Space of Risk: The Contribution of Planning Policies to Conflicts in Cities, Lessons from Nazareth

Abstract

This article defines a new concept, ‘Space of risk’, as a lived space that has low levels of trust among different urban groups; where people feel vulnerable and defenseless against terrorizing, urban clashes and riots. Based on a qualitative study, the article examines this concept in the city of Nazareth, which has been in turmoil since the introduction of a plan for a plaza. The article concludes that the reasons that may strongly contribute to the production of spaces of risk are: lack of the right to the city for urban inhabitants; the hegemony of the state over the city through ‘ethnocratic’ urban policies; the hegemony of global forces and neo-liberal agendas over the locale; deficient local politics; absence of communicative planning procedures; and contradictions between planners conception of the place and the way inhabitants conceive and experience it in their daily life practices. As planning has the power of creating and triggering risks in cities, the article suggests some practical ways for planners to avoid the production of spaces of risk through new techniques of collaborative planning.

Keywords:

• Space of risk
• trust
• Nazareth
• planning theory

Acknowledgment

I am grateful to the Palestinian American Research Center (PARC), who fund this study.

Notes

1. It is important to mention that the presentation of quotations from the interviews preserves the privacy of the interviewees, and the article provides no hint about their personal identities for ethical and privacy reasons.