Journal of Engineering and Architecture

Remains, Debris and Ruins of the War Setting from Decontamination Issues and Disposal to the Configuration of New Landscapes
Silvia Dalzero

Abstract
This study is structured on the analysis of the definition of ruins and rubbles and then shows the real present state, through cartographic, historical, urban and territorial surveys of different stories of cities destroyed by acts of war (since the Second World War until the most recent conflicts: the Balkans with the siege of Sarajevo and the war in Lebanon with the 'destruction' of Beirut). The study was divided in parts relating to the material dimension of the destroyed city and the intrinsic spatial conformation, as results of acts of war such as: hills of rubble and modifying coastal lines as a result of piles of inert materials and also general waste. So the city gained a renewed post-war image, a different spatial identity and another orography that, now, asks to be revealed. Following the war, in effect, what remains is nothing more that a collection of urban materials often without any value that, in their physical state, occupy space and reveal other, unexpected urban and territorial pictures. However, 'rubble' take a meaning in ‘urban design’, take an active role in ‘geographical plane’ and show an alternative means to describe the overlapping and solidification of historical signs.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jea.v3n1a13