What is it about?
The reconstruction of Skopje after the earthquake of 1963 involved numerous stakeholders, including the UN, countries from the Soviet as well as Western blocs, and notable individuals from as far afield as Japan, which provided the reconstruction planner - Kenzo Tange. All these contributors had competing agendas, yet the outcome proved remarkably coherent and visionary.
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Why is it important?
Actor Network Theory (ANT) has been used to deconstruct complex human activities and to make sense of how competing interests in complex systems move towards a final, singular outcome. This is the first time ANT has been used to explore the reconstruction of a complete city, and its findings shed new light on how humans behave in fashioning the urban environment.
Perspectives
Numerous individuals such as Weissman and Tange, various organisations such as planning committees from surrounding countries, the US and USSR, as well as the UN itself, all had different perspectives representing their particular interests in how the Skopje project unfolded. Earlier research has taken on the views of one side or another, but this is the first study that attempts to assimilate a variety of key perspectives and explain how they all interacted to deliver the final reconstructed city.
Igor Martek
Deakin University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Consciousness and Amnesia, Journal of Planning History, November 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1538513216680229.
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