Houses built by diaspora members “back home” in their country of origin are often stigmatized and reduced to their eclectic facades. Yet these structures, shaped by displacement and the forces of globalization, are profoundly transforming landscapes, in particular those of “third world” countries. Reading these remittance landscapes could be a tool for challenging the neo-colonial narratives, coping with the past and developing strategies for new ways of being.

Kozarac, a small city in Republika Srpska, is an extreme example of remittance landscapes in Bosnia & Herzegovina, formed initially by the Gastarbeiter program and later war. Using Kozarac as a case study, the project analyses diasporic architecture, unravelling the dynamics of the remittance-dependent city. Such a system is a collective effort of maintenance; maintenance of migrant’s subjectivity; maintenance of the fragmented community; and lastly, maintenance of the architecture defined by the absence of its users.