What is "topocide"

Topocide is the deliberate culling of a place through industrial expansion and change, so that its earlier landscape and character are destroyed.

An alternative term is domicide, the destruction of home; the two may be viewed as synonyms or they may be opposed, with topocide referring to destruction from the point of view of the destroyers (generally outsiders) and domicide from the point of view of the inhabitants.

Topocide can be the result of deliberate industrial expansion. When industries form, then the people's center of life revolve around that industry. New jobs are formed and the environmental and cultural landscape is forever changed.

Arguable examples include the destruction of Dresden at the end of World War II and the Khmer Rouge's destruction in Cambodia.