This episode is about planning in Palestine, and especially Gaza. As you all know, this is a podcast about Latin American Cities. However, right now it seems difficult to talk or think about anything other than the genocide unfolding in Palestine. Many of those of us who think critically about Latin American cities find so many connections between our histories and struggles and the settler-colonial project of Israel and its occupation of Palestine. This is particularly true when we reflect on the role of planning and architecture in cementing the occupation, dispossession and violence upon Palestinian people, and particularly Gazans. This is the focus of today’s episode.
To discuss this, Isabel Peñaranda Currie is joined by cohost Mekarem Eljamal and our two guests, Dana Erekat and Eyal Weizman.
Dana Erekat is a Palestinian architect and planner, with a BA in architecture from UC Berkeley and an Masters in City Planing from MIT. The list of positions she has held is as impressive at it is long. Among these, she has worked with the UNDP, with the World Bank, the Kenyon Institute, and more. From 2013-2012, she was Head of Aid Management and Coordination Directorate/ Special Advisor to the Minister at the Palestinian Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development, during which she led the technical committee for the 2014 Gaza Reconstruction plan. She is currently the CEO of the data analytic company Whyise.
Eyal Weizman is Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures and founding director of the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is perhaps most known as the founder and director of Forensic Architecture, a multidisciplinary research group based at Goldsmiths, University of London that uses architectural techniques and technologies to investigate cases of state violence and violations of human rights around the world.
[This episode of the Sur-Urbano podcast was published in December 2023 here.]