REBUILDING IN THE CONTEXT OF CONFLICT: URBAN RECONSTRUCTION POLICY IN DAMASCUS THROUGH THE LENS OF THE INFORMAL CITY

Abstract

The article analyzes the Syrian reconstruction through the prism of informal urbanization. It shows that in the context of an unfinished conflict, Damascus's support for urban renewal is in line with the logics of eviction that characterize its policy vis-à-vis informal settlements. Through a double legislative apparatus of town planning and security, this policy of selective urban disappearance destroys rather than rebuilds the places of life and sites of memory of two population categories that overlap considerably: the opponents of the regime and the inhabitants of informal settlements.