Introduction

Abstract

Cities have emerged as the epicentres for many of today’s ethno-national and religious conflicts. Some are household names, like Jerusalem and Berlin, featuring regularly on television and computer screens all over the world; others are more obscure, such as Vukovar and Ceuta, known primarily to regional populations; and certain locations linger in our urban historical memory, including Odessa and Jaffa. Likewise, we find cities that have been avidly researched and others hardly at all. What unites them, at least for the purposes of this book, is that all are or have been subject to intense levels of conflict. Most of these cities experience or have experienced some form of unusually prominent division or segregation in their populations, activities, spatial topographies and aspirations. Each one may be or has been regarded as contested, and most have developed some form of urban frontier within them; these may be physical barriers in the topography, noticeable variations in societal markers and practices, or what are often less visible rifts in cultural perception and understanding.