Critique and Progress: Production of Knowledge and the Planning of Bedouin Settlements in Israel

Abstract

The paper contributes to a critique of Israeli Critical Planning Studies (CPS). Critical scholars conceptualize Israeli planning as colonial, aspiring to dispossess Bedouin indigenous people without implementing participation or considering cultural needs. By studying current plans and interviewing planners and senior officials, the paper shows that planning has progressed dramatically during recent decades. The article continues with positioning the critique within the political context it originated from. It concludes with a Lefebvrian–Gramscian analysis of the place of critical scholars within the political production of space and the way this affects CPS.