Art of government and urban planning in East Jerusalem: relations between local initiatives and the municipal authorities during Nir Barkat's first mandate.

IGNACIO RULLANSKY

Boston

Conferencia; Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting; 2017

AAG

The aim of this paper is to introduce my latest findings within my PhD's research. More precisely, the objective is to explore the modalities through which the Municipality of Jerusalem carried out urban planning policies towards the city's Eastern region, according to the outlines of the Master Plan of 2000, since 2009 to 2013. In other words, this period involves Nir Barkat's first mandate as mayor of the city and the main policies that should be explored here concern the activities of coding and zoning the densification and expansion of the East Jerusalemite Palestinian neighborhoods.Moreover, it will be of importance to analyze the relation between the Municipality and the East Jerusalemite Palestinian population that dwells in East Jerusalem as permanent residents, in what regards local initiatives of planning. Besides, we will consider the role played by the "expert" urban planner activists and NGOs that participate in processes of developing local based outlines for specific neighborhoods in addition to providing legal counseling and support.Throughout my discussion, I will try to analyze which are the most characteristic features of these relationships and what conclusions can be drawn from them in terms of elucidating the art of government deployed by the political authorities (Foucault, 2009; Rose & Miller, 1992) and the aesthetic-political regime (Merleau-Ponty, 1957) that is construed. To conclude, the problem of the access and the right to the city are to be understood as major and underlying matters of concern in what regards the form democracy assumes.