Spatial methodologies to support postwar reconstruction

The Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) of the University of York has been concerned with practical methodologies for community reconstruction after conflict for several years. Their work is predicated on experience derived from observation and participation with humanitarian aid agencies in the delivery of relief and in the encouraging and enabling of return and reconstruction. This experience, gained from work in a wide variety of theaters of conflict, demonstrates that postwar reconstruction (PWR) is a complex operation concerning individuals, communities, property, infrastructure, environment, and cultural heritage. It is the experience of the PRDU that an inclusive concept of reconstruction and development, which encompasses the key stages of relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction leading to sustainability, is the most appropriate. This approach springs from the concept within the delivery of humanitarian aid of do no harm. Do no harm is concerned with the provision of emergency aid, food, clothing, medical care and shelter, and seeks to deliver this without prejudice to either the present situation or future reconstruction efforts. Initially conceived regarding the protection and emergency repair of cultural heritage, the concept underpins humanitarian aid. Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS) “are explicitly designed to support a decision research process for complex spatial problems” (Densham, 1991, p. 403), and there can be few more complex spatial problems than rebuilding communities after war. Current methodologies in reconstruction are based on the creation of inter-and intracommunity focus groups, starting with a planning workshop, during which a serious attempt is made to identify and account for each community component's needs. These groups are inevitably multidisciplinary, and there are frequent problems relating to the need to interpret the understanding and language of one group of professionals to that of another and to the nonprofessional populace. Participatory planning GIS research appears to offer opportunitiesespecially where, in the postwar arena, communities remain dispersed owing to unsafe ground conditions or where individual groups of people cannot yet bring themselves to cooperate, face-to-face, with some other group or groups. The additional benefit of the potential to model possible scenarios in order to assess the likely impact and implications would be very valuable in helping to avoid mistakes which can frequently cost human lives. This chapter reports work in progress to apply spatial methodologies for the design and implementation of decision-support systems for application in the task of community reconstruction after war. Although examples are cited from specific experience, we are seeking a general set of principles.