The Politics of Landscape (Re)Production

Abstract

This paper examines landscape production as embedded in design and planning procedures and based on spatial knowledge of landscape architecture. It investigates Haifa’s landscape production in the contexts of colonialism and nationalism, focusing on planning mechanisms, design strategies, and political tactics utilized to create the cityscape. Contrary to the common perception of landscape as a passive and aesthetic cultural product, the landscape examined here has been carefully premeditated and planned. It is created and recreated by professionals—landscape architects, architects, and planners—and empowered by politicians and administrators in an effort to construct the city’s image and identity. The case of Haifa demonstrates the major role played by landscape in the sociocultural formation of the city, as a continuous agent of form and productive knowledge, and as an efficient tool for integrating official strategies, ideologies, and values into spatial conditions.