Monday, December 12, 2005


Prizren building 63: I was particularly struck by this former home, probably because it still had its number (32) on it. It's been burned out and smashed up, the remaining shell filled with rubbish and other waste. A fresh bin bag of domestic waste sit atop the existing spoil heap, which is half the height of the room.

The site is undergoing ecological succession. Pioneer species of annual plants that colonised the ruins are being replaced by perennial plants and grasses and they by shrubs. The plant in the far corner of the room may be a softwood tree.

The succession here might be so advanced because the plants that colonise the site in the later stages were deposited in the rubbish; otherwise, it might be because the home was destroyed in the 1998-1999 Kosovo War, rather than the 2004 riots.

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