This unit sets the scope: this course covers the theory and ethics of citizen participation in post-conflict urban contexts, with the explicit aim of preventing pseudo-participation, using three lenses (participation theory, ethics, and positionality) as its practical toolkit.

You then saw why Bosnia and Herzegovina is the ground for that work. Its governance structure- entities, cantons, municipalities- a direct outcome of the Dayton Peace Agreement, creates exactly the fragmented landscape where participation can be staged rather than real. Trg Heroja, Grbavica, and Čengić Vila aren't neutral backdrops for this course; they're three neighborhoods under one municipality, Novo Sarajevo, each carrying a different version of the same post-socialist, post-conflict condition, and each the site of a real "(Re)Construction of Community" studio you'll return to throughout this course.

Finally, you saw five concrete reasons why the stakes are higher here than in a stable democracy: damaged trust, symbolically weighted space, legal frameworks that guarantee form but not power, governance fragmented enough to enable manipulation, and reconciliation that depends on a real, not simulated, voice.

Taken together, this is the case for the rest of the course: participation in a post-conflict city like Sarajevo cannot be assumed to be genuine just because it happens. The next unit gives you the first tool for telling the difference - Arnstein's Ladder of Participation.