Urban Partition Along Ethnic Lines: When, Where & Why

Co-sponsored with PennDesign’s Historic Preservation Program and AIA Philadelphia, Jon Calame, co-author of Divided Cities: Beirut, Jerusalem, Mostar, and Nicosia (UPenn Press, March 2009), and founding partner of Minerva Partners, explored the logic of violent urban partition along ethnic lines – when it occurs, who supports it, what it costs, and why seemingly healthy cities succumb to it. His field-based investigations were coupled with scholarly research to illuminate the history of urban dividing lines, the social impacts of physical partition, and the assorted professional responses to “self-imposed apartheid.” Mr. Calame offered reflections on professional replies to partition, both successful and unsuccessful, and outline a predictive model that might forestall division in the future.