The Morphology of Post-War Territory as a Research Object

Abstract

This presentation proposes post-war territory as a research object defined by spatial forms, functions, connections, and the conditions sustaining them. Post-war conditions encompass territories where intensive fighting has ended but displacement, restricted access, territorial division, and disrupted maintenance continue. A morphological approach supports comparison across conflicts, cultures, and natural environments without assuming identical territorial outcomes. Four questions guide investigation: what an object looks like, how it is used, what it connects with, and who maintains its functioning. Five research directions organise the programme: settlement and depopulation; territorial presence; material memory; land use and landscape maintenance; and soil and managed water systems. Historical maps, archival records, imagery, field observations, and evidence concerning ownership and access provide complementary sources. The approach distinguishes physical survival from functional continuity and compares overlapping geographies of residence, ownership, use, governance, and environmental connections. Microgeographic studies of settlements, fields, roads, and ponds reveal transformations obscured by regional statistics and support comparative explanation. Within the developing theory of military ecotones, these configurations connect natural and human processes altered by military intervention. The proposed programme provides a framework for observation, mapping, and empirical testing while remaining open to revision.