Sociospatial practices in contemporary urban Palestine: a probe into the everyday

Contemporary architectural practice relies almost ubiquitously on the dichotomy public-private. These spatial domains are used as self-evident and are assumed to have the same meaning everywhere. However, in non-European contexts especially, empirical observations suggest that these categories do not suffice to encompass space as practiced and constructed by diverse socio-cultural contexts. There is thus often a “clash resulting from imported ideas and associated regulations (dictated by the central government on the local level), with embedded deep rooted customs” (Hakim, 2014, p. 123). This clash emerges with particular strength in (post-)colonial contexts, where governing tools and practices were strongly influenced -or even abruptly replaced- by foreign powers. Some studies in recent years started to tackle the gap between, on the one hand, domains as socially constructed and, on the other, as codified by institutions. Although still limited and case-based, the rising debate around spatial domains recognises this issue as central to the capability of achieving spaces able to support and appropriately respond to the local habitus. However, many studies fall short of consistently conceptualising how patterns of domains spatialise, what their structure is, and how they manifest in the built environment. Taking the case of urban Palestine, this doctoral research investigates how local communities interact with their space of the everyday, creating complex and stratified patterns of realms characterised by different levels of privacy, accessibility and inclusiveness. The resulting structure, however, does not include a ‘public’ domain. Thus we observe the inability of institutional tools to incorporate spatial domains as constructed by the local practice. This might very well be the main reason underlying the underperforming and dissatisfactory character of many, especially ‘public’, spaces in contemporary urban Palestine. This dissertation asks what kind of spatial domains are produced by the everyday practices on the ground? How are these structures produced, and how do they interrelate with the built space? Finally: does a ‘public’ domain exist on the ground? If so, in what terms? Should this category be reframed? These issues are addressed through grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 1990; Soulliere et al., 2001) based on empirical observations in four micro-cases in the suburbs of Ramallah/Al-Bireh. The cases exemplify socio-spatial frameworks that characterise contemporary urban Palestine and the Middle East: a refugee camp based on socio-spatial mechanisms close to traditional practices, a camp outpour, a residential suburb developed under the push of the internal migration from villages, an urban sprawl developing in the gaps left by conflicting authorities. The research methodology combines the empirical approach with historical analysis to provide more ground to understand the longstanding processes at the origins of phenomena observed. Field observations rely on the combined use of tools from the architectural and anthropological fields to analyse permanent and ephemeral everyday performances in their living environment, including building practices. This research aims to provide a tentative methodology for understanding, mapping and eventually visualising spatial domains resulting from daily practices, offering a preliminary step necessary for reconsidering and reforming the codification of spatial realms at the institutional and governmental level.