Towards Urban Geopolitics of Encounter: Spatial Mixing in Contested Jerusalem

Marik Shtern, Jonathan Rokem

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The extent to which ‘geographies of encounter’ facilitate tolerance of diversity and difference has long been a source of debate in urban studies and human geography scholarship. However, to date this contestation has focused primarily on hyper-diverse cities in the global north-west. Adapting this debate to the volatile conditions of the nationally-contested city, this paper explores intergroup encounters between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem. The paper suggests that in the context of hyper-polarisation of the nationally-contested urban space, the study of encounter should focus on macro-scale structural forces. In Jerusalem, we stress the role of ethnonationality and neoliberalism as key producers of its asymmetric and volatile yet highly resilient geography of intergroup encounters. In broader sense, as many cities worldwide experience a resurgence of ethnonationalism, illuminating the structural production of encounter may demarcate a broader function for reading contemporary urban geopolitics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1710-1734
Number of pages25
JournalGeopolitics
Volume28
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2023
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Political Science and International Relations

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