GIS-Based Factorial Ecology and Social Public Space of the Twin City of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, West Bank, The Palestinian Authority

Abstract

In the present research, a factorial ecological approach using factor analysis was employed to evaluate the dimensionality of the urban social structure of the twin city: Ramallah and Al-Bireh, West Bank, the Palestinian Authority. Through factor analysis, the 41 variables were reduced to four factors with an eigenvalue > 1.0. These factors explain 77.07 percent of the total variables used in the study. Factor I contributes 28.419% of the total variance proportion of input variables, labeled as “family, housing, and public spaces factor”. Factor II accounts for 19.57% of the variance proportion, designated as” housing and urban public spaces”. Factor III is strongly correlated with variables referring to the characteristics of the head of the family, and the availability of public spaces, and thus, is designated as “head of the family and public spaces”. It explains 16.68% of the total variance. Finally, factor IV explains 12.406% of variance proportion, and is strongly associated with variables pertaining to a lack of public social spaces. Consequently, factor IV is termed “lack of public spaces”. The spatial distribution of factor scores related to factors I to IV was mapped using Arc GIS in order to analyze the spatial patterns of the recognized four factors. It is worth noting the factor IV, which refers to the lack of urban social space and, urban public space, which persists in the twin city, and will continue to persist in the future. The lack of urban open space and public social spaces is closely connected to migration, emerged housing pattern, and family status dimensions focused on factors I to III, continuous confiscation of the Palestinian lands, and the construction of Israeli settlements. Currently, the twin city is extremely overcrowded with stone/concrete buildings at the expense of public space which has declined continuously over the last three decades. Nevertheless, the analyzed spatial pattern of factor scores indicated the homogeneous character of the urban society of the twin city. Based on the urban eco-logical models which seek to characterize the Western, non-Western, Israeli, and Arab-oil producing (e.g., Kuwait) urban structures, it is difficult to elaborate a specific Palestinian urban ecological model with reference to the models developed elsewhere.