The Contested Urbanism Research Project was hosted (April 2015- March 2017) at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL). I headed up an interdisciplinary international research team devising and implementing advanced computational spatial analysis, integrating this with ethnographic research within a mixed methods comparative framework. Based on fieldwork visits to Sweden and Israel, the project investigated the role of political, spatial and social factors in shaping segregation and mobility across two contrasting national contexts.
The analytical advances of the research involved the creation of a complete spatial model of each city, using space syntax (a graph-based mathematical method of network analysis) to analyse its spatial and social divisions; between areas that are considered central or peripheral, economically successful or degenerated, integrated or segregated; and also between social groups that differ by their social-economic status, ethnicity, race or religion, which in turn correspond to their location in urban space. In our analysis of this model we chose to focus on how transport and mobility relate to residential settlement patterns.
The analysis assessed how urban segregation is shaped and transformed by Jerusalem and Stockholm’s transport networks, hypothesising that segregation (and integration) are shaped by a combination of physical mobility, spatial accessiblity and the potential mobility and accessibility create for cross-group encounters. Exploring public transport infrastructures, considering how their implementation reflects the variety of ways that transport can have impact: segmenting populations, linking populations and/or creating spaces for interaction or conflict between populations was key to this approach. The findings suggest that segregation should be understood as an issue of mobility and co-presence in public space, rather than the static residential-based segregation that continues to be a central focus of debate in most urban studies and planning literature.
The project has produced several significant academic publications in leading scientific academic outlets far beyond the original DoA objectives and forecasts – see list of published and accepted publications as follows:
Rokem, J. and Vaughan, L. (2017). Segregation, Mobility and Encounters in Jerusalem: The Role of Public Transport Infrastructure in Connecting the ‘Divided City’, Urban Studies,
https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017691465(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)Rokem, J. and Boano, C. Eds. (In Press, Forthcoming July 2017). Urban Geopolitics: Rethinking Planning in Contested Cities, Routledge, London and New York, ISBN: 978-1-138-96266-8.
Rokem, J. and Vaughan L. (Forthcoming 2018) “Jerusalem” Entry, The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies
Rokem, J. Fregonese, S. Ramadan, A. Pascucci, E. Rosen, G. Charney, I. Paasche, F.T. and Sidaway, D.J. (2017) Interventions in Urban Geopolitics. Political Geography,
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.04.004(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)
