Since 2007, IPCC has been working to sustain and empower Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem through urban planning. Our work aims to:
- Support urban planning and social empowerment of Palestinian neighbourhoods, seeking to save buildings without permits from demolition.
- Increase building density and percentages, and provide expansion areas for built-up...
Since 2007, IPCC has been working to sustain and empower Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem through urban planning. Our work aims to:
- Support urban planning and social empowerment of Palestinian neighbourhoods, seeking to save buildings without permits from demolition.
- Increase building density and percentages, and provide expansion areas for built-up neighbourhoods.
- Provide housing solutions and allocate land for public space, community services and infrastructure.
- Improve living conditions, develop affordable housing solutions, reduce Palestinian emigration and empower Palestinian middle class families.
- Identify land for economic activities such as business zones, tourism, commercial and IT.
Planning Projects
Through three projects funded by the EU, the British Consulate General in Jerusalem and the Belgian government, IPCC is engaged in planning interventions in 18 neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem. The projects provide planning programmes and physical plans at outline and detailed levels. In total, IPCC has frozen the demolition orders for 5,000 residential units as well as enabling the potential for developing around 4,500 new residential units in East Jerusalem. IPCC also succeeded in getting approvals from the Municipality to open files for neighbourhoods and six files are currently open now. (Maybe describe what ‘opening a file’ means?)
IPCC Planning Team
The International Peace and Cooperation Center has created the first multidisciplinary Palestinian planning team to deal with strategic and urban planning consisting of urban planners, engineers, field surveyors, social workers and GIS specialists.
IPCC Accomplishments
IPCC’s main accomplishments are demonstrated by the approval that was granted to change the designation of five areas from “green” status (where building is prohibited) to development areas under the Jerusalem Masterplan, 2020. These areas include: Ein Al Loze (South East Jerusalem), Dir Al Amud and Al Mintar (South East Jerusalem), and Al Addasseh (North West Jerusalem), Khilet Elein (North East Jerusalem) and Sawahireh Gharbiyeh (North East Jerusalem). To date, a total of 7409 dunums of land in East Jerusalem have been planned and zoned through IPCC’s work. We have managed to freeze the demolition of 5,800 housing units as well as create a potential of development rounding to about 8,900 new residential units.
The plans have provided the legal and technical groundwork for a vast amount of development in East Jerusalem. In total, over 8,000 new housing units have been planned according to international standards, as well as new public infrastructure, services and facilities to meet the future demand. Once implemented, such development will go a long way to addressing East Jerusalem’s critical shortage of housing and public infrastructure, and will provide an enormous boost to the city’s economy.
Community Response
Community views on planning have drastically changed through our work, shifting from distrust to active participation. Palestinians continue to associate planning with the occupation (denial of permits, house demolitions and settlements) and therefore are highly suspicious of any planning activity. This is the first programme to promote planning as a tool with which to defend Palestinian rights in the city. Since 2007, hundreds of community members have attended awareness workshops, open days and meetings organised by IPCC. At least 8 communities from the planned neighbourhoods now have elected representative committees. Communities now understand the potential of planning to drive development much better and see the central role they can play in steering it.
