Overview
The conference will explore the devastating effects of military conflicts on urban environments, social structures, and ecosystems. We will focus on the post-socialist space, where armed conflicts and wars have unfolded in recent decades. We will talk about the fate of cities that have survived urbicide, how warfare affects the ecology not only of cities but also of large regions; how the memory of conflicts and wars changes memorial landscapes, changes the environmental situation and how cities and citizens can respond to these processes.
Conference Program
Time | Main Hall | Seminar Room |
|---|---|---|
10:00-10:30 | Welcoming words Elena Stein, CISR e.V. Angelina Davydova, Dialogue for Understanding e.V. | |
10:30-12:00 | Ecological and Urban Costs of War Opening Discussion An opening panel of the conference will outline the main themes of the conference. What are direct and indirect environmental, urban, climate and further societal consequences of the ongoing and recent wars? Who is tracking and analysing these consequences. What can be done now? We will speak about it with researchers, experts, activists and journalists from Ukraine, Armenia, Russia ... (some of them currently in exile). Participants: Victoria Hubareva, Ukraine, environmental journalist, member of the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group Gevorg Avetikyan, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) Oleg Pachenkov, CISR e.V. Moderators: Elena Stein, Angelina Davydova | |
12:00-12:30 | Coffee Break | |
12:30-14:00 | Environmental Agenda in Russia During the War in Ukraine Apart from the direct environmental damage in Ukraine a full-scale invasion by Russia also brings indirect environmental and climate consequences for Russia's domestic green agenda. In this session we will speak about changes in Russia's environmental, climate and energy policies following the beginning of the full-scale war and subsequent economic sanctions and trade barriers, as well as further political repressions and shrinking space for civil society. Participants: Anonymous Speaker, environmental expert Anonymous Speaker, expert in renewable energy Nelya Rakhimova, sustainable development advocate, educator, and policy analyst | Direct and Indirect Effects of Wars for the Material and Symbolic Fabric of the Cities We observe various forms of urban destruction as a result of military conflicts: the direct destruction of the physical fabric of cities through urbicide, the erasure of layers of memory, history; and culture; the covert destruction of architectural heritage by developers and construction businesses operating in war-torn societies. Even cities not directly affected by conflict continue to face challenges such as mass migration and the influx of internally displaced persons. We invite you to explore these and other consequences of war with architects and researchers, using examples from cities in Ukraine, Georgia, and the former Yugoslavia. Participants: Dr. Haris Piplas, Praxisdozent in Raumentwicklung ETH Zürich; "Design and Planning of (post)war societies: Integrated, Innovative, International?" Dr. Semen Shyrochyn, Ukrainian researcher of Soviet-era architecture "Heritage destruction in Ukrainian cities: war, business & hatred" Nutsa Lomsadze architect, urban planner and researcher, Georgia "A tale of two cities: Urban transformation in the presence of new IDPs in Georgia" |
14:00-15:30 | Lunch Break | |
15:30-17:00 | «We Remember and Honour the Monuments of the Fallen»: Conflicts and Nationalisation of Memorial Landscapes in Post-Soviet cities We will discuss challenging questions: What has been preserved from the Soviet memorial heritage and integrated into post-Soviet commemorative practices? How profoundly have urban memorial landscapes changed? • Is the complete desovietisation of urban memorial landscapes possible? Is there a need for that? If so, what might be the methods and practices of its realisation? • How different are Soviet and contemporary nationalist memorials, discourses, aesthetics, and rituals? • What are the specifics of commemorating enduring conflicts? What place does the memory of contemporary conflicts occupy in the city (hierarchy of memory spaces)? • Do ‘We’ still struggle with empire/imperial legacy? The pre-Soviet/soviet memorial landscape and contemporary nationalism. During the discussion will be presented a book: Presidential Election in the South Caucasus: Political Transformations, Imagined Unity, and Memory discourses (Edited by R. Baramidze and S. Rumyantsev, 2024). Participants: Oksana Mikheeva, sociologist, Ukraine
| Military Conflicts, Climate Change, Polycrisis: the Role of Extractivist Economies This session is co-organised together with the Institute for Global Reconstituion (IGREC). The world is undergoing a number of crises at the same time: military conflicts and wars, climate change, biodiversity loss, plastic pollution, inequalities, economic problems, supply chain failures, all together representing a polycrisis. What is the role of the extractivist economic model, in Russia and other fossil fuel-extracting countries, but also other economies all over the globe -- in contributing to polycrisis and making the global situation worse for billions of people, wildlife and ecosystems? What can be done? Which stakeholders can change the situation and how can this change be enhanced and supported? Participants: Felix Jaitner, author, researcher Ilya Kalinin, Humboldt University; Institute for Global Reconstituion Viktoria Mysnikova, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich Moderator: Angelina Davydova |
17:00-17:30 | Coffee Break | |
17:30-19:00 | Environmental activism in totalitarian states What kind of environmental and climate activism still strives in Russia? Which environmental causes help build local movements, where do such movements get support, how do authorities react to such campaigns? What are the challenges and limitations for environmental activism during times of war and increasing political repressions? Can environmental and further grass-root activism exist in authoritarian and totalitarian political systems? This session aims to continue a discussion about whether local grass-root movements and activism can actually contribute to the growth of real civil society structures and potential political change Participants: Vitaly Servetnik, environmental-crisis group Anonymous Speaker, environmental expert Anonymous Speaker, environmental expert Moderator: Oliver Lammers | Non-formal Education in Cities as a Solidarity Practice: experiences from the WARning the City/zens project War inevitably fragments societies, destroying communities and identities. This affects both those forced to flee their country—whether as refugees or political exiles—and those who remain but feel like strangers in their own land. These experiences compel people to re-evaluate their personal, civic, and professional identities, fostering the need to build new solidarities. Urban experience and knowledge could play a crucial role in addressing this fragmentation. When national identity and even family ties are challenged, the city becomes a vital space for forming new social connections. As the traditional education system is also compromised, non-formal, grassroots education focused on urban life provides a means to understand new realities, navigate a changing world, and encourage collective civic action. Participants in the "WARning the City/zens" project have initiated educational and research efforts in the cities where they now live—whether they have left their countries or stayed—to explore new ways of being and acting. We invite you to discuss the role of non-formal urban projects in the formation of civic connections. Participants: Matvey Garapach (co-author with Alexandra Perevalova, Polina Shurupova) Volha Kavalskaya ( co-author with Ilia Arzhnikov) Sasha Semkina, Natalia Borenko, Anastasiia Puschkarewa Moderators: Oleg Pachenkov, Lilia Voronkova |
19:00-19:30 | Closing session | |
19:30-21:30 | Reception DJ Set by Dima Vachedin |
Since the early 1990s, with the end of the Cold War, dozens of cities and hundreds of rural settlements in various countries in the post-socialist space have been destroyed. Residents of these settlements were forced to abandon their former lives when they lost hope for a secure existence. Each new war seems more devastating than the previous one. Every city recently heavily damaged by military action feels unique to us. The ruins of Ukrainian Mariupol and the burnt-out high-rises of Bakhmut displace the images of almost annihilated Grozny from a few decades ago. Some ruined cities are able to revitalize. But is it possible to rebuild a destroyed city and leave the conflict that smashed it in the past? How will Mariupol rebuilt by the Russian occupying authorities look – will it be the “same city”? What will be the new Azerbaijani cities of Fizuli and Agdam, now almost completely destroyed? What fate awaits Stepanakert, left behind by its inhabitants, the Karabakh Armenians who went into exile? Deep wounds inflicted on cities and their inhabitants cannot disappear with their rebuilding. Their memory is inscribed in nationalist ideologies and reflected in memorial landscapes. The traumatic memory of destroyed cities is designed to cement modern nations and nourish images of the enemy. Therefore conflicts and wars become moments of mass symbolic mobilization for entire “imagined communities” including those who never witnessed the war itself. Mass migration and flows of IDPs exemplify how war complicates the life of cities and villages located far from the front lines. In addition to these devastating social, cultural and urban effects, modern armed conflict also worsens environmental conditions. Many cities struggled with ecological problems even before the armed conflicts, but war turns problems into catastrophes. Poisoned water and soil, apartment blocks turned into rubble, human and animal remains hastily buried or never removed – this is what urban spaces become after the war. The direct destruction of human lives and settlements, wildfires, biodiversity loss, chemical pollution from munitions use and military combat, environmental consequences of destroying urban, industrial, and energy infrastructure, such as the Kakhovka Dam explosion – these are just a few of the direct environmental consequences of wars. Extra greenhouse gas emissions from military actions, forest fires and infrastructure restoration add to the crisis. Not only invaded countries suffer. Environmental legislation has been weakened or postponed under the guise of strategic military interests and economic challenges in all countries involved in the military conflicts. Public hearings and civic environmental reviews are frequently canceled or made difficult for genuine experts and activists, while environmental activists face prosecution, and state-supported GONGOs act in place of true civil society. Russian authorities who started the war issue propaganda, which gives the impression that they enjoy full support from their citizens, all the while meting out harsh repression against dissenters. Yet, citizens do not give up. They seek opportunities to rebuilt destroyed “life worlds”, challenged identities and broken social ties. As scholars and reflective citizens, we cannot ignore the multifaceted effects of military conflicts on our cities, residents, societies, and the environment. We invite researchers, journalists, activists, and interested individuals to share their observations, knowledge, and experiences during this one-day event organized by CISR e.V. Berlin and Dialogue for Understanding e.V. on September 27, 2024, at Refugio space, with the support of the Auswärtiges Amt and the European Commission.
Event Location
Refugio Berlin, Lenaustraße 3-4, 12047 Berlin
Photo: Warning the Cityzens Conference in 2022
Introduction
Throwback to conference in 2022
Time | Main Hall | Seminar Room |
|---|---|---|
10:00-10:30 | Welcoming words Elena Stein, CISR e.V. Angelina Davydova, Dialogue for Understanding e.V. | |
10:30-12:00 | Ecological and Urban Costs of War Opening Discussion An opening panel of the conference will outline the main themes of the conference. What are direct and indirect environmental, urban, climate and further societal consequences of the ongoing and recent wars? Who is tracking and analysing these consequences. What can be done now? We will speak about it with researchers, experts, activists and journalists from Ukraine, Armenia, Russia ... (some of them currently in exile). Participants: Victoria Hubareva, Ukraine, environmental journalist, member of the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group Gevorg Avetikyan, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) Oleg Pachenkov, CISR e.V. Moderators: Elena Stein, Angelina Davydova | |
12:00-12:30 | Coffee Break | |
12:30-14:00 | Environmental Agenda in Russia During the War in Ukraine Apart from the direct environmental damage in Ukraine a full-scale invasion by Russia also brings indirect environmental and climate consequences for Russia's domestic green agenda. In this session we will speak about changes in Russia's environmental, climate and energy policies following the beginning of the full-scale war and subsequent economic sanctions and trade barriers, as well as further political repressions and shrinking space for civil society. Participants: Anonymous Speaker, environmental expert Anonymous Speaker, expert in renewable energy Nelya Rakhimova, sustainable development advocate, educator, and policy analyst | Direct and Indirect Effects of Wars for the Material and Symbolic Fabric of the Cities We observe various forms of urban destruction as a result of military conflicts: the direct destruction of the physical fabric of cities through urbicide, the erasure of layers of memory, history; and culture; the covert destruction of architectural heritage by developers and construction businesses operating in war-torn societies. Even cities not directly affected by conflict continue to face challenges such as mass migration and the influx of internally displaced persons. We invite you to explore these and other consequences of war with architects and researchers, using examples from cities in Ukraine, Georgia, and the former Yugoslavia. Participants: Dr. Haris Piplas, Praxisdozent in Raumentwicklung ETH Zürich; "Design and Planning of (post)war societies: Integrated, Innovative, International?" Dr. Semen Shyrochyn, Ukrainian researcher of Soviet-era architecture "Heritage destruction in Ukrainian cities: war, business & hatred" Nutsa Lomsadze architect, urban planner and researcher, Georgia "A tale of two cities: Urban transformation in the presence of new IDPs in Georgia" |
14:00-15:30 | Lunch Break | |
15:30-17:00 | «We Remember and Honour the Monuments of the Fallen»: Conflicts and Nationalisation of Memorial Landscapes in Post-Soviet cities We will discuss challenging questions: What has been preserved from the Soviet memorial heritage and integrated into post-Soviet commemorative practices? How profoundly have urban memorial landscapes changed? • Is the complete desovietisation of urban memorial landscapes possible? Is there a need for that? If so, what might be the methods and practices of its realisation? • How different are Soviet and contemporary nationalist memorials, discourses, aesthetics, and rituals? • What are the specifics of commemorating enduring conflicts? What place does the memory of contemporary conflicts occupy in the city (hierarchy of memory spaces)? • Do ‘We’ still struggle with empire/imperial legacy? The pre-Soviet/soviet memorial landscape and contemporary nationalism. During the discussion will be presented a book: Presidential Election in the South Caucasus: Political Transformations, Imagined Unity, and Memory discourses (Edited by R. Baramidze and S. Rumyantsev, 2024). Participants: Oksana Mikheeva, sociologist, Ukraine
| Military Conflicts, Climate Change, Polycrisis: the Role of Extractivist Economies This session is co-organised together with the Institute for Global Reconstituion (IGREC). The world is undergoing a number of crises at the same time: military conflicts and wars, climate change, biodiversity loss, plastic pollution, inequalities, economic problems, supply chain failures, all together representing a polycrisis. What is the role of the extractivist economic model, in Russia and other fossil fuel-extracting countries, but also other economies all over the globe -- in contributing to polycrisis and making the global situation worse for billions of people, wildlife and ecosystems? What can be done? Which stakeholders can change the situation and how can this change be enhanced and supported? Participants: Felix Jaitner, author, researcher Ilya Kalinin, Humboldt University; Institute for Global Reconstituion Viktoria Mysnikova, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich Moderator: Angelina Davydova |
17:00-17:30 | Coffee Break | |
17:30-19:00 | Environmental activism in totalitarian states What kind of environmental and climate activism still strives in Russia? Which environmental causes help build local movements, where do such movements get support, how do authorities react to such campaigns? What are the challenges and limitations for environmental activism during times of war and increasing political repressions? Can environmental and further grass-root activism exist in authoritarian and totalitarian political systems? This session aims to continue a discussion about whether local grass-root movements and activism can actually contribute to the growth of real civil society structures and potential political change Participants: Vitaly Servetnik, environmental-crisis group Anonymous Speaker, environmental expert Anonymous Speaker, environmental expert Moderator: Oliver Lammers | Non-formal Education in Cities as a Solidarity Practice: experiences from the WARning the City/zens project War inevitably fragments societies, destroying communities and identities. This affects both those forced to flee their country—whether as refugees or political exiles—and those who remain but feel like strangers in their own land. These experiences compel people to re-evaluate their personal, civic, and professional identities, fostering the need to build new solidarities. Urban experience and knowledge could play a crucial role in addressing this fragmentation. When national identity and even family ties are challenged, the city becomes a vital space for forming new social connections. As the traditional education system is also compromised, non-formal, grassroots education focused on urban life provides a means to understand new realities, navigate a changing world, and encourage collective civic action. Participants in the "WARning the City/zens" project have initiated educational and research efforts in the cities where they now live—whether they have left their countries or stayed—to explore new ways of being and acting. We invite you to discuss the role of non-formal urban projects in the formation of civic connections. Participants: Matvey Garapach (co-author with Alexandra Perevalova, Polina Shurupova) Volha Kavalskaya ( co-author with Ilia Arzhnikov) Sasha Semkina, Natalia Borenko, Anastasiia Puschkarewa Moderators: Oleg Pachenkov, Lilia Voronkova |
19:00-19:30 | Closing session | |
19:30-21:30 | Reception DJ Set by Dima Vachedin |