The Power of The Infra-Ordinary

The every-day is an arena of endless difference, a place we cannot simply go to. We are always-already immersed in it, although we typically do not realize this.

Peacebuilding tends to focus too much on economic development and too little on addressing the underlying causes that created the violence or meeting the needs of victims/survivors, and those who suffered the most from the violence.

Places that may have once been every-day, are now non-everyday places in nature, or what one might class as ‘infra-ordinary’ places of social significance within the built environment. Acknowledging that, while these places that used to present themselves as a great swath of the unexceptional, everyday life, needs only a little trauma for them to r... See more

It is fascinating how everyday places that through turmoil, have come to mean something else to those that frequent them.

By ‘everyday places’ I mean, the repetitive, common and taken for granted, the parts of the built environment that residents frequently engage but only truly appreciate once they develop a special meaning or character that stimulates a deeper perception.