Cultural interfaces : (in)visible spaces in the Old City of Jerusalem

Abstract

This thesis starts with the contemporary problematics of the famously contested place, Jerusalem, and tries to understand the impact of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians on the fabric of the Old City. The goal is to describe how the inhabitants of this contested place deal, everyday, with their physical environment and suggests that through that understanding one might locate a trajectory for co-habitation. In the Old City of Jerusalem, a group's presence in everyday life is asserted through a network of paths that makes public space visible to that group while making it invisible to another. The historic fabric has a density at the ground level that leaves no room for further reconfiguration of the public space where segregated Quarters interface. Thus, under the current conditions, the only option left to the residents is to move up to the roof level where the boundaries are still undefined. The interface outlined by the ancient Cardo-Decumanus crossing proves, through personal analysis, that segregation is not a functional option when dealing with the complexities of the Old City. The present political struggle, with its feeling of absolute possessiveness, is suffocating the fabric of the city - the unique setting that has provided a home to multiple cultural groups for centuries. Upon restoring the public spaces as connectors within the presently dissociated urban structure, it would be possible to enable the city's inhabitants and visitors to cross boundaries and re-integrate into the quotidian.