Domicide

Domicide = the systematic and deliberate killing of home.

So much architectural response to war has focused on 'cultural heritage', the destruction of infrastructure, and of ancient architecture - here, Ammar Azzouz moves the focus somewhere more personal: the home. In Domicide, he uses the notion of the 'home' - his native city of Homs in Syria - to address the destruction of cities and the displacement of people both externally and internally during times of war, and to explore how cities can be rebuilt without causing further damage to the communities that live there.

Drawing on interviews with built environment professionals, the book also offers insights from those from other professions who were forced to become 'architects' as they rebuilt their homes by themselves; showing how they cope, resist and carry on in long-term conflicts, beyond the dramatic moments of destruction shown in the news.

Focusing on Syria, but offering a blueprint for other urban areas of conflict across the wider world, Domicide offers fresh insights into the role of the architect during time of war, and explores how the future reconstruction of cities should mirror the wants and needs, the traditions and ways of living, of local communities. This book is essential reading for researchers in architecture, urban planning, heritage studies and conflict studies.

Review: Azzouz crafts a narrative that is both profound and accessible. His eloquent style ensures that the book is equally appealing to a general audience as well as scholars in the realm of architecture and urban planning. Readers are effortlessly transported into a narrative that oscillates between historical accounts and lived experiences, chronicling the relentless violence that has eroded the very essence of home in Syria. Supported sparingly with relevant literature and an index, Azzouz masterfully depicts the intricacies of everyday violence in Syrian, ensuring that readers remain deeply engrossed in the interconnected tapestry of place, people, and home. * Journal of Refugee Studies *
An important contribution to studies of the human costs of the ongoing Syrian civil war ... [and] a call to action, for the clarity Azzouz lays bare of the systematic and deliberate way Homs has been targeted will inspire a new wave of resilience, and the will to rebuild better. * The New Arab *
A deeply moving and clear eyed account of the Syrian conflict from a scholar who has lived its harsh realities on the ground and in exile. Domicide dispels the fiction of a post-conflict Syria, reminding us that the violence continues unabated, just in different configurations, in the wake of war. Azzouz poignantly describes how predatory states weaponize urban reconstruction, enacting new waves of violence in an effort to re-write history and erase communities. Moving us away from the endless mourning of monumental destruction, Domicide tells the bigger story of loss, the deliberate destruction of home. An important book that impels readers to rethink the entire category and contradictions of heritage work that will uncomfortably challenge all of us seeking to capture a world of conflict. * Lynn Meskell, University of Pennsylvania, USA *
A harrowing account of everyday violence in contemporary Syria. Azzouz painfully narrates the displacement, dispossession, and compounded grief that Syrians have endured with the loss of home and the social and material fabric that holds it together. In Domicide, we see how Syrians have reimagined and recreated home, against all odds, both inside Syria and in exile. A timely and must-read book. * Rosie Bsheer, Harvard University, USA *
A passionate and informed analysis of the deliberate policy pursued by the Asad regime in destroying the built environment of Homs and other Syrian cities. Azzouz's narrative bears witness to this policy of domicide and also to the courage and dignity with which Homsis defend their city and reconstruct its memory. * Khaled Fahmy, Tufts University, USA *