 Political infrastructure and the politics of infrastructureAmina Nolte City, 2016, vol. 20, issue 3, 441-454 Abstract: Against the background of a highly conflictive urban situation, the paper focuses on the planning and implementation of the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR). Running from the west all the way to the east of the city, the JLR traverses and connects contested territory. While Palestinians and the international community consider East Jerusalem to be part of a future Palestinian state, Israel adheres to its claim to the whole city, a unified Jerusalem. It is to that end that the JLR was implemented and, as this paper argues, it can be seen as an important governance tool that not only serves the city’s citizens and residents alike, but also works towards consolidating the Israeli authorities’ claim to the whole city. Further, the paper discusses whether infrastructure is inherently political or if there is a ‘politics of infrastructure’ at stake in Jerusalem with regards to the JLR and its wider implications for the urban fabric. The paper suggests that much can be learned from major transport infrastructure in cities, not only for contested cities such as Jerusalem, but also ordinary cities, since infrastructure is always already part of the existing and emerging political power struggles in every city. Date: 2016 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:cityxx:v:20:y:2016:i:3:p:441-454 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2016.1169778 Access Statistics for this article City is currently edited by Bob Catterall More articles in City from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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