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One Land Two Systems
Both the past and the future can be constructed or destroyed - literally, through what we choose to build, protect and create in the physical world. No more so than in the Middle East, where the Israeli and Palestinian conflict is acted out through the architecture and physical planning of the land. Behind the seemingly down-to-earth work of Israeli spatial planners lies a reality, which is actively reshaping the land into a divided state. While for Israeli towns and villages a future is constructed, the so-called 'unrecognised' Palestinian villages remain blank areas on planners' drawings, or are literally wiped off the map. A territorial battle is now being fought with the spatial planners' tools. One Land Two Systems aims to make visible the reality of this 'state of apartheid' in Israeli architecture and planning. The project includes photography exhibitions and public debates, plus an architectural competition to design alternative planning solutions. Together, these activities will expose deeply cultural (and ideological) assumptions about the way we plan and design our own, and other people's, life-worlds. They have a very real sense of urgency - not just in the face of current developments, such as the construction of the Wall in occupied Palestinian territory, but also given the demolition orders for parts of Palestinian villages that are given out on regular basis by Israeli regional planners. It is this often 'invisible' or 'unrecognised' reality of architecture and planning practices that the project sets out to expose. Israeli planning is an extreme example of a more general condition that can be found worldwide. Conflicting territorial claims (for example, for economical and environmental causes) are a fact of modern life. Text by Michiel Schwarz
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