Improving the Municipal Services in Nablus city: Exploring the Municipal Administration's Role in Reshaping the Urban Space

Faisal Yousef  Sabah; Sana’a Khaled  Ghazal; Mohammad Abdallah  Burqan

doi:10.35516/hum.v50i5.6210

Authors

Faisal Yousef Sabah Department of Geographic Information Systems, The Arab American University, Jenin, Palestine. https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7211-4157
Sana’a Khaled Ghazal Craft Complexes Directory, Palestinian Industrial Estates and Free Zones Authority, Ramallah, Palestine. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6786-575X
Mohammad Abdallah Burqan Department of Security Geographic Information Systems, Intermediate College for Security Studies, AL-Istiqlal University, Jericho, Palestine https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5358-499X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35516/hum.v50i5.6210

Keywords:

Urban space, structural plan, Nablus city, sustainable urban development, urban management

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the capacity of Nablus city`s urban administration to reconfigure its urban space, by revealing the extent to which the structural plans are implemented on the land as intended and in a way that results in sustainable urban development.

Methods: The comparative approach was used, the study was conducted on the structural plan approved in 1996 and 2013 and compared with aerial photographs taken in 2011 and 2018, and three sectors were used for analysis and comparison: infrastructure (roads), public services (schools), and tourism and recreation (parks and green spaces).

Results: The results showed concluded that successive administrations of Nablus city have failed to remodel the urban space since 1996. Only 45.8% of the proposed road network was built for the years of the first structure plan 1996-2012 and that 58.1% of the area destined for parks and green areas had been converted to other use. The analysis revealed that 83.6% of schools were built outside public service spaces, according to the 1996 and 2013 plans, and the green area decreased between 2013 and 2018 by an amount of 64,047 m², which corresponds to 32.8% of the total area, according to the 2013 plan.

Conclusions: The study recommends reconsidering the fundamentals of drafting structural plans and supervising their implementation, and the need for municipal authorities to act more forcefully on green degradation.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Biswas, R., Jana, A., Arya, K., & Ramamritham, K. (2019). A good-governance framework for urban management. Journal of Urban Management, 8(2), 225-236.

Chakrabarty, B. K. (1998). Urban management and optimizing urban development models. Habitat International, 22(4), 503-522.

Dijk, M. P. (2006). Managing cities in developing countries, the theory and practice of urban management.

Engin, Z., van Dijk, J., Lan, T., Longley, P. A., Treleaven, P., Batty, M., & Penn, A. (2020). Data-driven urban management: Mapping the landscape. Journal of Urban Management, 9(2), 140-150.

Jenkins, P. (2000). Urban management, urban poverty and urban governance: planning and land management in Maputo. Environment and Urbanization, 12(1), 137-152.

Ranchod, R. (2020). The data-technology nexus in South African secondary cities: The challenges to smart governance. Urban Studies, 57(16), 3281-3298.

Sakurai, K., Kobayashi, S., & Takahashi, T. (2013). An important perspective on urban management: The application of material flow balance model to the past recycling society in Japan. Journal of Urban Management, 2(1), 49-66.

Shekhar, S. (2020). Effective management of slums-Case study of Kalaburagi city, Karnataka, India. Journal of Urban management, 9(1), 35-53.

Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton, R. A. (2010). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51–59.