Suchergebnisse

1. The spatial dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over Jerusalem -- 2. The occupied city : planning the occupation of East Jerusalem -- 3. The illegal city : urban policies for Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem -- 4. The locked city : the separation barrier as territorial strategy -- 5. The lesson of Jerusalem.

Shaping Jerusalem: Spatial planning, politics and the conflict focuses on a hidden facet of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the relentless reshaping of the Holy City by the Israeli authorities through urban policies, spatial plans, infrastructural and architectural projects, land use and building regulations. From a political point of view, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may appear to be at an impasse; however, it is precisely by looking at the city's physical space that one can perceive that a war of cement and stone is under way. Many books have been written on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over Jerusalem; some of them have focused on the urban fabric; Shaping Jerusalem uniquely discusses the role of Israeli spatial actions within the conflict. It argues that Israel's main political objective - control over the whole city - is ordinarily and silently pursued through physical devices which permanently modify the territory and the urban fabric. Relying on strong empirical evidence and data through the analysis of statistical data, official policies, urban projects, and laws, author Francesco Chiodelli substantiates the political discussion with facts and figures about the current territorial situation of the city, and about the Israeli policies implemented in the city in the past six decades.

AbstractThis article deals with housing illegality/informality in Italy, where it represents an established aspect of urban development. It presents a case study focused on Desio, a town close to Milan in northern Italy. Here housing illegality occurs by virtue of the well‐established presence of a mafia‐type criminal organization (the 'Ndrangheta). Three examples of illegal construction in Desio are analysed, forming the basis for a discussion on the distinctive features of illegal house‐building in Italy. In particular, institutional incentives encouraging illegal housing are investigated, with reference to both formal institutions (e.g. planning laws, rules preventing unauthorized housing and building amnesties) and informal institutions (e.g. organized crime). The case of illegal housing in Italy contributes significantly to the wider international debate on urban informality, highlighting the critical need for research along avenues as yet only partially explored (e.g. informal housing in Western countries and the role of criminal activities and actors in the spread of informality) and challenging some common assumptions such as the geographical dualism ('global North' versus 'global South') which, implicitly, results from the international literature.

AbstractThis paper conducts a review of the main housing policies for informal settlements and the poor in the so‐called Global South promoted by the main international agencies (such as the World Bank and UN‐Habitat) since the 1950s. The international literature on the topic usually recognises successive 'seasons' of these policies (aided self‐help and enablement). While this periodisation is certainly useful, a more comprehensive analysis can be provided by complementing it with an in‐depth, non‐diachronic scrutiny of the ingredients that compose the different policies proposed and implemented in these 'seasons'. In this paper, these policies are therefore dissected according to substantive components (physical goods, regulations, financing), procedural features (top‐down versus bottom‐up approach; project‐by‐project versus comprehensive approach) and beneficiaries (tenants versus homeowners; existing settlements versus new settlements). On the basis of this analysis, we can identify the main evolutionary trajectories of these policies over six decades. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The paper focuses on the concept of technical rules (according to an Aristotelian interpretation, that is to say as propositions that express a necessity: if you want x, you must do y). The thesis argued is that this concept is helpful in coping with some of the problems of both teleological and deontological planning theories. In particular the concept is useful in emphasizing the role of technical knowledge in planning and in 'solving the relationship' between planning and politics in a way consistent with the characteristics of liberal and pluralist democracies.

AbstractDeprivation-based squatting is one of the several forms of urban squatting that academic debate has identified in Western countries. However, scholars have usually neglected this form of squatting focusing their analysis mainly on politically-oriented occupations promoted by urban social movements. Moreover, when analyzed, deprivation-based squatting has been depicted essentially as an adaptive and apolitical strategy of urban subalterns. This paper intends to enrich the academic debate on complex meanings of deprivation-based squatting through analyzing the case of occupations in the rione De Gasperi, a public housing neighborhood in eastern Naples (Italy). This is a peculiar case of deprivation-based squatting that we call individualistic squatting, whose main features are analyzed and its inherent political character is stressed. Such analysis aims to contribute to the academic debate on urban squatting through overcoming the traditional binary logic of political squatting versus non-political squatting. La pratica dell'occupazione abitativa per necessità è una delle molteplici forme dello squatting urbano nei paesi occidentali. Il dibattito accademico ha spesso ignorato questa forma di squatting, focalizzandosi invece sui casi di occupazione di matrice politica promossi dai movimenti sociali urbani. Tradizionalmente considerato uno strumento impiegato dalle fasce più deboli della popolazione, lo squatting per necessità abitativa è stato di conseguenza frettolosamente dipinto come la strategia adattiva e apolitica dei gruppi subalterni. Questo saggio intende arricchire la discussione accademica sui significati complessi delle occupazioni abitative per necessità, analizzando il caso delle occupazioni abusive in un quartiere di edilizia popolare a Napoli, il rione De Gasperi. Il fenomeno indagato emerge come una forma specifica di squatting per necessità che definiamo come squatting individualistico, le cui cause e ragioni sono investigate nel presente saggio, e il cui carattere intrinsecamente politico ...

This article investigates residential segregation at the intraurban level of migrants in two Italian cities, Rome and Milan, considering religion as a point of reference in light of its pivotal role in terms of identity references for many migrants. The article focuses in particular on Muslim migrants—due to both the magnitude of their presence and complex issues related to their settlement in Italian cities. The analysis shows a low level of intraurban residential segregation of Muslim migrants in both cities, with some relevant differences related to national subgroups (e.g., a higher concentration for people coming from Bangladesh and Pakistan), so that religion seems not yet to be a main driver of residential choice for Muslim migrants. In light of both the low level of segregation of Muslim migrants and some features of Italian urban policies on migration and religion, we argue that residential concentration can currently play a beneficial role in terms of the insertion of migrants in Italian cities and fulfillment of some of their needs (e.g., availability of minority places of worship).