In recent decades, the development of high-precision weaponry systems and the instant flow of information has redefined the notion of urban warfare as a local phenomenon with global effects in an increasingly interconnected world. The annihilation of Aleppo and the broadcasted demolitions of Palmyra demonstrate the accelerating politicization of the destruction process and the rising weaponization of architecture. War Diaries looks at complex postwar settings to illuminate design responses to urban warfare and violence against art and architecture. The focus is on world regions where planners, architects and artists are involved in concrete initiatives on the ground. The question at stake, is how professionals have conducted and accomplished investigations, renewal and redevelopment of attacked sites. Examining the role of these specialists, the book illuminates the approaches and attitudes towards destruction that designers have used to remediate the effects of violence against cities and cultural heritage.

Elisa Dainese is a historian and theorist of architecture and urbanism. Currently an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, she specializes in the history of the production and transnational circulation of architectural knowledge with a focus on cross-cultural exchanges between Europe, North America, and historically underrepresented communities, including ones in the sub-Sahara and, more recently, the Arctic. She has published widely in architectural books and magazines (Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Journal of Architecture, e-flux, Thresholds, Bauhaus, OASE, and Planning Perspectives), and her research has received grants and awards from Columbia University, the Bruno Zevi Foundation, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, GAHTC, the Graham Foundation, the University of Pisa, Southeast Society of Architectural Historians, and Georgia Tech. She is the coeditor of the collection entitled War Diaries (University of Virginia Press, 2022); and author of Africa Fever (forthcoming). She is a member of the board of directors of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) and cochair of the SAH 78th Annual International Conference.

Aleksandar Staničić is an architect and assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft. He was a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at TU Delft (2018–20), a postdoctoral fellow at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT (2017–18), and a research scholar at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, Columbia University (2016–17). His most recent work includes the edited volume War Diaries: Design After the Destruction of Art and Architecture (University of Virginia Press, 2022) and numerous research articles in various journals, including the Journal of Architecture, Footprint, and Architecture and Culture.