs. 7-9). The actual population in 2011 was 37,939 inhabitants consisting of Turkish Cypriots and settlers from Turkey.30 (fig. 6).31 Fig. 7,8 Pre-1974 Famagusta Actually, Famagusta consists of all kinds of enclaves with the most notorious one being the Turkish army controlled, ghost area of Famagusta. It is an abandoned urban area that used to house around 30,000 Greek Cypriots, located by a beautiful sandy shore. A French/Venetian walled city is situated further north, very close to a university enclave.

Fig. 9 After 1974: market interior in fenced-off area of Famagusta

Fig. 10 p. 27 Famagusta after 1974: areas inaccessible due to Turkish military control, the UK military base and the UN controlled Buffer Zone

Notes 30. Source: Preliminary Urban Development Study For Famagusta by ALA-Stratis, 2012, for Council of Reconstruction and Resettlement, Republic of Cyprus. 31. Data source: PIO Cyprus Center, Internal Displacement in Cyprus, www.prio-cyprus-displacement.net

26 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces N

UK military base and 0 0.5 1 2Km UN controlled buffer zone Area inaccessible due to Turkish military control Contested narratives of spatial and textual representation of Cypriot territories

Contested Cypriot narratives manifest themselves on various levels, such as split mental maps of territories, as conflictual topological naming practices, or even as divisive social network practices. In fact, they kill at its birth any initiative for reconciliation between the two communities before an overall political agreement takes place.

Split mental maps: If you do a simple exercise of searching images of Famagusta through the internet search engines by inserting either the key word Aμμόχωστος which is the Greek name for Famagusta, or Magusa which is the Turkish one, you may end up with a different set of images. With Aμμόχωστος as key word, you end up mostly with images of the ghost area of Famagusta, or with images of the pre-1974 era of the same more or less area. In other words, these images correspond to one part of the Famagustian territory. With Magusa as key word, you end up with mostly images of the historic city and with some images of the area further west or north of the historic city. In other words, when Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots upload images of Famagusta on the internet, they seem to have in mind rather different territories (figs. 11, 12). The major reason is the previous ethnic segregation in Famagusta, where the Turkish Cypriots were located mainly in the historic city since the Ottoman period and the Greek Cypriots lived in Fig. 11 Split mental maps: emphasized area of Famagusta in Varosh, the Turkish name of suburbs, when they Turkish Cypriot mental maps Fig. 12 Split mental maps: were expelled from the city with the arrival of the emphasized area of Famagusta in Greek Cypriot mental maps Ottomans.32

28 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces The Turkish Cypriot authorities handed out to the incoming Greek Cypriots a list of correlating names between the pre-1974 Greek names with the current Turkish ones, so they could find their homes. In a belated reaction, the Parliament of the Republic of Cyprus passed a law, in 2013, declaring illegal any “edition, or import or disposal of maps, books or any documents in print or digital form

Fig. 13 After 1974 house interior in fenced-off area of Famagusta which contain altered names of toponymes or geographical areas”.34 The 1963 bi-communal conflicts trapped the Turkish Cypriots in the medieval city enclave Split collective memories: Since the social where the Greek Cypriots had the opportunity media era, a considerable number of Greek to push for an accelerated tourist development Cypriot Famagustian web communities have primarily further south, which ended abruptly been emerging, reconnecting the dispersed on 1974 (fig. 13). Greek Cypriot Famagustians who actually live in various areas in the south part of the Conflictual textual representation of Cypriot island and abroad. Some of the social media territories: Yael Navaro – Yashin, in her book communities are rather inviting in regard to entitled The Make-Believe Space: Affective the Turkish Cypriot Famagustians, despite 33 Geography in a postwar polity, describes how the fact that the use of the Greek language Turkish Cypriots constructed a territorial becomes a barrier. Some of them are about naming layer to efface the previous presence of joint initiatives, such as the bi-communal Greek Cypriots to legitimize their self-declared Famagustian initiative or the Eco-city project. “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” after However, the majority of the exchanges that 1983. She goes on to describe the practices of take place in such networks are about the renaming former Greek Cypriot lands as part autobiographic memory of those that were of the process of constructing a new State. old enough to remember Famagusta before This is, in fact, one of the reasons that the two 1974, unable to address the complexity of the communities do not agree on any common process of return to the city after a political maps of the Cypriot territory. In 2001, agreement would take place. In other words, Cypriots could cross the divide for the first the off-line narratives on both sides of the time since 1974, when check points opened divide are reproduced on-line, except for the across the UN demilitarized zone that keeps a joint initiatives mentioned already of which safe distance between the two communities. the “Hands-on Famagusta” project is part.

Notes 32. Anna Marangou, Ports of Cyprus (Ta Limania Tis Kyprou), editions Popular Bank, 1997, p. 127. 33. Yael Navaro- Yashin The Make-Believe Space: Affective Geography in a postwar polity, Duke University Press, 2012. 34. www.cylaw.org, accessed 15th of March 2016.

Intro 29 Contested urban futures of Famagusta confront the prevailing norms and trends of Cypriots’ actual spatial practices and “The future perfect contains a projected past, an decide whether the future urban becomings assurance that embedded in the present is a near are based on continuity, or on rupture with future that will become visible in a more distant them. Such prevailing trends for Famagusta future”.35 urban reconstruction could be roughly based on three scenarios that the “Hands-on While formulating our urban imaginaries for Famagusta” project counteracts. The first one post-conflict areas, such as Famagusta, in the is that of the “Next Divided City of Cyprus”. rationale of Dana Cuff’s quote, we project The second one is the “Laisser-Faire Private on them our memories, our references, our Gated City”, and the third one is the “Clean actual individual agendas and practices, our Slate City”. generic understanding of public interest, our misconceptions and distorted mental maps, Scenario one: the “Next Divided City of due to our diverse socio-economic or ethno- Cyprus”. What if the actual division of religious backgrounds. In our case, we refer Nicosia with the distinctive war wall and to postwar disaster reconstruction in Cyprus, buffer zone running through the middle of whereas Cuff referred to post-natural disaster the city becomes the future of Famagusta with reconstruction in the USA. Nevertheless, the Turkish Cypriots living in the north part similar challenges arise in regard to the role and the Greek Cypriots living in the south of architecture as urban practice in support of part of the city? Besides, that was the case such common urban imaginaries. It seems that traditionally, with the Turkish Cypriots living there are tendencies for clean slate approaches in the medieval city and the Greek Cypriots coupled with the reproduction of past in the rest of the city, mostly in the Varosha forms of urbanity through large scale master area. Consequently, their mental maps are planning, following similar scale economies of split, as we demonstrated already. Another urban reconstruction. Cuff and other authors prevailing norm of actual spatial practice have brought forward the pertinence of that promotes such scenario is the separate, strategic peace-meal planning that is derived or else conflictual, governance of the ethnic from common urban visions, and dynamically communities. connects small scale urban increments with What if the future of Famagusta is not the territorial scale by adjusting to the ever- exactly that of the divided Nicosia, but closer changing contested urban environments. to that of Belfast where fragments of peace To address the possible urban futures walls and separating zones provide another for post-conflict Famagusta, we need to version of division?

Notes 35. Dana Cuff, “Tabula Futura Imperfecta: The Architecture of Disaster”, in Dana Cuff, Roger Sherman (eds.), Fast Forward Urbanism: Rethinking Architecture’s Engagement with the City (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2011) p. 76.

30 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Fig. 14 Divided Nicosia: UN buffer zone, old city walls, main traffic roads

Fig. 15 Scenario one: divided Famagusta?

Intro 31 In fact, the actual spatial practices combined with the Famagustians’ split mental geographies and their intolerance to the “other” seem to implicitly lead to this scenario (figs. 14, 15).

Scenario two: the “Laisser-Faire Private Gated City”. What if the segregated Beirut becomes the future Famagusta, where the ethno-religious conflict is dressed with socio-economic clothing, using real estate as a weapon?36 Gaffikin and Morissey invite us to be cautious of the negative consequences of the geo-political antagonism with substantial social segmentation caused in the context of a rapidly globalizing and urbanizing world.37 “A city within a city”, as advertised by Real Estate agents in Lebanon, will be the dominant feature of a “Laisser-Faire” Famagusta. Under the fast-track urbanism which is rather fashionable across the Cypriot divide, the urban actors would be inviting international private investment to build private cities camouflaged under the urgent need of income due to the on- going financial crisis and inability of the State to have a decisive role. Issues of safety may give rise Fig. 16, 17 Reconstruction to private armies put in charge of surveillance of of urban center of Beirut such enclosed privileged communities (figs. 16, 17).

Scenario three: the “Clean Slate City”. What if modernist, as well as bureaucratic, views of clean slate would define the future of Famagusta? What if such views go hand in hand with new urbanist nostalgic reconstructions of the distant past, as in the case of New Urbanism in the post disaster areas in the USA? Then, there is a risk of

Notes 36. Hiba Bou Akar, Ruins and Construction, Crosses and Flags: The political-sectarian spatiality of a Beirut frontier,pp.104-137. 37. Frank Gaffikin and Mike Morissey, ibid., p. 262.

32 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces masking the politics of homogenization under the so called technocratic practices that are unable to manage conflict of any sort, or to advocate for the multitude of the city. On one hand, the actual building stock of the fenced-off area of Famagusta has been decaying for at least forty-two years. In fact, a potential clean slate approach to that area is part of the on-going dispute among the Famagustians. This is possible since the nineteen- sixties and early nineteen-seventies hotel and apartment buildings may not be able to cope with the contemporary needs and standards. Furthermore, part of the building stock built by the Turkish Cypriots after the 1974 war may have considerable earthquake deficiencies, as well as problematic foundations. The clean slate scenario gets additional points by the fact that Greek Cypriots have kept their mental maps frozen in 1974, ignoring the post 1974 urban environment developed by the Turkish Cypriots. The “Clean Slate City” scenario has a legacy on the island, extending into postcolonial urban development. With the birth of the Republic of Cyprus in the nineteen-sixties, we have seen quite a few unsuccessful examples of incoming clean slate modernist development plans authored either by the United Nations or other interested countries, such as the UK and the USA.38

38. For an analysis of some key postcolonial modernist urban visions for Cyprus see for example: Panayiota Pyla and Petros Phokaides, “Ambivalent Politics and Modernist Debates in Postcolonial Cyprus,” Journal of Architecture 16:6, 2011, pp. 885-913.

Intro 33 Fig. 18 Landing page of www.handsonfamagusta.org Fig. 19 Digital interface as the product of an ad-hoc information and communication technology platform

34 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Unveiling agencies, modes of action, and in Contested Spaces, have their origin in the pedagogies of architecture as urban practice matrix of projects. through the “Hands-on Famagusta” project From division as a matter-of-fact to multi The “Hands-on Famagusta” is a collective enclaving as a matter-of-concern project that enables, firstly, public debates of people coming from communities in We are looking at the landing page of www. conflict, contributing into the foundation of handsonfamagusta.org at the portrayal of the the future Famagusta commons. Secondly, contested subject that of the city territory in its it unpacks latent agencies hidden within the entirety, but broken down into many parts, three aforementioned scenarios of the city enclaves, which are floating…as if Famagusta future. In this part of the essay we will unfold were part of planet Pandora’s landscape in the this collective project by making specific its Avatar film” 39 (fig. 18). It is an outcome of a agencies, modes of action, and pedagogies counter mapping approach by the “Hands-on that demonstrate its relevance to architecture Famagusta” project team that challenges the as urban practice in contested spaces. We will mental maps of division, eloquently described approach “Hands-on Famagusta” through in the story entitled “Counter mapped its digital interface which is a register of a isometric drawing” by Stratis, Constantinou matrix of projects that have transformed the and Akbil (pp. 116-131). Counter mapping making-of the “Hands-on Famagusta” project took place with the support of A1 paper into interrelated distinct actions with specific size matrices on which the enclaves were aim, ad-hoc technology, physical meeting documented by the team in terms of their spaces, and adaptive communication tools, becoming conditions, limits, actors, programs, thus enhancing the emergence of temporal and proximities to armatures. The members communities consisting of people across the of the “Imaginary Famagusta” collective, Cypriot divide. In fact, the digital interface part of the “Hands-on Famagusta” project is the product of an ad-hoc Information team, used this approach to revisit their own and Communication Technology platform, conflictual mental maps in regard to the (ICT) which acts as an active agent for the Famagusta territory (fig. 20, 21). The story foundation of the city commons. The matrix entitled “Visual matrix for unveiling enclaves: of projects has been continuously readjusting establishing common imaginaries through the ad-hoc ICT platform during its making, as urban disenclaving” by the author, unpacks well as during its performance (fig. 18, 19). such a process (pp. 76-93). The seven stories, which are the backbone of the Guide to Common Urban Imaginaries

Notes 39. Excerpt from the story entitled “Counter mapped isometric drawing” by Stratis, Constantinou, Akbil, see pp. 116-131.

Intro 35 Fig. 20 Famagusta: an ethnically divided mental geography Fig. 21 Famagusta: a multi-enclaved urban territory for common concern

36 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Intro 37 Counter mapping made explicit five conditions of enclaving in Famagusta, yielding a severely segregated urban environment (figs. 22, 23). The first one is due to warfare and military activities where Turkish troops prohibit any access. The fenced-off area of Famagusta is an evocative example. The second enclave becoming condition 1. 2. has to do with monofunctional zoning, such as the underused port, the university campus, as well as the light industry zone. The third enclave becoming condition comes from protecting cultural heritage areas by fencing them off the rest of the city. The medieval walled city is part of this enclaving condition, as well as the archeological site of Salamis situated further north. The fourth one derives from high property investment risk issues and it has to do with the 3. 4. areas that were supposed to be handed back to the Greek Cypriots with the UN resolution plan in 2004. Actually, we can see a similar risk issue in regard to the Greek Cypriot properties in the whole northern part of the island, turning any settlement between the two communities extremely difficult. The fifth enclave becoming condition has to do with a very important rivers delta ecological system with salt and sweet lakes, which is caught in the urban expansion. 5. When you click on the enclaves at the landing page, you get a pop-up window which acts as an archive of visual and textual data about Fig. 22 Famagusta: five conditions of enclaving the enclaved territories depicted, their enclave 1. Warfare and military activities (E05, E05W, E02, E10) becoming conditions, kinds of edges, accessibility, 2. Mono-functional zoning (E04, E06, E08, E12) 3. Cultural heritage protection (E01, E01B, E03) and actors. The “Hands-on Famagusta” project 4. High risk for property investment (E09) team has produced various alternative maps 5. River’s delta ecological system caught in urban expansion based on this approach to address a diversity of (E13, E02W, E07) audience, such as local authorities, politicians, bureaucrats, students.

Fig. 23 Famagusta: enclaves and armatures

38 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces N

E01

E01B

E13

E02

E08 E06 E02W

E04 E10 E07

E03

E12 E05N

E05

E09 E05W

0 0.5 1 2Km Intro 39 The materiality of such maps enabled a in the city partition. It is a valuable material counteracting type of agency to create agent with which the “Hands-on Famagusta” alternatives to the dominant divisive mental project team introduces an alternative political geographies. debate about the future of the city through the What we do not see on the landing rediscovery of the present of the city. In fact, page of the web platform is the process of the whitish surface of the 550cm X 180cm collecting all the data by a team of forty size model becomes a metaphorical landing volunteers to create the three-dimensional page hosting video projections about unifying depiction of the Famagusta territory. visions, as well as spatial information about Such process was treated by the “Hands- the enclaves. on Famagusta” project team as a distinct project to assist the emergence of a temporal community, part of a reconciliation strategy. The story entitled “Counter mapped isometric drawing” by Stratis, Constantinou and Akbil (pp. 116-131) makes explicit the agencies of the ad-hoc technology that enabled a controversial practice, that of mapping contested spaces, to take place. Thanks to this Fig. 24 The city model of Famagusta data collection, the “Hands-on Famagusta” project team made publicly available through the Creative Commons a “Supplement for the City’s Commons” which we can find at the Explore Controversial Matters for Visions about a Unified Famagusta end of this Guide. It is unique data, extremely Wide Public Shared Eco-culture as Waterfront Infratructures Common ground useful for any debate on the future of the city. What is not apparent on the landing page, either, is a portrayal of the contested city through a portable model that depicts Famagusta as a continuum of extensive landscapes consisting of built and non- built areas (fig. 24). It is rather opposite to the extreme fragmentation depicted in the image of the hovering rocklike enclaves but with the same objective of overcoming the representations that are inscribed implicitly Fig. 25 www.handsonfamagusta.org: three themes for the city’s commons

40 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Having said all these, we realize that the as an engagement for an autonomous public “Hands-on Famagusta” project team shifts sphere (pp. 166-195). All three themes allude continuously among various means of to territorial landscapes and networks that representation, as well as among different have the potential to transcend enclaved modes of action. The hybrid character of areas. When you click on any of the three architecture as urban practice encourages buttons you see the enclaves at stake such change by allowing the team to employ getting the same theme color. You also see a tactful approach, invest in the active agency an additional grey button just below the of a heterogeneity of means and modes, initial ones, entitled Revisiting Emergencies. and profit from their diverse capacity of Clicking on it, you move to a new interface engagement with multiple audiences. The where a series of “What if..” questions are story entitled “The overwhelming presence of supported by “then…” visually and textually a city model” by Stratis and Constantinou, depicted scenarios. Such scenarios address (pp. 132-145) unveils such agencies, modes the foundation of the commons in the of actions, and pedagogical concerns. We see urban everyday life during the extraordinary transformative learning opportunities taking conditions of post-conflict reconstruction. place among the participants who not only They establish common concerns across the change their arguments but also themselves. divide around the consequences of the post- The case of the “Imaginary Famagusta” conflict urban reconstruction processes on the collective, as well as the extensive team behind everyday life of the city. the “Hands-on Famagusta” project, is quite evocative, to start with. Explore Controversial Matters for Visions about a Unified Famagusta Wide Public Shared Eco-culture as Formulating themes that advocate for the Waterfront Infratructures Common ground city commons Actors and Urban Design Other Cities Agendas Projects On the top of the landing page, there are three dark grey buttons with inscribed white letters, with the names of the themes formulated by the “Hands-on Famagusta” project team: wide public waterfront, shared infrastructures, and eco-culture as common ground (figs. 25, 26). Akbil, in the story entitled “Transformative themes: advocating for commons that act across divided territories”, sees such a process Fig. 26 www.handsonfamagusta.org: three pools to unfold controversial questions

Intro 41 When we look carefully at the visual material, The story entitled “Visual matrix for unveiling part of the “What if...then…” scenarios, we enclaves: establishing common imaginaries see images from urban design projects from through urban disenclaving” by the author of the Urban Design studios of the University this essay (pp. 76-93) shows how to inscribe of Cyprus and the KTH in Stockholm. They modes of reconciliation deep into urban are the output of pedagogical programs that regeneration processes. In fact, the kit-of- put the architectural project right in the heart parts, named disenclaving strategies, become of the contested spaces transformation. They handy in creating alternatives to the three claim a role for the urban commons during dominant scenarios for the Famagusta future: the extraordinary conditions of post conflict those of the “Next divided city of Cyprus”, reconstruction processes, quite often locked the “Laisser-Faire Private Gated” City, or the out in the name of safety and urgency. The “Clean Slate” City. The kit-of-parts is user students are exposed to the conflictual aspects friendly red colored diagrams in sticker form, of the contested urban environments getting depicting complex disenclaving strategic prepared for the demanding compositional operations. They are about challenging the and conflictual culture of urban practices enclaves by transforming their dead limits in that context. The story entitled “Atlas into thresholds. of Designerly Visual Knowledge: urban The pedagogical dimension of commoning through the critical pedagogical the red stickers has to do, firstly, with a project” by the author of this essay, deploys thick analytical filter that encourages the this approach (pp. 234-253). undergraduate students of architecture at the University of Cyprus to access complex Developing strategies for thresholds to urban concepts by critically examining transform enclaves the best urban design practices. In reality, the red stickers depicting the disenclaving When we look back on the landing page of strategies support the students, as well as the web platform once more, at the space the active citizens, to associate social visions between the three grey colored buttons with of reconciliation with spatial, temporal, the names of the themes and the floating programmatic, and actorial urban conditions. rocklike enclaves that depict the extremely The essay entitled “Mapping controversies as fragmented Famagusta, we realize that we are a Teaching Philosophy in Architecture” by missing modes of action that could support Albena Yaneva makes explicit such associations the transformation of the floating rocklike with design processes (pp. 147-161). enclaves through the three themes by a collective decision making process.

42 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Introducing controversies to re-ally urban For example, if you click on Controversy actors across divides No 4 you may read: “ALLOW FOR A DIVERSITY OF INHABITANTS IN THE When we look back on the web platform CITY CENTER? In contested cities (in page we can see on top of the three dark grey conflict) the centers are divided. What if the buttons inscribing the themes the phrase location and structure of the main city center “explore controversial matters for visions becomes more open through a diversity of about a unified Famagusta”. When you click inhabitants?” By clicking on the balloon No on any of the three buttons, you can see some 4 you enter into a new digital interface where numbered white balloons hovering over the the battle around the controversy is about to colored rocklike enclaves at stake in regard to take place. You can access three major pools the chosen theme. Those balloons are about with designerly knowledge: that of the Actors urban controversies, a series of uncertainties and Agendas, that of the Other Cities, and that that an urban project undergoes, consisting of Urban Design Projects about Famagusta and of conflictual actors’ agendas (fig. 27). When other cities around the world. In the Actors you go over the balloons with your mouse (if and Agendas pool, as well as in the Other Cities you are in front of a computer), or with your one, there is available information about all finger (if you are in front of a smart screen), three imminent scenarios about the Famagusta you can read a controversial question. future: the “Next Divided City”, the “Laisser- Faire Private Gated City”, and the “Clean Slate City”. You are invited to take a side, to choose your allies for the on-coming battle either among the three dominating scenarios or that scenario to be founded on the city’s commons. 4 The story entitled “Engaging Roundtable: Transition From the Bi- communal Alliances to the ‘Pluriverse’ of Potential Collectives” by Akbil (pp. 196-215) brings forward such kind of agonistic practice. A dialogical exchange is enabled by the “Hands-on Famagusta” project team, thanks Shared Infrastructures to their tactful set-up of a roundtable with

Fig. 27 www.handsonfamagusta.org: Click on the baloon of the invited participants coming from areas across controversy No 4 the divide.

Intro 43 Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot the establishment of tangible continuities, Famagustian urban actors exchange their resulting in the creation of homogeneous agendas, formulate new ones, and force urban environments through master planning. themselves to put in words their conflictual The politics for thresholds infiltrate the points of views and narratives. The “other” “moving project” in all its aspects and layers: is invited to listen, to be exposed to the from its means of representation to its modes conflictual narrative, without a need for of action and pedagogical approaches. The consensus, but with a need for formulating a materiality and agency of such means, as well common concern. as the tactful organization of meeting places of unlikely groups with members coming Architecture for creating common urban from areas and communities across divides, imaginaries are equally important with the formulation of unifying visions of fragmented urban Preventing architecture from becoming environments. The choice of mode of action irrelevant to urban transformations in depends on the continuous evaluation of the contested spaces has been the focus of this uncertain and unresolved existing conditions essay, but also of the Guide to Common of the contested space at stake. The complexity Urban Imaginaries in Contested Spaces. We of operating in contested spaces demands have unfolded architecture as urban practice architectural practice to open up to other in advocating for the city commons by disciplines concerned with similar issues. demonstrating ways of inserting modes of Furthermore, it seeks for dynamic relations reconciliation deep into potential urban between theory and practice in the form of regeneration processes. We made clear that researched practice and practiced research. when architecture operates in contested The hybrid character of architecture practice spaces, it has an increased political role. Its in contested urban environments unpacks withdrawal from politics just serves indirectly much potential to transform representations the dominant political narratives around of ethnic conflict embedded in space, as in the division. case of Famagusta, into a discourse around Introducing thresholds is part of urban controversies thus enhancing the an agonistic practice that contributes to emergence of common urban imaginaries. The commoning practices, creating alternatives “Hands-on Famagusta” project claims to be an to the neoliberal paradigm of urban agonistic practice since it accepts a different regeneration. Moreover, the politics for source of knowledge, and endorses multiple transforming edges into thresholds go beyond forms of valid expression that contributes the usual association of architecture with to the creation of the commons across the

44 Architecture as Urban Practice in Contested Spaces Cypriot divide. It also advocates for civic empowerment, mediation, and negotiation by taking into account permanent and potential generative aspect of conflict. Following Castoriades’ Imaginary Institution of our society 40 where any common future has as prerequisite the constitution of the social imaginary, we have made explicit how the “Hands-on Famagusta” project has emerged as an agent toward such foundation of the commons to hand out to the becoming Cypriot civil society ways to claim its common future, despite the imminent scenarios of Famagusta urban future. “When I saw the action dove graffiti on the wall with its nest made of the phrase ‘HANDS-ON FAMAGUSTA’, in the old city of Nicosia, I thought about all those graffiti reclaiming messages sprayed by people keen in creating political messages through ‘visual texting’, coming from diverse political spectrums… When I look again to the painted action dove graffiti, I sense that it is taking off its nest made of the phrase ‘HANDS-ON FAMAGUSTA’, giving me the feeling that even if the ‘hands-on’ should have been of Famagustians for Famagusta, I have the right to claim that ‘We are all Famagustians’. I claim that in the sense that ‘Hands-on Famagusta’ is a network platform that supports collectively created spaces and assists active citizens to reclaim politics in contested territories such as Cyprus.”

From the story entitled “Action Dove Graffiti or Upscaling Hands-on Initiatives” by the author (pp. 70-75).

Notes 40. Cornelius Castoriades, L’institution imaginaire de la société (France, Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1975).

Intro 45