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The Geopolitics of Spatiality
Abstract
Research Abstract: The Geopolitics of Spatiality A Comparative Study of Urban Governance and Urban Segregation in Palestine;Ramallah as a Case Years before the Oslo Accords --that resulted in the founding of the Palestinian Authority (PA)-- places were not ranked in hierarchies conferring a particular status to their residents. However, the establishment of the PA--which embraced the neoliberal model under a complicated geopolitical situation that is characterized by the presence of Israeli settler colonialism--has been accompanied by major transformations in the local planning policy and has engendered new mechanisms and exclusive/inclusive patterns of socioeconomic hierarchies. The most notable features are uneven development, recent forms of spatial segregation and social fragmentation among the neighborhoods of Ramallah, the de facto seat of the PA. In its endeavor to contribute to the social theory for a better understanding of how neoliberal policy shapes the urban fabric, this empirical research rests on a solid argument that Ramallah--in the 21st century--has had its own version of the segregated city, where people have been spatially sorted by socioeconomic affiliation. Therefore; it deals with the geopolitics of spatiality and urban governance in Palestine and attempts to address how the post-Oslo planning policy and landscape transformations influenced the spatial socioeconomic morphology of Ramallah. The study employs an ethnographic approach and analyzes the local spatial ordinances in use, aerial photos and plans. It also examines the Israeli practices that hinder the Palestinian development and the expansion of Ramallah’s urban fabric. Moreover, this research suggests that neoliberalizing the urban space of Ramallah--whilst being colonized--should be studied within the general framework of capitalist colonialism and global political economy which the Oslo Accords--that have been marketed as an economic and political liberation project--are part of. Hence; it further compares the current course of local urban planning with that in French Colonial Africa--where unlike the British--the apparent discourse aimed at liberation from the aristocracy and supported the rights of the oppressed. It concludes that notwithstanding their liberal and tolerant discourses, both capitalist regimes-- neoliberal and colonial--ended up with a similar segregated city, where planning practices had biased segregationist nature and dictated in effect who and what will locate where, and legitimized socioeconomic hierarchies.
Discipline
Architecture & Urban Planning
Geographic Area
Palestine
Sub Area
Urban Studies