As a pacifist, I was appalled to witness women and children targeted and shot down like combatants in the streets of their home town, a whole population cowering. But as an urban planner I recognized the diabolical genius in depriving the population of those simple things, like freedom of movement, formerly taken for granted. First, one must acknowledge that the peoples of Bosnia-Hercegovina are constrained to live in the limited geography of the federation, and, regardless of current animosities, will have to continue to do so in future. Therefore, an objective basis for peace and prosperity can only be found in the properties and requirements of the land and the peoples who inhabit it. Urban design and regional planning are tools equally as important as economics and politic science in helping to identify these vital interests, and of paramount importance in assessing the status of crucial infrastructure that directly impacts lifestyles and livelihoods on a daily basis.
Landscape architects can play a crucial role in conflict resolution.
Urban design and regional planning are tools equally as important as economics and politic science in helping to identify these vital interests, and of paramount importance in assessing the status of crucial infrastructure that directly impacts lifestyles and livelihoods on a daily basis. I'm talking about food, water, power, communications, transportation and safety, and a community's capacity to deliver them. To an extent unimaginable a decade ago, the ideal of a global network led by landscape architects rebuilding devastated communities is taking on form and substance. Throughout the world, immense intellectual energies are gathering information and developing technologies that can be used by knowledgeable landscape architects to achieve great results. For instance, the US military has digitized and studied Bosnia in minute detail.