Squaring the Israeli nation: politics, poetics, and performances of dominance in Safra Square, Jerusalem

Safra Square in Jerusalem, designed around the historic British Town Hall and inaugurated in 1993, serves as a representational space that symbolizes Israeli dominance over a 'unified' Jerusalem post-1967 occupation. The square's design and spatial practices—marked by memorials, artifacts, and performative elements—reflect a narrative of political legitimacy through an intertwined mechanism of petrification (immobilizing history) and mundanization (normalizing control). Strategically located near the Green Line and Old City walls, Safra Square's visual and narrative dynamics reinforce Israeli administrative and military authority. The study analyzes these mechanisms to uncover how spatial design constructs dominance while legitimizing political control.

Janson, T., & Kärrholm, M. (2026). Squaring the Israeli nation: politics, poetics, and performances of dominance in Safra Square, Jerusalem. City, Territory and Architecture, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-026-00299-7