Landscapes of Development: The Impact of Modernization Discourses on the Physical Environment of the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

This book examines the impact of development policies and politics on the physical environment of the Eastern Mediterranean, a region defined not as a rigid geographical area but rather as a larger cultural context. It presents nine essays examining formal manifestations of development, shedding the spotlight on urban and rural development schemes, housing projects, and agro-landscapes and dams, from Israel to Turkey, and from Greece to Syria. All these contributions are grounded in new scholarly research, employing a variety of critical tools that span the disciplines of architectural/landscape/planning history, anthropology, sociology, and geography, to situate built works within the larger sociopolitical context that influenced their design and/or implementation, and to reflect on their social, cultural, and environmental impact. Collectively, the essays offer a highly nuanced history of development, that exposes the entanglement of built interventions with national or transnational sociopolitical agendas and discourses of expertise.