ABSTRACT

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book contributes to the spatial turn in peace research by investigating where and how peace comes about. It investigates sites in transformation in post-conflict environments as a way of reading spatial politics and expressions of agency. The combination of dynamics of space and time can provide a 'geo-story' or 'histo-graphy' as a way of understanding transition. The book argues for a dynamic understanding of spatial agency in peacebuilding contexts, in that only the transformation of spaces and places, as well as their mutual interplay through practices of space-making and place-making, can help us understand the agency that surrounds them. Agency takes on spatial and temporal forms, and both dimensions need to be explored in the light of the insights they give us into the transitions from conflict to peace.