Infrastructure is the structural element which binds together communities and provides the framework for prosperous and wealthy communities. Transportation, communication and sanitation encourage growth and economic prosperity, serving to enhance the modern city. In contemporary Jerusalem, the infrastructure serves a dual purpose – to encourage growth and prosperity in certain communities, while stunting the growth and limiting the success of others.
Although all of Jerusalem has undergone massive growth since the 1967 annexation, there has been roughly a 9:1 ratio of public sector investment in the favor of the Jewish communities in the now unified city[1]. This allocation of funds has created a superb modern road system throughout western Jerusalem, linking the city center with outlying suburbs and institutions such as the Hebrew University, French Hill, Ramot, Gilo, etc. These large multilane roads allow the substantial population in the suburbs to commute easily to the economic and institutional center of West Jerusalem. These main traffic arteries cease to exist in the Southeast of the city, with the exception of the East Talpiot development. Instead of servicing areas of the Jerusalem which are predominantly Palestinian, the major traffic arteries tend to skirt around them and instead serve as rifts between these neighborhoods. This is clearly the case in the Sheik Jarrach site. A large roundabout to the northwest of the site and a large four way intersection to the northwest form an effective barrier of noise and traffic between the Jewish institutional areas to the north and on Mount Scopus, and also form a considerable obstacle between Palestinian communities. This obstacle takes the form of the substantial retaining walls which help elevate these intersections, and also Har Ha Zetim road. These walls reach as much as twenty feet in height in some places and must be completely circumnavigated by either detouring all the way around the north of the site, or through the rough paths that traverse it. It can also be noticed that the roadways servicing the University, Hospital, and French Hill beyond are considerably wider roads in much better condition. Wadi el Joz is serviced by a single lane paved road, as is the Sheik Jarrach neighborhood to the West. These neighborhoods are connected by no direct municipal route. The void in between Wadi el Joz and Sheik Jarrach, and also southwards towards the American Colony is a web of footpaths and carriage paths which serve to link the neighborhoods instead. Our site is part of this maze of pragmatism.

The increase in foot traffic at the site is also a product of the public transportation services in Jerusalem municipality. A quick examination of the Jerusalem transit map shows that the routes between Jewish neighborhoods are much better catered to than the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. The only transport services in any proximity to the site are the bus routes which skirt the site to the north as they ascend Mount Scopus to the Hebrew University or the Hospital and beyond to the French Hill settlement. The two principal roads that service the Palestinian neighborhoods (Wadi el Joz and Har Ha Zetim) have no scheduled bus routes. This lack of public transport is crippling to the Palestinians who have a much more limited use of personal motorized transport. The light rail line which has been proposed for the Jerusalem municipality also avoids Palestinian population centers.
[1]Marshall J. Breger and Ora Ahimeir, eds., Jerusalem: A City and Its Future, Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2002,, pg 26