Open Gaza: Architectures of Hope

"The Gaza Strip is one of the most beleaguered envrionments on earth. Crammed into a space of 139 square miles (360 square kilometers), 1.8 million people live under an Israeli siege, enforcing conditions that continue to plummet to ever more unimaginable depths of degradation and despair. Gaza, however, is more than an endless encyclopedia of depressing statistics. It is also a place of fortitude, resistance, and imagination; a context in which inhabitants go to remarkable lengths to create the ordinaryconditions of the everyday and to reject their exceptional status. Inspired by Gaza's inhabitants, this book builds on the positive capabilities of Gazans. It brings together environmentalists, planners, activists, and scholars from Palestine and Israel,the US, the UK, India, and elsewhere to create hopeful interventions that imagine a better place for Gazans and Palestinians. Open Gaza engages the Gaza Strip within and beyond the logics of siege and warfare, it considers how life can be improved insidethe limitations imposed by the Israeli blockade, and outside the idiocy of violence and warfare"--
Cutting-edge analysis on how to improve life inside the Gaza Strip through architecture and design, illustrated in full-colorThe Gaza Strip is one of the most beleaguered environments on earth. Crammed into a space of 139 square miles (360 square kilometers), 1.8 million people live under an Israeli siege, enforcing conditions that continue to plummet to ever more unimaginable depths of degradation and despair. Gaza, however, is more than an endless encyclopedia of depressing statistics. It is also a place of fortitude, resistance, and imagination; a context in which inhabitants go to remarkable lengths to create the ordinary conditions of the everyday and to reject their exceptional status. Inspired by Gaza’s inhabitants, this book builds on the positive capabilities of Gazans. It brings together environmentalists, planners, activists, and scholars from Palestine and Israel, the US, the UK, India, and elsewhere to create hopeful interventions that imagine a better place for Gazans and Palestinians. Open Gaza engages the Gaza Strip within and beyond the logics of siege and warfare, it considers how life can be improved inside the limitations imposed by the Israeli blockade, and outside the idiocy of violence and warfare.Contributors AffiliationsSalem Al Qudwa, Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, USAHadeel Assali, Columbia University, USATareq Baconi, International Crisis Group, Brussels, BelgiumTeddy Cruz, University of California-San Diego, USAFonna Forman, University of California-San Diego, USAM. Christine Boyer, Princeton University, Princeton, USAAlberto Foyo, architect, New York, USANasser Golzari , Westminster University, London, UKYara Sharif, Westminster University, London, UKDenise Hoffman Brandt, City College of New York, USARomi Khosla, architect, New Delhi, IndiaCraig Konyk, Kean University, Union, NJ, USARafi Segal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA Chris Mackey, Payette Architects, Boston, USAVyjayanthi V. Rao, Terreform, New York, USASara Roy, Harvard University, Cambridge, USAMahdi Sabbagh, architect, New York, USAMeghan McAllister, architect, San Francisco Bay Area, USADeen Sharp, London School of Economics, UKMalkit Shoshan, Harvard University, Cambridge, USAPietro Stefanini, University of Edinburgh, ScotlandMichael Sorkin (1948–2020) , City University of New York, USAHelga Tawil-Souri, New York University, USAOmar Yousef, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem Fadi Shayya, The University of Manchester, UK