Nufar Avni
Biographic Data
| ID | 2285533 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nufar Avni |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nufar |
| FAMILY NAME | Avni |
| SIGNATURE | AVNI N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8317-808X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 110 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Local autonomy in motion
We examine a municipal initiative for weekend public transportation. • The initiative arose amid rising polarization between central and local government. • We trace the project by analyzing its justifications, driving forces and barriers. • Bottom-up forces and municipal activism spurred the emergence of the project. Over the past decades, municipalities worldwide have sought to enhance their local autonomy in order to advance a liberal and prog…
Residents’ expectations from the municipality in an age of urban-national polarisation
The global phenomenon of liberal cities opposing reactionary nation-states has garnered increasing attention in recent years, with cities such as Istanbul, Warsaw and Tel Aviv–Jaffa serving as prominent examples. While the existing literature has explored various elements of this trend, it has largely overlooked the perspectives of ordinary city dwellers on this process. This study explores city residents’ perceptions of the municipality’s role i…
Liberal cities in autocratizing states
This article explores the growing phenomenon of liberal cities operating within increasingly autocratizing national regimes. While tensions between cities and states are not new, recent developments in countries such as Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Israel, and the USA highlight a distinct and urgent dynamic: urban resistance in the face of democratic backsliding and autocratization. Drawing on emerging scholarship from urban studies, political scienc…
Filling the void
Scholars have explored arts and culture institutions from various perspectives, including gentrification, activism, and economic development. Studies have also demonstrated how arts and culture initiatives are often at the center of conflicts concerning a city's identity. In an ethno-nationally divided city, the already conflictual role of arts and culture is further exacerbated by national-level politics. However, so far academic literature has …
Mapping waterfront (re)developments in Southeast Asia
Waterfront (re)development projects have been prioritized by city officials around the world over the past several decades as a variety of public and private stakeholders increasingly compete for valuable coastal land. While academic research on waterfront redevelopments has expanded dramatically and examines the different motivations, types, stakeholders, and outcomes of these projects globally, English-language scholarship largely focuses on co…
Flexible compliance
Exploring real estate valuation practices in an informal market
Analysing a private city being built from scratch through a social and environmental justice framework
A growing body of scholarship examines new cities being built from scratch that are developed and governed by the private sector. While this scholarship explores discourse and rhetoric, economic objectives, and some social and environmental impacts of new private cities, scholars to date have not taken a social or environmental justice approach to analysing new city projects. In this article we examine Forest City, a private city project being bu…
Gendering gray space
This article examines the gendered ways in which women community leaders in East Jerusalem experience and navigate their urban environment. We draw on the concept of 'gray space' as a way to think through how Palestinian women's everyday lives are shaped by East Jerusalem as a liminal space. Gray space conveys the spectrum that stretches between categories of legality and illegality, formality and informality – either in housing, economy, or poli…
Seeing peace like a city
Violently contested cities are at the heart of ethnonational conflicts, and their final status is often a central issue for peace negotiations. These negotiations, typically led by national politicians and diplomats, include little, if any, representation of local voices, which are often fundamentally different from those of state-centric actors. This article integrates the seeing like a city theoretical approach with the literature on urban peac…
Cities fight for autonomy
In this commentary, I use the current protest movement in Israel as an entry point to discuss urban autonomy and social protest in an age of growing polarization between progressive cities and reactionary states. While the nationwide protest is not explicitly framed in urban versus national terms, it has a clear urban dimension. Tel-Aviv-Jaffa is not only the place where the protest movement is the strongest, but the municipality also leverages t…
The divergent logics of urban regeneration in Israel
In recent years, urban regeneration policy in Israel has relied largely on market-based mechanisms to deliver its goals, seemingly in keeping with neoliberal trends. Whereas, in previous decades, the construction and renovation of housing was facilitated primarily by state-run projects, current urban regeneration policy relies heavily on private actors – developers and homeowners – motivated by profit and the allocation of building rights. In thi…
Limited urban citizenship
Urban environments are often disputed over issues of class, gender, ethnicity, and race. Urban citizenship within such spaces has been found to be fragmented, or even ‘dark.’ This paper focuses on the role of an intermediary institution, the Community Council (CC), in the contested city of (East) Jerusalem. Building on in-depth interviews and site visits, we suggest that CCs implement a limited form of urban citizenship via a range of functions t…
Vertical informality
Between exclusionary nationalism and urban citizenship in East Jerusalem/ al-Quds
(Ad)dressing belonging in a contested space
Bridging equity? Washington, D.C.’s new elevated park as a test case for just planning
In the last decade, justice has been revived as a primary criterion for the analysis and evaluation of planning policies. This paper continues this line of research by examining a proposed redevelopment project in Washington, D.C. that sets equitable development as its goal . The proposed 11th Street Bridge Park would be a top-notch elevated park, physically and symbolically connecting D.C’s wealthy west with the disadvantaged east. The project i…
Social and Environmental Justice in Waterfront Redevelopment
Waterfront redevelopment projects have often been criticized for prioritizing attractive skylines and glittering facades over the needs of local communities. Recently, however, they have increasingly seen goals of social and environmental justice integrated into their vision statements. This article focuses on the redevelopment of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Since the early 2000s, the formerly neglected and contaminated river has been…
Negotiating Urban Redevelopment
This paper analyzes the redevelopment of a residential compound in Jerusalem from a justice perspective. It focuses on the role of the Neighborhood Council (NC) in negotiating representation and recognition of local residents in the planning process. Based on analysis of interviews, planning documents, focus group meetings, and court appeals, we argue that as a hybrid governance structure, which mediates between the residents and the municipality…
UniverCity
Research on studentification has unpacked the spatial, economic, and social impacts that are associated with the growing presence of students in cities. Nonetheless, considerably less attention has been paid to the broader regional and national contexts that shape studentification. Using the case study of Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, we argue that the studentification of the city should be understood within its context as the pe…
Religio-nationalism and ‘soft boundaries’
Recent scholarship on gated communities has challenged assumptions about the homogeneity of aesthetics and motivations for enclosure, emphasizing the place-bound origins and meanings attached to exclusionary development. It has also called for a conceptual shift in classifying gated communities from the ‘hard’ boundaries of a gate or wall to more ‘soft’ boundaries that achieve a similar outcome of limited or discouraged access. In this article, w…
So long, and thanks for all the fish?' Examining the built and cultural heritage of the Jaffa port redevelopment
‘Heritage’ is a term that is ambiguous in the best of circumstances; however, it becomes even more so in urban environments where conflicts of identity and culture are pivotal, as in Israel’s mixed Israeli-Palestinian cities. In this paper, I examine the recent redevelopment of the Jaffa port, Israel. Jaffa’s ancient port has had a significant role in facilitating industry, commerce and social ties in the area, and it has recently been remodelled…
City profile
Limited urban citizenship
Urban environments are often disputed over issues of class, gender, ethnicity, and race. Urban citizenship within such spaces has been found to be fragmented, or even ‘dark.’ This paper focuses on the role of an intermediary institution, the Community Council (CC), in the contested city of (East) Jerusalem. Building on in-depth interviews and site visits, we suggest that CCs implement a limited form of urban citizenship via a range of functions t…
(Ad)dressing belonging in a contested space
Negotiating Urban Redevelopment
This paper analyzes the redevelopment of a residential compound in Jerusalem from a justice perspective. It focuses on the role of the Neighborhood Council (NC) in negotiating representation and recognition of local residents in the planning process. Based on analysis of interviews, planning documents, focus group meetings, and court appeals, we argue that as a hybrid governance structure, which mediates between the residents and the municipality…
Religio-nationalism and ‘soft boundaries’
Recent scholarship on gated communities has challenged assumptions about the homogeneity of aesthetics and motivations for enclosure, emphasizing the place-bound origins and meanings attached to exclusionary development. It has also called for a conceptual shift in classifying gated communities from the ‘hard’ boundaries of a gate or wall to more ‘soft’ boundaries that achieve a similar outcome of limited or discouraged access. In this article, w…
City profile
Between exclusionary nationalism and urban citizenship in East Jerusalem/ al-Quds
Social and Environmental Justice in Waterfront Redevelopment
Waterfront redevelopment projects have often been criticized for prioritizing attractive skylines and glittering facades over the needs of local communities. Recently, however, they have increasingly seen goals of social and environmental justice integrated into their vision statements. This article focuses on the redevelopment of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Since the early 2000s, the formerly neglected and contaminated river has been…
UniverCity
Research on studentification has unpacked the spatial, economic, and social impacts that are associated with the growing presence of students in cities. Nonetheless, considerably less attention has been paid to the broader regional and national contexts that shape studentification. Using the case study of Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, we argue that the studentification of the city should be understood within its context as the pe…
Exploring real estate valuation practices in an informal market
Seeing peace like a city
Violently contested cities are at the heart of ethnonational conflicts, and their final status is often a central issue for peace negotiations. These negotiations, typically led by national politicians and diplomats, include little, if any, representation of local voices, which are often fundamentally different from those of state-centric actors. This article integrates the seeing like a city theoretical approach with the literature on urban peac…
The divergent logics of urban regeneration in Israel
In recent years, urban regeneration policy in Israel has relied largely on market-based mechanisms to deliver its goals, seemingly in keeping with neoliberal trends. Whereas, in previous decades, the construction and renovation of housing was facilitated primarily by state-run projects, current urban regeneration policy relies heavily on private actors – developers and homeowners – motivated by profit and the allocation of building rights. In thi…
Vertical informality
Cities fight for autonomy
In this commentary, I use the current protest movement in Israel as an entry point to discuss urban autonomy and social protest in an age of growing polarization between progressive cities and reactionary states. While the nationwide protest is not explicitly framed in urban versus national terms, it has a clear urban dimension. Tel-Aviv-Jaffa is not only the place where the protest movement is the strongest, but the municipality also leverages t…
So long, and thanks for all the fish?' Examining the built and cultural heritage of the Jaffa port redevelopment
‘Heritage’ is a term that is ambiguous in the best of circumstances; however, it becomes even more so in urban environments where conflicts of identity and culture are pivotal, as in Israel’s mixed Israeli-Palestinian cities. In this paper, I examine the recent redevelopment of the Jaffa port, Israel. Jaffa’s ancient port has had a significant role in facilitating industry, commerce and social ties in the area, and it has recently been remodelled…
Analysing a private city being built from scratch through a social and environmental justice framework
A growing body of scholarship examines new cities being built from scratch that are developed and governed by the private sector. While this scholarship explores discourse and rhetoric, economic objectives, and some social and environmental impacts of new private cities, scholars to date have not taken a social or environmental justice approach to analysing new city projects. In this article we examine Forest City, a private city project being bu…
Gendering gray space
This article examines the gendered ways in which women community leaders in East Jerusalem experience and navigate their urban environment. We draw on the concept of 'gray space' as a way to think through how Palestinian women's everyday lives are shaped by East Jerusalem as a liminal space. Gray space conveys the spectrum that stretches between categories of legality and illegality, formality and informality – either in housing, economy, or poli…
Residents’ expectations from the municipality in an age of urban-national polarisation
The global phenomenon of liberal cities opposing reactionary nation-states has garnered increasing attention in recent years, with cities such as Istanbul, Warsaw and Tel Aviv–Jaffa serving as prominent examples. While the existing literature has explored various elements of this trend, it has largely overlooked the perspectives of ordinary city dwellers on this process. This study explores city residents’ perceptions of the municipality’s role i…
City profile
So long, and thanks for all the fish?' Examining the built and cultural heritage of the Jaffa port redevelopment
‘Heritage’ is a term that is ambiguous in the best of circumstances; however, it becomes even more so in urban environments where conflicts of identity and culture are pivotal, as in Israel’s mixed Israeli-Palestinian cities. In this paper, I examine the recent redevelopment of the Jaffa port, Israel. Jaffa’s ancient port has had a significant role in facilitating industry, commerce and social ties in the area, and it has recently been remodelled…
UniverCity
Research on studentification has unpacked the spatial, economic, and social impacts that are associated with the growing presence of students in cities. Nonetheless, considerably less attention has been paid to the broader regional and national contexts that shape studentification. Using the case study of Ben–Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, we argue that the studentification of the city should be understood within its context as the pe…
Religio-nationalism and ‘soft boundaries’
Recent scholarship on gated communities has challenged assumptions about the homogeneity of aesthetics and motivations for enclosure, emphasizing the place-bound origins and meanings attached to exclusionary development. It has also called for a conceptual shift in classifying gated communities from the ‘hard’ boundaries of a gate or wall to more ‘soft’ boundaries that achieve a similar outcome of limited or discouraged access. In this article, w…
Bridging equity? Washington, D.C.’s new elevated park as a test case for just planning
In the last decade, justice has been revived as a primary criterion for the analysis and evaluation of planning policies. This paper continues this line of research by examining a proposed redevelopment project in Washington, D.C. that sets equitable development as its goal . The proposed 11th Street Bridge Park would be a top-notch elevated park, physically and symbolically connecting D.C’s wealthy west with the disadvantaged east. The project i…
Social and Environmental Justice in Waterfront Redevelopment
Waterfront redevelopment projects have often been criticized for prioritizing attractive skylines and glittering facades over the needs of local communities. Recently, however, they have increasingly seen goals of social and environmental justice integrated into their vision statements. This article focuses on the redevelopment of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Since the early 2000s, the formerly neglected and contaminated river has been…
Negotiating Urban Redevelopment
This paper analyzes the redevelopment of a residential compound in Jerusalem from a justice perspective. It focuses on the role of the Neighborhood Council (NC) in negotiating representation and recognition of local residents in the planning process. Based on analysis of interviews, planning documents, focus group meetings, and court appeals, we argue that as a hybrid governance structure, which mediates between the residents and the municipality…
(Ad)dressing belonging in a contested space
Limited urban citizenship
Urban environments are often disputed over issues of class, gender, ethnicity, and race. Urban citizenship within such spaces has been found to be fragmented, or even ‘dark.’ This paper focuses on the role of an intermediary institution, the Community Council (CC), in the contested city of (East) Jerusalem. Building on in-depth interviews and site visits, we suggest that CCs implement a limited form of urban citizenship via a range of functions t…
Vertical informality
Between exclusionary nationalism and urban citizenship in East Jerusalem/ al-Quds
The divergent logics of urban regeneration in Israel
In recent years, urban regeneration policy in Israel has relied largely on market-based mechanisms to deliver its goals, seemingly in keeping with neoliberal trends. Whereas, in previous decades, the construction and renovation of housing was facilitated primarily by state-run projects, current urban regeneration policy relies heavily on private actors – developers and homeowners – motivated by profit and the allocation of building rights. In thi…
Seeing peace like a city
Violently contested cities are at the heart of ethnonational conflicts, and their final status is often a central issue for peace negotiations. These negotiations, typically led by national politicians and diplomats, include little, if any, representation of local voices, which are often fundamentally different from those of state-centric actors. This article integrates the seeing like a city theoretical approach with the literature on urban peac…
Cities fight for autonomy
In this commentary, I use the current protest movement in Israel as an entry point to discuss urban autonomy and social protest in an age of growing polarization between progressive cities and reactionary states. While the nationwide protest is not explicitly framed in urban versus national terms, it has a clear urban dimension. Tel-Aviv-Jaffa is not only the place where the protest movement is the strongest, but the municipality also leverages t…
Flexible compliance
Exploring real estate valuation practices in an informal market
Analysing a private city being built from scratch through a social and environmental justice framework
A growing body of scholarship examines new cities being built from scratch that are developed and governed by the private sector. While this scholarship explores discourse and rhetoric, economic objectives, and some social and environmental impacts of new private cities, scholars to date have not taken a social or environmental justice approach to analysing new city projects. In this article we examine Forest City, a private city project being bu…
Gendering gray space
This article examines the gendered ways in which women community leaders in East Jerusalem experience and navigate their urban environment. We draw on the concept of 'gray space' as a way to think through how Palestinian women's everyday lives are shaped by East Jerusalem as a liminal space. Gray space conveys the spectrum that stretches between categories of legality and illegality, formality and informality – either in housing, economy, or poli…
Residents’ expectations from the municipality in an age of urban-national polarisation
The global phenomenon of liberal cities opposing reactionary nation-states has garnered increasing attention in recent years, with cities such as Istanbul, Warsaw and Tel Aviv–Jaffa serving as prominent examples. While the existing literature has explored various elements of this trend, it has largely overlooked the perspectives of ordinary city dwellers on this process. This study explores city residents’ perceptions of the municipality’s role i…
Liberal cities in autocratizing states
This article explores the growing phenomenon of liberal cities operating within increasingly autocratizing national regimes. While tensions between cities and states are not new, recent developments in countries such as Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Israel, and the USA highlight a distinct and urgent dynamic: urban resistance in the face of democratic backsliding and autocratization. Drawing on emerging scholarship from urban studies, political scienc…
Filling the void
Scholars have explored arts and culture institutions from various perspectives, including gentrification, activism, and economic development. Studies have also demonstrated how arts and culture initiatives are often at the center of conflicts concerning a city's identity. In an ethno-nationally divided city, the already conflictual role of arts and culture is further exacerbated by national-level politics. However, so far academic literature has …
Mapping waterfront (re)developments in Southeast Asia
Waterfront (re)development projects have been prioritized by city officials around the world over the past several decades as a variety of public and private stakeholders increasingly compete for valuable coastal land. While academic research on waterfront redevelopments has expanded dramatically and examines the different motivations, types, stakeholders, and outcomes of these projects globally, English-language scholarship largely focuses on co…
Local autonomy in motion
We examine a municipal initiative for weekend public transportation. • The initiative arose amid rising polarization between central and local government. • We trace the project by analyzing its justifications, driving forces and barriers. • Bottom-up forces and municipal activism spurred the emergence of the project. Over the past decades, municipalities worldwide have sought to enhance their local autonomy in order to advance a liberal and prog…
Political science (20 works) · Law (16 works) · Urban Planning and Governance (16 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Geography (10 works) · Economics (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Economic growth (7 works) · Public Administration (7 works)