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Urban Sprawl in Palestinian Occupied Territories

This article seeks to better understand the often overlooked magnitude of sprawl in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and explore the conditions that might make it possible to focus planning on this more conventional issue (rather than security per se), in order to reframe thinking about occupation and spatial policy in Palestine-Israel. The exploration of these conditions encompasses three perspectives: (1) a human habitation perspective where Palestinian cities, towns, and refugee camps are overcrowded and undersupplied with basic urban infrastructure and dignified human habitation; (2) a mobility perspective involving the flow of goods and people between farmlands and towns, towns and cities, and between Palestine (West Bank and Gaza) and the outside world; and (3) a natural environment perspective, since the situation with regard to the supply of water, disposal of waste, consumption of energy, protection of sensitive land, and access to outdoor recreation can be characterized as essential. The article concludes that smart growth or managed development could help begin a planning dialogue that ultimately might open the way towards thinking seriously about addressing the needs of a rapidly growing population while also limiting sprawl, minimizing conflict over land-use, making land available for urban development on an ecologically meaningful basis and, finally, designing infrastructure for future Palestinian economic development that is just and equitable.