Post-Trauma Aesthetics

Abstract

Cities must address the complicated aftermath of reconstruction as the front lines of wars are waged within urban areas. Nearly 20 years after the Lebanese Civil War ended in 1991, reconstruction has taken many forms, but significant efforts have attempted to ignore and move beyond the War. Thus, “accidental” monuments have sprung up in the absence of formally preserved relics of the War. Coupled with the efforts of artists, independent cultural institutes, and activists, vital histories of the War have been preserved, bringing citizens closer to acknowledging the War. To illustrate an alternative future, we suggest the transformation of what was the front line during the War, at a time appropriate for such a large-scale intervention to address the trauma of the War. In Post-Trauma Aesthetics, we argue that Beirut, Lebanon is an excellent site to test the effectiveness of applying Lebbeus Woods’ three theories of reconstruction to evaluate the effect of post-war reconstruction on the collective memory of war as represented in the built environment.