Landscapes of Repair: Creating a Transnational Community of Practice with Sheffield- and Kosovo-based Researchers, Artists and Civil Society on Post-traumatic Landscapes

In this chapter, we will discuss a 2021 knowledge exchange project between researchers from the University of Sheffield and forumZFD Kosovo, in cooperation with Kosovo artists, researchers, cultural workers and civil society activists. The collaboration – Landscapes of Repair – occurred through an online exhibition featuring the work of six Kosovo-based artists and architects and a programme of international cross-sector talks and masterclasses. This collaboration gave space to questions on the role of informal networks of communities, cultural workers, artists and civil society activists in tangible, transformative interventions in dealing with traumatic pasts in public space. Questions such as what does repair mean in the context of a wounded built environment? How might repair be performed at a physical and a symbolic level? What forms might it take? Working proactively through a self-reflexive and action-research lens, we now share insights from Landscapes of Repair. Our insights include exploring – the reclamation, reoccupation and re-imagining of sites shaped by difficult, violent or traumatic histories; reflections on how processes of memorialisation and creative artistic and architectural practice might contribute to repairing landscapes scarred by trauma; critiques of the tools of knowledge exchange as a means of building a transnational forum for trauma-informed reflection and praxis with regard to the repair and re-appropriation of public space in post-conflict Kosovo; and we present our mutual learning and critical self-reflection on the community of practice that has emerged through Landscapes of Repair. We conclude with a reflection on how projects of this kind are de facto embedded in power imbalances and inequalities. From this we show how we can continue to work towards building trust and respect, as well as sharing common experiences, practices, lessons learned and strategies in the context of post-conflict and post-traumatic placemaking.