The geo-biographies of spatial knowledge: regional planning from Israel to Sierra Leone and back

Haim Yacobi, Chen Misgav

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article examines the flow of spatial knowledge in different locations and territorial scales, focusing on the geographies of regional planning and its transplantation in the work of two Israeli planners, Arie and Ursula Oelsner. We argue that too often, researchers focus on the movement of spatial knowledge from Western countries to developing countries. We shed light on alternative ways in which this traffic follows different models, that are related to specific political and national constellations. Based on historical study and a thick description of two projects in Israel and Africa planned by these two Israeli planners, we show that spatial knowledge is not only the generator of discourse and of the professional community partaking in it, but also traverses space, crossing national borders and geographies. This dynamic, we suggest, has a politics of its own, as part of its movement and development within the global space, particularly in the movement between first and third worlds.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1383-1401
Number of pages19
JournalGeo Journal
Volume84
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2019

Keywords

  • Geo-biographies
  • Israeli planning
  • Regional planning
  • Spatial knowledge

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development

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