urbicidal

adjective /ʌːbɪˈsaɪdəl/

a) Pertaining to or having the nature of urbicide, that being the deliberate “killing” of a city by the razing of distinctive physical manifestations of its urban identity, stifling of the social activity therein, and its general destruction as an edifice of civilisation.

Hence the ‘urbicidal’ aspect of the war, destruction of the cities as places of mixing and of centuries-old civilisation, places of openness and of tolerance, destruction of bridges as witnesses of historical exchange and physical bonds between groups presently at war and which the warring élites try to present as historicaly<![sic], traditionally enemies.

b) Inimical to the vitality of a city.

The urbicidal acts included the attempted “murder” of the city virtually and symbolically; its physical destruction by random bombing, shelling, grenading, and the like; its strangling through denial of food, water, and energy; its terrorizing through sniper fire from surrounding hills and bombing of public places;…