What is lost when buildings become casualties of war?
4/20/202628 min
One of the greatest tragedies of war is the loss of innocent life, and it’s rightly at the forefront of how we measure the cost of conflict. Against that reality, the protection of buildings and monuments can seem frivolous — even misplaced. But organisations like Blue Shield, a non‑profit dedicated to safeguarding cultural heritage, argue otherwise. They believe the built environment carries deep meaning, memory and identity — and that preserving it plays a vital role in the resilience and recovery of communities caught in conflict.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
[background music] ABC Listen. Podcasts, radio, news, music, and more [background music] I want you to think about where you live, the places that shape your everyday life, the corner shop where you buy milk, the cafe you pass each morning, the street you always walk up to catch the bus.
Anthony Burke· Host0:24
How much of that material world is part of who you are? And how would you feel if it were all suddenly gone, erased by the chaos of war?
Anya Kotaba· Guest0:35
The emotional loss and the trauma connected with losing the landmarks. You know, when you walk around your beloved city, you have these landmarks. They're part of your sort of internal navigational access. And, and when they're gone, you, you feel that every day when you walk the streets.
Joanne Bajjali· Guest0:53
This is a destruction that aims at uprooting people from their land and their history, and it's done in a very scientific and methodological way. Where you go to these villages, the level of destruction is so high that you can't find the road.
Anthony Burke· Host1:07
Today on By Design, we're exploring what it means to protect buildings during times of conflict. Not just the famous monuments or world heritage sites, but the ordinary streets, homes, and neighborhoods that hold local memory and lived history. What does it mean to destroy a building during times of war?
Unknown speaker1:29
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