Haim Yacobi

Urban Ethnocracy: Ethnicization and the Production of Space in an Israeli ‘Mixed City’:

In this paper we offer a critical analysis of ethnic relations in an Israeli ‘mixed city’. Similar to other sites shaped by the logics of settling ethnonationalism and capitalism, the ‘mixed city’ is characterized by stark patterns of segregation between a dominant majority and a subordinate minority, as well as by ethnoclass fragmentation within each group. ‘Mixed’ spaces are both exceptional and involuntary, often resulting from the process of ethnicization prevalent in contested urban spaces. We theorize this setting as an ‘urban ethnocracy’, where a dominant group appropriates the city apparatus to buttress its domination and expansion. In such settings, conspicuous tensions accompany the interaction between the citys economic and ethnoterritorial logics, producing sites of conflict and instability, and essentializing group identities and ethnic geographies. Empirically, the paper focuses on the city of Lod or Lydda, Israel, where the production of contested urban space has been linked to the construction of an exclusionary Israeli-Jewish national identity and to the establishment of hierarchical ethnic citizenship. Like other previously Arab cities, Lod has been the target of a concerted strategy of Judaization, which has formed the citys central planning goal since the late 1940s. We analyze in detail various aspects and sites of the Judaization process, and of the ensuing urban conflicts. We point to the chronic instability of urban ethnocracies, and to the need of planning to rise above narrow ethnocentric considerations in order for the ‘mixed city’ to prosper as the home for all communities.

The architecture of ethnic logic: Exploring the Meaning of the Built Environment in the ‘Mixed’ City Of Lod – Israel

This article analyses the evolution of the built environment in Israels ‘mixed cities’ in Israel; sites shaped by the logic of ethno–nationalism, and characterized by patterns of segregation between the Jewish dominant majority and the Arab subordinate minority. The paper investigates the changes and dynamics of the urban landscape from the British Mandate period to recent times, focusing on the interrelations between ideology and architecture in its wider sense, i.e. referring to the practices of urban design and planning. The production of urban landscapes in Israeli ‘mixed cities’, I will argue, is a result of the social construction of an ethnic logic, and thus cannot be seen as autonomous from the existing socio–political context. Rather, I would propose, the architecture of the ‘mixed city’ reflects on one hand, and shapes on the other the struggle over identity, memory and belonging, rooted in urban colonialism discourse. Empirically, this paper focuses on the city of Lod/Lydda where as in other previously Palestinian cities, a strategy of colonization had been implemented, forming the city‘s central planning policy since the Mandate period. The paper analyzes in detail various aspects and sites of this process, and explores the role of planners and architects in the construction of a sense of place in tangible as well as discursive levels, which are often neglected in the body of knowledge that deals with urban–ethnic conflicts.

Jerusalem’s Road 1

Road 1 is a four‐ to six‐lane divided carriageway that runs north–south through Jerusalem and separates Israeli and Palestinian sectors. We argue that this thoroughfare brings the frontier into the centre of Jerusalem while at the same time contributing to Israeli spatial continuity. In many ways, Road 1 functions like the bypass roads of the Occupied Territories, which may cause more long‐term damage than the infamous separation barrier, simply because roads are among the most enduring of urban interventions. The paper investigates Road 1 as both standard inner city infrastructure and cultural artefact, where speed, aesthetics and modernisation are intertwined. Even in a city like Jerusalem, where sectarian views are extreme, our findings demonstrate the difficulty of separating political and urban expediencies.

God, Globalization, and Geopolitics: On West Jerusalem's Gated Communities

Over the last two decades West Jerusalems city centre has undergone wide-scale privatization of space which is expressed, for instance, in the extensive construction of gated-community housing compounds. This is a global process which can be seen in many cities where neoliberal policies are implemented, resulting in the expansion of the elites private capital on the one hand and the weakening of the welfare state as part of globalization processes on the other. However, this explanation is not sufficient when analyzing the privatization of space in West Jerusalems city centre, which is spatially and politically part of the ongoing Israeli—Arab conflict. In other words, my argument is that the case of West Jerusalem illustrates a combination both of local ethnosecurity discourses and of global neoliberal urban policies which do not contradict each other, but rather are complementary.

The Jewish-Arab city: Spatio-politics in a mixed community

Introduction 1. Orientalism, Modernity and Urban Design in Mandatory Lydda 2. From al-Ludd to Lod 3. Architecture and the Struggle over Geography 4. Territorialization and the Citys Geopolitics of Fear 5. Agents, Enemies, and the Privatization of Space 6. Walking, Inhabiting, Narrating. Conclusion

Whose City is it? On Urban Planning and Local Knowledge in Globalizing Tel Aviv-Jaffa

This article focuses on the variety of images, perceptions and social constructions about a city articulated by the different ‘actors’ which use and shape globalizing urban settings. The actors in focus are mainly the planners (representing the authoritative aspects of planning and city management) and the residents of the city (those who enjoy or are adversely affected by different planning visions and projects). Planners mainly use their professional knowledge, which they obtained from formal education. Residents built up their perceptions and images of the city in a more intuitive way, from their daily routine practices in the city. Following this, the article explores the intricate and sometimes complicated relations between the various types of knowledge involved in the planning process with the aim to find out whose perceptions of the city are incorporated in the planning processes. Focusing on knowledge as a base for formulating cityscapes stems from a personal position and experience as planners, as members of a planning team, nominated by the Tel Aviv Municipality to devise a ‘new strategic plan’ for the Central Bus Station (CBS) area in the city. The article begins with a short introductory background, describing the social and economic situation of Jewish residences and non-Jewish labour migrants of the CBS area in Tel Aviv. It then outlines some theoretical frameworks regarding the different perceptions of this area by the different ‘actors’ involved in its production. The article concludes with some insights regarding the ways that globalizing cities are planned and managed.

The Geopolitics of Neighbourhood: Jerusalem’s Colonial Space Revisited

This article will focus on an ongoing process of Jerusalem’s contested urban space during the last decade namely the immigration of Palestinians, mostly Israeli citizens, to “satellite neighbourhoods”, i.e. Jerusalem’s colonial neighbourhoods that were constructed after 1967. Theoretically, this paper attempts to discuss neighbourhood planning in contested cities within the framework of geopolitics. In more details, we will focus on the relevance of geopolitics to the study of neighbourhood planning, by which we mean not merely a discussion of international relations and conflict or of the roles of military acts and wars in producing space. Rather, geopolitics refers to the emergence of discourses and forces connected with the technologies of control, patterns of internal migrations by individuals and communities, and the flow of cultures and capital.

Jerusalem: from a 'divided' to a 'contested' city--and next to a neo-apartheid city?

‘We, the sons and daughters of this land, are opening our doors, walking out into the streets and taking up positions in town plazas to declare: We are here. We are here to oppose evil, hatred and violence. We are here to turn the light on. We are here to turn walls into bridges. To replace destruction with creativity [ . . . ] We are here, armed with a love of humanity and tolerance to fight for the home we love so much. We are here because we believe in the good that is in God, in humanity and in the earth [ . . . ] We are here because we have been silent for too long, and will now shout out the voice of hope. We are here.’

MULTICULTURALISM, NATIONALISM, AND THE POLITICS OF THE ISRAELI CITY

One of the central issues in the study of urban politics today is the fact that many cities have become multicultural arenas. The liberal viewpoint stresses the potential of the city—unlike other spaces—to offer many and equal opportunities for all residents regardless of religion, gender, or ethnic affiliation, but the critical body of knowledge highlights the ways in which the city, although apparently released from the shackles of nation- and state-building projects, continues to reproduce existing power structures and is a stratifying place, maintaining patterns of discrimination, exclusion, and segregation. This tension between the city as an enabling space versus the city as a reinforcer of socionational stratification is at the center of this article.

‘Culture Capital for All’? Cultural Diversity Policy in Tel Aviv and its Limits

This article critically analyses cultural diversity policy in Tel Aviv–Jaffa in relation to non-Jewish labour migrant communities and to Palestinian citizens of Israel residing in Jaffa. It focuses on recent incorporation of cultural diversity into city policy in its ‘City Vision’ and ‘Global City’ initiatives and in three specific areas (festivities, libraries and museum of city history). The article argues that despite the introduction and initial institutionalization of cultural diversity in Tel Aviv, there are unresolved contradictions when city policies encounter the ethnocratic boundaries set by Israels policies.