Drug Addicts' Behavior and the Built Environment of the Old City of Jerusalem

Leila Bustami,Nisreen Harhash

doi:10.13189/ujp.2015.030605

Abstract

This study explores the contribution of the built environment of the old city of Jerusalem to the widespread drug abuse phenomenon there. Using the ethnographic interviewing method, 6 recovered addicts viewed pictures of 16 related locations in the Muslim quarter of the city and recalled how they saw and used them. After qualitative analysis of the collected narratives, it was found that the city's distinguished features (old walls, deteriorating crowded houses, abandoned enclosures, dark angled alleyways, and isolated areas) helped addicts to avoid being arrested or robbed as well as to abuse drug safely. This environment-behavior relationship conforms with Gibson's (1979) ecological psychology of visual perception and recognizes the affordances of those features which through preserving and vitalizing, can be made less attractive to addicts and more life sustaining to all.

Highlights

The historic Old City of Jerusalem (OCoJ) in the heart of the Middle East region is witnessing an extensive spread and continuous rise of drug abuse among its Palestinian residents [1,2]
Others put the blame on the socio-economic problems common in the area, while a few thinkers refer to the physical environment of the city as a probable contributor to this phenomenon [4]. Based on this last thought, the researchers of the present study became interested in knowing how addicts in the OCoJ related to their environment and how they utilized it to meet their needs and goals for survival
All were male Palestinians who ranged in age from 43 to 56 and all had had recovered for at least 3 years after a relatively long history with drugs at the Muslim quarter

Summary

Introduction

The historic Old City of Jerusalem (OCoJ) in the heart of the Middle East region is witnessing an extensive spread and continuous rise of drug abuse among its Palestinian residents [1,2]. Recent statistics show that the number of addicts in Jerusalem and its environs has exceeded 6,000 in addition to 25,000 casual users [3] Some researchers link this environmental phenomenon to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967. Others put the blame on the socio-economic problems common in the area, while a few thinkers refer to the physical environment of the city as a probable contributor to this phenomenon [4]. Based on this last thought, the researchers of the present study became interested in knowing how addicts in the OCoJ related to their environment and how they utilized it to meet their needs and goals for survival

Methods

Results

Conclusion