Planning for/against conflicts: Lessons from Palestine/Israel

The seminar will explore the role of urban planning in shaping, mediating, and potentially exacerbating territorial conflicts. Using the complex case of Palestine/Israel, it reflects on how planning can serve as a tool of control and as a means to foster resistance, negotiation, and coexistence.

Our two honorary guests Rami Nasrallah and Oren Yiftachel will lead two lectures in dialogue with Alessio Battistella (Politecnico di Milano), Elisa Giunchi (Università Statale di Milano) and Dena Qaddumi (LSE Middle East Centre).

Rami Nasrallah will discuss Statehood, Resilience, and the Challenge of Gaza Reconstruction.

The lecture will explore examples of community-led planning initiatives in Area C and East Jerusalem, highlighting the emergence of advocacy and de facto planning under restrictive political and institutional conditions. Scenarios for the reconstruction of Gaza will be presented, emphasizing the interplay between resilience, sovereignty, and community recovery. The session will conclude by discussing the implications of renewed international recognition of Palestine and presenting recent work on the Spatial Vision 2050 for the West Bank and Gaza Strip—an integrated framework aimed at restoring statehood and territorial cohesion toward the realization of “One Palestine.”

Oren Yiftachel will discuss The Political Geography of a Planning Apartheid: Shaping Spaces of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

The lecture analyzes the connections between Israel’s planning policies and various manifestations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the establishment of a ‘spatial apartheid’. It focuses on bordering, land, settlement, housing and digitalization policies, and Palestinian resistance as key factors in shaping the conflictual geography in the torn land. This is followed by a discussion of scenarios of future reconciliation.  

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Rami Nasrallah is an urban planner and the Founder and former Chairman of the International Peace and Cooperation Center (IPCC) in East Jerusalem. From 1999 to 2023, he led major strategic initiatives on urban rights, inclusive development, and spatial planning in collaboration with UN-Habitat, the EU, and international NGOs. He holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from TU Delft. Dr. Nasrallah is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Development Planning Unit of University College London.

Oren Yiftachel is the founder and chair of the Just City Lab, under the umbrella of the BGUrban Lab. He is currently an honorary professor at the Geography Department and the Bartlett DPU, University College London. Yiftachel is an activist in human rights and social justice organizations, including a founding board member of ‘Adva‘ (center for social equality); planner of the Regional Council of Unrecognized Bedouin Villages; and past Chair of ‘Btselem‘ – (monitoring human rights in the Occupied Palestinians Territories); he is a co-founder of the Palestinian-Israeli peace movement – ‘“A Land for All” Two States One Homeland’.