Combat cities are specifically designed for military training. Although their existence often goes unnoticed, these full-scale facilities have spread throughout the western hemisphere and have become an essential element in the simulation of wartime operations and defence strategies of the major military powers.

In this session, the architect and researcher, Julia Schulz-Dornburg, author of the book The Complete Guide to Combat City (Jovis, 2024), an architectural and cultural guide to these simulated towns, and Thomas Keenan, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Director of Human Rights Program at Bard College, New York, will analyse the construction of combat cities and explore the intersection between violence and urban space, while also considering the ethical challenges presented by this growing phenomenon.

21 January 2025
18.30 - 20.00
CCCB - Centre de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona
Montalegre, 5 - 08001 Barcelona

 

Lost Cities und Combat Cities – Metamorphose der Stadt

Angesichts einer fortschreitenden Urbanisierung und der ungeheuren Erfolgsgeschichte der Siedlungsform „Stadt" wird selten die paradoxe Kehrseite dieser Geschichte in den Blick genommen. Seit 5.000 Jahren steht der Entstehung von Städten ihr Untergang gegenüber. Verlassene Städte sind ein geradezu allgegenwärtiges Phänomen aller Zeiten und Regionen. Völlig im Verborgenen sind hingegen jene exklusiv vom Militär geplanten und erbauten „Combat Cities“. Sie erscheinen auf keiner Karte und finden in Stadtplanung und Architektur kaum Beachtung. In diesen voll funktionsfähigen städtischen Kampfzentren trainieren Soldat:innen Einsätze in urbaner Umgebung. Über zwei Versionen von Städten, die eine Transformation ihrer eigentlichen Bestimmung erfuhren, kommen Martin Zimmermann (Althistoriker, LMU München) und Julia Schulz-Dornburg (Architektin) ins Gespräch.

 

As a result of progressive urbanisation and the tremendous success of the ‘city’ as a form of settlement, the paradoxical flipside of this story is rarely taken into account. For 5,000 years, the emergence of cities has been related to their potential demise. Abandoned cities are an almost ubiquitous phenomenon of all times and regions. By contrast, Combat Cities are completely hidden. The military is the exclusive developer of these combat towns that, unmarked on maps, and largely unnoticed by urban-design, architecture and planning communities, have silently multiplied and spread throughout the western hemisphere. Martin Zimmermann (historian, LMU Munich) and Julia Schulz-Dornburg (architect) will talk about these two versions of cities that have undergone a transformation of their actual purpose.

January 18th 2025
Salon Sophie Charlotte 2025
Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Markgrafenstraße 38. Berlin

An international collective exhibition of FAD’s own production with works from designers, artists and architects who go beyond categories and conventions to explore ways of doing and projecting that are different from those awarded. An invitation to alter learned perspectives so as to begin conversations about art, design and architecture, to disrupt systems and processes, and to act in the light of that which is interiorised as not one’s own, albeit by being alien or inadequate.

30/06 – 31/10/15  Disseny Hub Barcelona Building

It is desirable to recycle but with criteria please. The breach of copyright hurts less than the horrendous result.