Urban Planning and Land-Use Management in Jerusalem – Chronological Analysis: Urban Perspectives in Contested Cities

Abstract

Polarized spaces and divided cities present a set of fast-changing urban policies and control powers. Of its tense history of complex spatial planning and land-use management, Jerusalem is not an exception. In less than 50 years, 1917–1967, Jerusalem was controlled by four variant regimes. The Ottoman Rule, the British Mandate, the Jordanian Control, and the Israeli Occupation respectively. In that sense, Jerusalem is considered a unique spatial entity in terms of its historical and physical development. This chapter explores the evolution of urban planning and land-use management in Jerusalem for these administrative authorities, underlining its impact on the city population and urban growth. During these subsequent administrative transformations, Jerusalem has witnessed quick and variant planning paradigms, and questionable development patterns, that produced numerous socio-spatial challenges. Principally, the altered composition of the population, as well as the paradoxical urban fabric of the city. Indeed, the successive authorities in Jerusalem, ending with the Israeli occupation of the eastern part of the city, have created a maze of wide-ranging rules and regulations, making the planning system complex, spatially unsustainable, and eventually in many ways, intensifying urban conflicts.