Building a Bi-Communal Bridge: Nicosia, Cyprus
2010-04-21
Title
Building a Bi-Communal Bridge: Nicosia, Cyprus
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2010-04-21
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Abstract
The passage of centuries of foreign influence through the Mediterranean Sea developed a
unique urban fabric on the island of Cyprus, which acts as a global link from Christianity to
Islam, and Eastern to Western civilization. In response to an attempted coup backed by a
Greek military junta in 1974, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus resulting in a United Nationscontrolled
Buffer Zone that separates Turkish-speaking, military-occupied northern Cyprus
and the Greek-speaking Republic of Cyprus. The Buffer Zone slices through the island’s
capital city of Nicosia and compromises the condition of hundreds of buildings dating from
the fourteenth century. Municipal leaders came together to salvage the devastated Cypriot
identity and formed the Nicosia Master Plan (NMP), a “bi-communal” effort to preserve and
restore buildings as a heritage preservation method of conflict resolution. During July and
August, I met with Nicosia Master Plan team members, architects, planners, and Nicosia
residents on both sides of the Buffer Zone. The numerous social spheres I became involved
with allowed me to understand the conflict in Cyprus from many different perspectives. My
field study focused on two neighborhoods as case studies for community development in
places of ethnic division. The rehabilitation efforts in each neighborhood began immediately
after the NMP developed because of their direct adjacency to the Buffer Zone and former
vibrancy. The NMP has revived centuries of Cypriot history and has paved the way for
“reconciliation”. Division in the urban landscape has disrupted communities internationally,
and the preservation of their built environments are required to salvage their identity. The
Nicosia Master Plan is an important precedent study as an urban planning approach to
drawing people together through heritage preservation.
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Additional contributor: Rachel Iannacone (faculty mentor).
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Hanson, Woody. (2010). Building a Bi-Communal Bridge: Nicosia, Cyprus. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/61949.
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