A cuckoo in the nest: how cities became the arena for state conflicts

All eyes are on Minneapolis.

How did this quiet, Midwestern city become an international symbol for dissent between President Trump and American citizens?

Wendy Pullan, Professor Emerita of Architecture and Urban Studies at the University of Cambridge, delivered the annual Rosemary Hollis Memorial Lecture at City St George’s, University of London, exploring the condition of cities as they find themselves the locus  for state conflicts.

The lecture was hosted by the School of Policy & Global Affairs (SPGA) and the Finsbury Institute, in memory of the late Professor Hollis, an expert in Middle East policy and a much-loved and much-missed colleague of SPGA.

Professor Pullan began her lecture discussing Minneapolis. In recent weeks, the city has seen the murder of two of its citizens – poet Renée Good and nurse Alex Pretti – by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers while they were carrying out mass deportation initiatives.

The fallout of these deaths has sparked national protests that have rippled worldwide, and to Professor Pullan, are an example of the ways in which conflicts in cities represent greater cultural battles.

Divided cities, identity and the difficult path to post-conflict

Professor Pullan discussed the cases of a range of historically divided cities including Jerusalem, Belfast and Berlin as well as cities that have suffered heavy destruction such as those in Ukraine and Syria.

While there are periods of relative peace in these divided cities, this will frequently shift back to periods of violence. These conflicts are so enduring that Professor Wendy Pullan is hesitant to use the term “post-conflict”, which implies there is an end to conflict.

She argues that urban reconstruction is politicised and collective heritage is intertwined with ethnonational, racial or religious identity.

Her research suggests that cities can function as a proxy for state conflicts, creating conditions of ‘frontier urbanism’ in which urban citizens become weaponised and city spaces and structures given radical uses.

She explains:

Conflict is usually generated by states. Today, we're finding that cities are increasingly the arenas for these conflicts.

If we look at the city as a nest, then the state conflict is the cuckoo that finds its strange way into the nest.

Battles are rarely only national. They're often religious, ethnic, racial or to do with economics.

Urbicide – the intentional destruction of cities and urban culture – is driven mostly by nationalism.

It is not just bombing or shelling a city in order to attack the people in it; urbicide also seeks the destruction of the culture of a city.

Her research has shown that public space – whether streets, squares, markets or civic buildings – is critical in cities that suffer high levels of conflict and must be considered carefully in reconstruction.

“Public spaces can be common to all citizens, even if their identities are not,” she explains.

Professor Pullan’s academic research focuses on divided cities, urban uncertainty, and Middle Eastern conflicts.

She has conducted advisory work for Chatham House, the British Academy, the United Nations and various nonprofit organisations.

In memory of Professor Rosemary Hollis

The lecture was organised by Dr Sara Silvestri, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, who was a colleague of the late Professor Rosemary Hollis.

Professor Hollis was an expert in Middle East policy at City St George’s from 2008 until her retirement in 2018.

She was the Director of the Olive Tree programme, which provided scholarships for and brought together Israeli and Palestinian studentsto begin a dialogue.

Several alumni of the programme attended the lecture and asked Professor Pullan questions during the Q&A portion of the evening.

The talk was introduced by Professor Diana Beech, Director of the Finsbury Institute, the University’s new public policy hub. She said:

Whether divided, occupied, contested or evolving, cities are often at the front lines of geopolitical tension. They're places where diplomacy becomes tangible, where social fabric is tested, and where the realities of conflict are lived in everyday life.

Our mission at the Finsbury Institute is to make City St George's not just a university in London, but a university for London.

That's why being a hub is to acknowledge collaboration and understanding between our policy and research communities, and tonight's lecture speak directly to that purpose.