One factor common to both the Palestinian and Israeli people is their deep love for their holy land, yet the hatred they have for one another is destroying the very resources that make this city habitable. The Urban Oases project will implement common spaces that will create opportunities for the sharing and trade of national resources. These areas of interaction will educate both cultures about the benefits of tolerance and the beauty of biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variation of different life forms within a given ecosystem and is often viewed as an indicator of health in biological systems. The cycle of resources that occur in nature between different organisms is a perfect model for behavior between different cultures of the human race. The design recognizes the differences between different cultures and applies them in ways that benefit and strengthen the entire ecosystem. Each Urban Oasis applies universally sustainable methods to the local requirements of the individual sites. The Living Machines, central to each Oasis, take something as profane as human excrement and turn it into food and water, elements sacred to human life. This project takes the mundane process of wastewater treatment and uses it to create some exceptional spaces that will influence the future leaders of Jerusalem.
By the year 2050, Jerusalem will be known as a sustainable, international city, with a vernacular landscape designed to promote tolerance through education. There will no longer be any need for the wall that currently delineates the borders of the city. The city’s cultural diversity will work to strengthen the urban fabric instead of disintegrating it. Jerusalem will be an eclectic yet unified city that shares and protects its natural resources in order to ensure peace for future generations.
