Rebuilding Mosul: Public opinion on foreign-led heritage reconstruction

Following the devastation of northern Iraqi city Mosul by Islamic State, various foreign actors launched initiatives to reconstruct heritage sites city. However, such efforts are underpinned assumptions about how local people value their heritage, they perceive its destruction, whether view reconstruction as a priority and extent which support foreign-led rebuild heritage. This article holds these up empirical scrutiny via an original survey 1600 residents attitudes towards The results hold four key implications for current future projects in Mosul, namely that while want see reconstructed, prefer not be privileged over humanitarian aid, development peace building; includes rebuilding religious much iconic and/or non-religious transforms into new more useful structures community, acknowledge work actors, agency control concludes noting findings important (post-)conflict environments where mass human suffering destruction has taken place.