‘House Without a Roof’ - Patterns of Informal Construction after the 1992–1995 War in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995) profoundly reshaped lives and territories. Ethnic divisions, population exchanges, and the restructuring of socio-political, economic, and cultural systems defined
a series of forced transitions that transformed space on multiple levels — physical, social, cultural, and mental. The resulting map of transitions is not only territorial but also symbolic, reflecting the reconstruction of home, settlement, and life itself.
The core focus of this research is the process of self-initiated, informal housing construction that emerged on the urban peripheries of Bosnian cities as a pragmatic response to the urgent need for shelter. This form of building became the most dominant post-war urban typology, providing displaced and internally displaced persons with a space of survival and renewal.
Through the case study of the Česma-Mađir neighborhood in Banja Luka, the book examines how displaced populations reinterpreted traditional spatial forms, combining vernacular elements and collective
self-building practices to create new hybrid typologies. These practices are not only architectural acts but also social and cultural processes, where the construction of a house becomes a process of identity and community reconstruction.
The study integrates personal testimonies, spatial analyses, and critical theory to illustrate how informal building practices function as mechanisms of resilience and adaptation in post-conflict environments.
It concludes that informal housing represents an ongoing, open-ended process — simultaneously physical and symbolic — that reveals the capacity of communities to regenerate identity, belonging, and meaning through space