Cathrin Clar Master of International Planning and Spatial Design

Rebuilding Identity: Heritage, Memory, Politics And Social Justice From Post-War Reconstruction To Ukraine

Cities are never rebuilt from nothing. After large-scale destruction, someone always decides what gets recreated, what gets erased, and whose version of the past survives. This thesis examines that decision-making through the post-war reconstruction of Berlin, Warsaw and Rotterdam, identifying three recurring logics: replica reconstruction, tabula rasa redevelopment, and the political instrumentalisation of heritage. 

A comparative survey confirms the pattern across all three cities: divided or centralised authority produces the same result; residents remain outside the decision either way. Expertise was never the limit. Consent was. 

Building on these findings, the thesis develops a socially just heritage framework structured around four phases, treating community participation as a precondition rather than an afterthought. The framework is tested against the ongoing destruction in Kharkiv, Ukraine, including a critical assessment of the DREAM reconstruction platform, asking whether digital tools open real decision-making or simply digitise the same top-down process.