The peace-building agency of stigmatized civilian actors in European cities dealing with the consequences of terrorist violence

This study aims to contribute to knowledge about peace-building agency of civilian actors in marginalized social-housing neighborhoods that deal with the consequences of terrorist violence in European cities. The bulk of peace and conflict studies literature has provided insight in the dynamics of violence rather than peace.

The innovative character of this study therefore is that it interprets existing and new data on dealing with violence with a novel approach, that of geographies of peace.

This approach views peace as an everyday and relational process that is concerned with the building of ever-expanding networks that share life-affirming rather than life destructing values. As a result, peace is always in the making and in interaction with, rather than opposite to, violence.

This innovative approach breaks with the tendency of peace and conflict studies to focus on the Global South, state processes and armed conflict and makes it very relevant for studying initiatives in European cities that deal with the aftermaths of paroxysmal violence.

With the guidance of swisspeace, a leading institute in peace studies, research results will be translated to practice-oriented recommendations with the objective of gaining more insight into how policy-makers can integrate urban peacebuilding initiatives of civilian actors in security policy.