Rawabi is the first planned city in the West Bank built for Palestinians. It is 9 kilometers outside Ramallah and 20km from Jerusalem, built on a hill that was an olive grove until a few years ago. Intended to become an independent city with all modern amenities, as well as an open air mall selling luxurious western brands, a giant amphitheater, a 7D cinema and a museum, it is designed to house 25,000 people in it’s first phase of development. Rawabi has received huge attention, both...
more »Rawabi is the first planned city in the West Bank built for Palestinians. It is 9 kilometers outside Ramallah and 20km from Jerusalem, built on a hill that was an olive grove until a few years ago. Intended to become an independent city with all modern amenities, as well as an open air mall selling luxurious western brands, a giant amphitheater, a 7D cinema and a museum, it is designed to house 25,000 people in it’s first phase of development. Rawabi has received huge attention, both from the international and local media. It has been greeted with both enthusiasm and indignation by the Palestinian people.
In any other country, Rawabi would be one more real estate project, or another gated community; but in Palestine, its symbolic and political impact goes far beyond the normal business enterprise.
It's urban structure, shaped in concentric circles around the lines of the hill, like a fortress, is reminiscent of the illegal Israeli settlements that are scattered throughout the West Bank.
It echoes the Renaissance utopia of the “Ideal City”, aspiring to human and architectural perfection, Rawabi's urban model seems to embrace the qualities of “good citizenship” expected for the future State of Palestine: since the Oslo Agreement, the Palestinian political elite have promoted a liberal economic policy, believing that it would naturally lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. Rawabi utopia is a spectacular illustration of the neo-liberal Palestine dream.
The way of life and the cultural model that Rawabi is selling strongly refers to western imagery, glamorizing a sense of modernity, civilization and progress, in radical opposition to the middle eastern tradition. After several decades of political resistance to the occupation, the idea of creating a prosperous and modern city, disconnected from the local realities is a political switch: Masri makes it clear “We will live like normal people, until the situation is normal”.
However, given the context of the Israeli occupation, this is a highly risky commercial project. The development has been on the threshold of bankruptcy even before the first residents started to move in. Like all Palestinian cities, Rawabi depends on the permission of Israeli authorities for the construction of roads, or water connection: the project was delayed by two years as the water permits were delayed, and consequently potential buyers pulled out.
No one can tell what Rawabi will look like in the future: a high-tech and crowded modern Palestinian city, or an empty shell, like some western suburbs built in Europe during the 70's...
Birth of a Utopia is the result of several visits from 2012 from the city's genesis, the construction to the arrival of the first residents. The series alternates between images of the city's streets with their inhabitants, photos of promotional posters, and staged scenes of Rawabi's inhabitants in their home, where they recreate a plausible scene of their daily life.
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