ABSTRACT
Globally, the abandoned forms of urban structures are seen as important sites for making new claims to the city. But in contrast to celebrated case studies like the Torre David in Caracas or Rome’s Corviale, the Ministry of Defense building in Monrovia, Liberia, never served as a site for staking political claims. Even after a decade of occupation the structure remained stubbornly unavailable as a location for articulating new urban visions. The building was a ruin, but not a blank canvas on which to project novel or enduring claims to urban belonging.
