ISOCARP Case Info

- Effects of Drastic Changes in Living Environment: A Displaced Community

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Short Outline

The objectives of this study were to understand the implications of forced
transfer of a community to a different ecological environment, and assess
the effects of such an environmental change on the community's sociological
structure and on restructuring people’s cultural identity.

Abstract

Immigrants and displaced persons generally experience drastic changes in
their living environment. This is manifested in their necessity of moving
from their rural living environment to a high rise apartment building in
the city. Such changes were found to have a profound impact on families and
on the community. In 2005, the government of Israel decided to unilaterally
evacuate all Jewish settlements from the Gaza region. The objectives of
this study were to understand the implications of forced transfer of a
community to a different ecological environment, and assess the effects of
such an environmental change on the community's sociological structure and
on restructuring people[simplequote]s cultural identity.
Ingelhart (2000) refers to changes communities had undergone as a result of
cultural changes. He used the term ''cultural shifts'' to describe such
changes. Uprooting the inhabitants from their rural community and
transferring them to a high rise apartment building necessarily caused
restructuring of their cultural identity. At the studied evacuated
community, changes were noticed in the ecological environment that caused
significant changes in the community's social structure, as well as
restructuring changes in factors of family life, changes in community
factors and changes in religious and ideological identities. As a result,
collective elements that once united and strengthened the community's
social structure had dwindled, whereas individualistic elements that weaken
and disintegrate the social structure of the community became stronger.
This case in study might therefore serve as model for understanding the
significance of living in a communal settlement, the needs of such a
community and what happens when it is being disintegrated. . Insight
derived in this study was based on in depth interviews with evacuees and
with officials who were in touch with the community before and after
evacuation.

Keywords

Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2013: Frontiers of Planning - Evolving and declining models of city planning practice

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