Urban Design for Many Years, Some of the Residents of Prishtina Have Voiced Their Disappointment About the Layout of Their City
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ANALYSIS BORGES'S LABYRINTHS, KOSOVO'S ENCLAVES, AND URBAN/CIVIC DESIGNING (IV) Intimations of Change: Urban Design For many years, some of the residents of Prishtina have voiced their disappointment about the layout of their city. Compared to many other capitals in Europe, the center of Kosovo's capital is seen as more of an eyesore than a source of pride his should be no surprise, given that By Rory J. Conces money and whether the project would be Tthe present urbanscape is the result Department of Philosophy and Religion a coherent one from an urban design per- of Communist planning and uncon- University of Nebraska at Omaha spective and as aesthetically enlightened strained development. as it could be. None of these, however, if anything to do with taking care of a The rationale for changes in the outdoor were sufficient to stop the project, which religious or spiritual need of the Serb public areas of the capital, including will be completed later this year. community and everything to do with landmark buildings and squares, is more To be honest, the three squares are meant nationalist intrusion. Others take proper- nuanced, however. It is, in part, a reflec- to create interactive space. They will not tion of the relationship between building ty ownership as the central issue and, only showcase statutes of the three Al- and identity: what they build is a result since the university owns the property, banians, but also create large public of who they are, and the "they" are the the matter should ultimately be decided areas that include fountains, playgrou- majority Albanian population. It is no su- by the university and not the Serbian nds, parking structures, retail stores, and rprise, then, that key figures in the Alba- Orthodox Church. Still others look at the remodeled buildings. This will achieve nian liberation movement are memorial- what the planners have set ized, those who were behind liberating forth as one of their goals: to Kosovo from Serb rule. And it is no won- enhance Prishtina's econom- der that a need exists to tear down build- ic and social future. One wo- ings and monuments that remind its uld be hard pressed to chas- Albanian majority of the past: the parti- tise the city's municipal and sans who fought during World War Two, business leaders for working being a part of Yugoslavia, and the years towards this goal. At the sa- of repressive Serbian rule. It is as if some me time, however, they sho- want to erase the dark past through urban uld be thinking in more in- design. What all this amounts to is a clusive terms, attempting to smoothing of the space within the Alba- draw in people from other nian enclave, thus strengthening the cen- ethnic groups. As it looks, tripetality and centrifugality of the total- Statue of Bill Clinton in Prishtina those who will most benefit ity of the objects of Albanian nationalism church as an object that has no value, from these squares are the Albanians. while at the same time reducing the ma- including architectural value. The rec- The centripetality and centrifugality of terial and symbolic remains of Serb na- ommendation that is suggested by those these squares will no doubt enhance the tionalism and their power to both unite who view the church in these ways is Albanianness of the enclave. and separate people within that same en- either the church should be demolished The construction of the new Adem clave. Two examples of how the urban- or it should be given another function. Jashari Square has a twist to it; it will scape of Prishtina is being redesigned Either way the outcome would be to cre- include the removal of the monument to will suffice. ate a less textured space that strengthens Brotherhood and Unity, a structure con- the Albanian enclave. As of now, the sisting of three 15-meter high columns Strengthening the Albanian future of the church remains uncertain. joined near the top symbolic of the unity Enclave through Urban Design The other example is the grand project to of three peoples of Kosovo: Albanians, revamp a series of squares along Pri- Serbs, and Montenegrins. Although the The unfinished Serbian Orthodox Cathe- shtina's central axis. The project amounts future of the monument is yet to be dral of the Christ the Savior is a building to the honoring of three Albanian heroes: announced, it appears that it will suffer that has led to anger and resentment on two KLA fighters, Zahir Pajaziti and the same fate as the monument to the the part of many Albanians since its con- Adem Jashari; and the first president of Partisans who fought in World War Two struction on the university campus in Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova. The project as that is situated in the Velania neighbor- 1995. With the Serb population being as a whole initially came under heavy criti- hood and the likely fate of the Cathedral small as it is in Prishtina and in Kosovo cism. Critics cited problems ranging of the Christ the Savior if municipal as a whole, some look at the presence of from the lack of adequate consultation leaders get their way. Again, it amounts the unfinished cathedral as having little and transparency to the use of public to the use of urban design to erase the Bosnia Daily, August 16, 2013 11 ANALYSIS unwanted past of Prishtina and the rest of and harmonious peace and a well-func- the result of authentic deliberation. Such Kosovo by ridding the environment of tioning democracy. Its ontology distin- deliberation produces less partisanship, buildings and monuments, and enhanc- guishes persons according to ethnic cate- more sympathy with the plight of others, ing the divide between ethnic groups. gories (e.g., Albanian, Serb, Roma), its and increases commitment and consen- psychology is xenophobic (fearful of the sus building. It does so by placing more There is Democracy and Then "Other"), and its morality is chauvinistic value on evidence-based reasoning, There is Deliberative (one's own ethnic group is morally supe- agreeing that reasons need to be public Democracy rior to the others). Given that peace, har- and understandable, and being open to mony, and democracy are predicated on the possibility of changing one's mind. Kosovo, once a province of Serbia that a continuing exchange of ideas, the fact These are the hallmarks of non-fanatical was granted virtual autonomy within that enclaves push peoples farther and reasoning. Tito's Socialist Republic, had its autono- farther apart leads to a short-circuiting of my drastically reduced under Milosevic this exchange and produces increasing Deliberative Democracy and in 1989. Yet from its earliest years of amounts of uncertainty and mistrust. Civic Design in Kosovo being a part of Yugoslavia, the province Enclaves are even more troublesome, gradually acquired the institutional me- since emotions are important, particular- Unfortunately, little of this, including a chanisms of a representative democratic ly empathy, which allows an apprecia- meaningful emotive connection, will republic form of governance. During the tion of how Others experience their occur in Kosovo unless there is reason- period in which governance was trans- lives. If the Other is out of sight and out giving and emotionally situated dialogue ferred to the United Nations following of mind, then it will be difficult to that cuts across enclaves. In a sense, that the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement empathize with that person who you would amount to the core activity of de- in 1999, these mechanisms were impro- already dislike. liberative democracy running rampant. ved to the point at which final status But to bring about a stable and harmo- An effective way for this to take place is talks were initiated that could well have nious peace, and something resembling a through people having face-to-face con- led to the negotiated creation of an inde- deliberative democracy, requires that tact with others so that their worlds col- pendent Kosovo. Instead, Kosovo's Par- ideas are more than just exchanged. They lide. So the more a society is composed liament declared independence on Feb- are part of the process of reconciliation, of discrete ethnic groups, some of which ruary 17, 2008. Over the course of the the development of a mutual, conciliato- have a long history of antagonism with last five years, more and more countries ry accommodation between "formerly" one another, the more there is a need for have recognized Kosovo as a sovereign antagonistic groups. Given that reconcil- integration. It is through integration and democratic republic. iation requires interpersonal forgiveness, the demise of ethnic enclaves that Ko- It must not be forgotten, however, that which entails the recognition of a moral sovo will become a multiethnic society. this newly formed state was forged from judgment followed by a letting go A multiethnic Kosovo, however, cannot oppression and violence, in part between instead of seeking revenge, reasoning simply be wished into existence. And peoples of different ethnic groups. It is and the commonplace self-restraints on enclaves will not suddenly disappear be- one thing to have democratic cause of the deal that was struck legitimacy based on the aggrega- between Kosovo and Serbia in tion of preferences that occurs in April of this year. A multiethnic voting, it is an entirely different society will unfold through the matter to have that same legitima- creation of a collaborative envi- cy be the result of authentic delib- ronment, one that is in large eration. Perhaps the latter is espe- measure inclusive, integrated cially important for Kosovo, a and interactive, peaceful, and country fragmented into ethnic respectful of difference rather enclaves and whose Albanian ele- than simply tolerant of it.