Date de publication:
Mercredi 26 Septembre 2012 - 13:46
Publié ici :
26 Septembre 2012Mis à jour le :
22 Juin 2017Mots-clefs:
- Bagdad
- hypotheses.org
- blog
- architecture
- guerre
- Kaboul
Zone géographique:
- Moyen-Orient
Architecture and War: From Baghdad to Kabul
During "City Debates 2012" at the American University of Beirut, Caecilia Pieri spoke of Baghdad's recent transformations. Her images showed a city of multiple realities. Although seriously affected by the prolonged violence that has torn Iraq apart, central Baghdad, according to Pieri, was until 2010 characterized by vernacular monochrome brick construction. Now unchecked new construction is changing its architectural landscape. Also, behind concrete barriers and closed-off streets, spatial polarities and social gaps seem to be getting wider and wider. For someone who has worked and lived in Afghanistan, Baghdad's contradictions seem to be strikingly similar to Kabul's.
Like Baghdad, however, there has not been enough coverage of Kabul's recent urban transformations. The image carried in the minds from TV screens and web photographs is that of a shattered war zone. This is utterly true. Decades of armed conflict and neglect have left their marks on the built fabric and devastated the city's infrastructure, institutions and public life. But, after ten years of "post-conflict" reconstruction, there is also widespread repair and "development".
Kabul is witnessing a remarkable private sector-led construction boom, sustained by the "economic bubble" that is mainly generated by the temporary presence of international forces and organizations. Observers of the situation believe that the international "controls on the movement of money" in the aftermath of 9/11, the millions of dollars that the Afghan Government and donor community are spending on infrastructure rebuilding since 2002, and, more recently, the global economic crisis have prompted some expatriate Afghan entrepreneurs and traders to invest in the real estate business at home. Many Kabulis are however convinced that the resources for new construction have been mostly acquired through illegal means, particularly from the proceeds of the narcotics industry that are in part laundered into real estate.
Despite the significant transformation of the built environment, there has not been enough analysis of the city's current urban management systems and urbanization and urbanism processes. Likewise, there has not been enough research that reflects on current spatial production and construction practices vis-à-vis the city's cultural identity and social cohesion.
Informality and Fragmentation
Since 2001, Kabul's population has more than doubled (now close to 5 million). Its relative security and better job opportunities, compared to other parts of Afghanistan, have turned it into a refuge for internally displaced persons (estimated by 350,000), returnees from neighbouring countries, and rural migrants. Housing needs have only been met by an ad hoc informal urban expansion. Indeed, most of Kabul's current housing stock – according to some estimates 80% – was built illegally, either on agricultural lands not zoned for construction or on government lands or lands that belong to others.
With their administrative weakness, dated urban plans, and conflicting mandates, responsible public institutions have not been practically able to keep apace with the fast growth of the city. They could neither deliver affordable housing solutions nor control urban sprawl. Yet, there is no shortage of financial resources for reconstruction. Planning processes and investments seem however to be in private hands – including the private hands of some government officials.
The country's rampant corruption stands against the introduction of effective reforms. Specifically efforts to regulate the distribution of public land for housing face a 'culture of impunity' on the part of powerful interests. Reportedly, Afghanistan's warlords, now landlords, have forcefully captured public land, or acquired it by dubious means. Sometimes they kept their trophy for themselves and their entourage and sometimes they sold it to speculative land developers and agents. On their part, the new owners subdivided the land (sometimes subdivided and built) then sold it in formal and informal land (and real estate) markets to ordinary citizens, mainly middle-income groups.
A survival strategy to some and a lucrative business to others, Kabul's urban informality seems uncontrollable. The growing city is engulfing surrounding peri‐urban areas and leapfrogging into areas located away from its current centres of activity. In fact, Kabul is today a city of many cities. In addition to its old city (share kona), new city (share nau), and spontaneously growing edge cities, it has dozens of remarkably large new townships (shahraks), many of which are planned and built on grabbed public land. Yet, some have "legal" title deeds and the "approval" of senior politicians.
Issues of il/legality aside, the huge private capital invested on the construction of luxurious villas, wedding halls, plazas, hotels, commercial centres, and residential estates is turning Kabul, "into a patchwork quilt of islands of relative affluence struggling to secure themselves in a sea of spreading decay (Harvey 2000)." Gated shahraks particularly stand out as isolated cities that distance their inhabitants of Kabul's reality. They have their own schools, clinics, restaurants, shopping areas, mosques, health centres, open spaces, children play grounds and all what the residents might need for everyday life. They also have their own urban services, management systems, structures and their own 24-hour security guards.
(...)
Par Mona Khechen
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