proposed population distribution trajectory if the policy we are suggesting is applied
a possible future Jerusalem: a fairly balanced distribution of population in the city
The expropriation and settlement policy in and around east Jerusalem reveals the intention to segregate Moslem and Christian concentration areas from one another within the municipal boundary of Jerusalem, and also to encircle them with a continuous wall of Jewish residential settlements within the limits of greater metropolitan Jerusalem boundaries, separating them from other Moslem and Christian villages and towns further east. Although the physical and administrative division of Jerusalem has been eliminated, a deeper and more complex division has been created. At this moment there are two physically distinct and isolated sectors in the city and if no genuine effort is done to rectify this isolation, there may be, and soon, three such sectors. One of the major causes of the persistence of the problem in Jerusalem is lack of communication, alienation and ignorance of the real other. Enhancing mutual recognition and familiarity is the basis of my proposal. Jerusalem is now layered horizontally and vertically, under the pretext of security. It needs new political and security concepts, not military but multi-dimensional security, based on common interests: economics, water, environment, education and freedom and right of existence for all. THE PROPOSAL The proposal identifies lines of intensity that seem to follow what used to be the actual 1967 wall and no man’s land. Expropriated land separating Jewish settlements from Moslems and Christians would not be allowed to develop as residential areas, but rather as areas for the activities that can bring people together. Usually in multi-ethnic societies, choice of residence is subjective and ethnic groups tend to create segregated residential communities. My proposal will avoid primarily residential
development. Some of the common interests mentioned earlier will determine the nature of the proposed development. To maximise the area of contact between the presently separate communities, this space is striated in a direction that can generate a field of attraction between the two communities, thus sucking into it people from both sides and engaging them in mutually beneficial activities. For example, the combination of commercial activity with a central major transportation node may restore the concentricity of the city in contrast with its present bipolarity. The virtual wall which now separates the Jewish settlements from Moslem and Christian ones needs to be transformed from a line to a space, a space in which the two communities are brought together through economic forces generated by environmentally conscious transportation and commercial nodes, that may include light industry, tourism and entertainment as well as shopping and office areas. Green space and separation of pedestrian and vehicular movement are major design considerations, aiming at developing a program that could generate future possibilities and new economic patterns. The program should aim at constructing spaces of movement, business and consumption that can induce total entrapment in the urban labyrinth. A main transportation node should be introduced in which public transportation system converges and radiates to all parts of Jerusalem. Cities in conflict are better managed by wisdom than by politics. C 1 Ir Shalem. ‘East Jerusalem - The Current Planning Situation. A Survey of Municipal Plans and Planning Policy. Jerusalem, 1998’. Jerusalem Issue of the Palestine-Israel Journal , Vol. VIII, No. 1, 2001 Jafar Tukan (jafar@wanadoo.jo) is an architect practicing in Jordan, the Middle East and North Africa. Born in Jerusalem, studied architecture at the American University of Beirut, he has won several international awards including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
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