Public Spaces and Conflict Transformation: From Mostar’s Old Bridge to Its United World College

Post-war public spaces, when designed with community engagement and inclusion, can serve as powerful tools for conflict transformation and reconciliation. This study highlights the contrasting outcomes of Mostar's Old Bridge reconstruction and the United World College (UWC) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the bridge's reconstruction, despite its symbolic significance, failed to foster lasting reconciliation among ethnic groups, the UWC's emphasis on community participation and inclusion has shown promise in promoting healing and democratization. The research employs comparative political anthropology, incorporating interviews and ethnographic observations to evaluate processes, agency, structures, and emotional aspects of identity and politics. It concludes that community engagement in public space reconstruction facilitates reconciliation more effectively than top-down approaches, which can be perceived as coercive.

Davison, J., & Tesan, J. (2021). Public Spaces and Conflict Transformation: From Mostar’s Old Bridge to Its United World College. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 8(3), 244–261. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/768