The Life Jacket: the Development of Rural Jerusalem

The construction of the Israeli Separation Wall segregated and divided communities from their businesses, from their relatives and from their sacred and secular practices. In 2017, Riwaq adopted the “cluster” approach towards heritage works in Palestine. Instead of focusing on individual villages or towns, Riwaq proposed the clustering of several villages and towns to tackle them as one entity. While doing so, Riwaq acknowledges the significance of each village while recognizing the potential interdependency of these locales on each other in the interests of all communities. Working on rural Jerusalem cluster, this approach poses the question of what might happen if we dismantle borders and reconnect villages with each other and villages with towns across Palestine? In so doing, “clustering” becomes a concept, a vision, or a potential and medium for experimentation in the very contested and problematic field of space.