II DeclarationI, hereby declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this doctoral dissertation. Dortmund, GermanyApril 10, 2014Ahmad El-Atrash III Dedication To my dear parents; Jihad and Amin & to my one and only love; Mona IV AcknowledgmentsI owe a special debt of gratitude to my doctoral research supervisors. First, Prof. Christa Reicher, who curated my research from the very beginning, help shaping the research idea, guide writing the research proposal, carefully watching my research progress, and taking care of whatever needed to enable the perfect working environment. I wholeheartedly thank her for the continuous support and advice; without her this research would never has been accomplished. Second, Prof. Michael Wegener, who provided the cogent advice needed to better anchor and ground my research through his critical reviews of my earlier manuscript, and through the living discussion that we had together during the many held consultation meetings. His astute and prudent way of thinking has positively impacted me in so many ways, and this will definitely stay forever with me. Also, I would like to acknowledge Dr. Lubna Shaheen, who first nominated and supported me to pursue my doctoral research at the Faculty of Spatial Planning in TU-Dortmund University, and as well she has co-supervised my research and provided valuable insights.I have had the pleasure to work with engaged and enthusiastic fellow researchers and colleagues, who have helped me so ably to hone my research interest to better plan for the future of Palestine within the prevailing geo-political context. Among whom several need to be acknowledged. Dr. Jad Isaac, Director General of the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ), where he provided all the support needed to spend fruitful three-months of a research internship within the ambit of my doctoral research. In this undertaking, a special acknowledgment is due to the experts at the GIS Department of ARIJ, especially its Director, Mr. Isaa Zboun and one of its cartographers, Mr. Elia Khalilieh, for their technical contribution and assistance in producing the maps and checking many of the secondary calculations provided in this dissertation. It bears mentioning that the bulk of the maps used in this dissertation have been prepared at the bequest of ARIJ and designed by its cartographers based on the author's specific request, nevertheless the maps do not necessarily reflect ARIJ's views.Likewise, I would like to acknowledge the planning experts and decision-makers from the policy community of Bethlehem who have cooperated with me during my field work visits.I would like to thank all the colleagues at the Department of Urban Design and Land Use Planning for making my PhD journey such a memorable and pleasant one.A special thank you goes to Dr. Viktoria Waltz, Ms. Claudia Becker, and Ms. Ilka Mecklenbrauck for their help in translating the abstract of this dissertation into German language.Last but not least, I would like to ...

The urban development and rapid urbanization that the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip have recently encountered have adversely affected the quality and availability of open spaces inside the Palestinian urban and rural areas. Public spaces are fundamental in the lives of any community striving to achieve a sustainable and inclusive environment and improve the quality of life of its inhabitants. In that respect, the prevailing planning practices fall short in terms of adequately addressing the provision of public spaces. Laws and regulations are designed to focus on limited physical properties of buildings (e.g. building design, elevation, heights, setbacks, parking, etc.,) with little or no attention to the residual space, inevitably, created between those blocks. Lands are chiefly privately owned, and considered of a very high value due to the artificial land scarcity phenomenon resulted from the geo-political classification of the West Bank Existing public spaces are not welcoming to the general public. Spaces are misplaced and scattered, they offer pre-defined activities and an inflexible environment. Many parts of the society feel alienated to such public spaces, created by a top-down process with minimal integration of their needs and aspirations.

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