Spatial peace

Understanding the influence of the world around us on our behaviors and cognitions is a vital step in understanding people's individual and collective experiences with positive peace (Lindgaard, 2017; Lindsay et al., 2022). This paper begins as one of the first forays into weaving the theories and praxis in Urban Development and Design with the theories and praxis of Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS). As such, this paper is written for scholars and practitioners of both fields. The topics of this paper have been drawn from the research of the author on another project where he tested the saliency of one of the indicators of the peace poles, connectivity, and conducted interviews with social purpose organizations conducting their own research and community development in the geographical research area. The first section of this paper begins by outlining the foundational history, theory and principles of the evolution of space, place, and why they matter in cities. The next section grounds the understanding of spatiality and its implications on positive peace within the frameworks of urban planning and eco-urbanity. The following section provides possible pathways forward and next steps utilizing tools in urban development, civil society, and within the PACS fields. This is done to assist communities in ways aligned with the ethical humanistic foundations within urban development and PACS, including the tools and practices of placemaking, deep maps, and the spatial peace pole's quantified spatial peace assessment (Lindsay et al., 2022). The last section concludes with a summarization of these concepts and practices with their implications on Peace and Conflict Studies and the wider communities engaged in urban and economic development, as well as conflict resolution and political analysis.