Rehabilitation of stone quarries in Palestine : a tool for sustainable development in its geo-political context

Joint Authors

Kubala, Artemis
al-Jawlani, Nabil

Source

المؤتمر الدولي حول المدن الذكية : آفاق و حلول، 30-31 أغسطس 2016

Publisher

Islamic University of Gaza Faculty of Engineering

Publication Date

2016-08-31

Country of Publication

Palestine (Gaza Strip)

No. of Pages

10

Main Subjects

Engineering & Technology Sciences (Multidisciplinary)

English Abstract

This article debates the rehabilitation of exhausted stone quarries in Palestine, focusing on its embeddedness in the geo-political context and on the role it plays as a component of building a smart city.

While concentrating on the local context, attention is given to the connection with the political economy through notions of accumulation by dispossession, holding power, normalization and the specific context of occupation.

Unrehabilitated quarries contradict the main smart city development goals and possibilities : they pose hazardous effects to humans, animals and the environment.

Moreover, economic activities and employment opportunities are left out of sight – concepts that make the core values of creating a smart city.

Local municipalities, together with ministries and cooperative initiatives play an important role.

Data for this article is obtained from interviews with a wide range of stakeholders during a case study of stone quarries, factories and crushers, conducted during April and May 2015 in the central and southern part of the West Bank, mainly in the Bethlehem and Hebron districts.

These include the private sector (owners of quarries, factories and crushers, the Union of Stone and Marble, the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce and Industry, workers), the academic sector (Palestine Polytechnic University and Bethlehem University), the public sector (the Palestinian ministry of national economy, licensing manager at the ministry, ministry of environmental affairs, two municipalities), and the health sector (insight in the archives of a hospital).

Interviews were qualitative and half-open.

Apart from that a literature study provides the base for comparative elements with rehabilitation of quarries elsewhere.

Furthermore, the article touches upon quarry rehabilitation as urban recovery as a component of building sustainable communities – as a part of development of smart cities.

Data Type

Conference Papers

Record ID

BIM-775812

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