Patrick Geddes: A Scottish Imperialist in Palestine

We must end Israel’s genocide and occupation in Palestine.

Many have written eloquently about the roots of this genocide. The interconnected and deep, deep, imperialism, racism and capitalism that propels and sustains Israel and their allyship of the USA, UK and much of Europe. Reading, listening, protesting, we understand that many of the tools of Israel’s colonial conquest were originally pioneered by the British, including expert Scottish imperialists.

Over decades, Deveron Projects’ work has been directly informed and inspired by Aberdeeenshire-born “gardener, biologist, conservationist, social evolutionist, peace warrior and town planner”[1], Patrick Geddes (1854-1932). Geddes’ philosophies, including Thinking Machines, social and physical wellbeing in the built environment, and his understanding of society as an interconnected and ecological system, among others, have guided the organisation and the team in their work as Deveron Projects has developed and established into the arts organisation we know today.

Organisational maxims derived from Geddes’ writings - ‘Think Local, Act Global’, ‘Place / Work / Folk’ – have been explored and consistently advanced by Deveron Projects as the key to socially-engaged practice - a framework for success and positive impact. This has been a fruitful exercise, in which Deveron Projects’ work has promoted Geddes and his philosophies, locally, nationally and internationally, undoubtedly contributing to wider appreciation for his work within socially-engaged arts practice and the arts sector more widely. Conceptually underpinning Deveron Projects’ work and approach with Geddes’, as this appreciation has grown, has lent increasing gravitas and cultural capital, an academic foundation and a USP, contributing to Deveron Projects’ relative financial security through grants and funding.

Geddes is unextractable from our organisation, yet he was a Scottish imperialist who played an active part in Israel’s colonial project in Palestine. This is rigorously and clearly demonstrated by authors including Nazmi al-Jubeh and Noah Hysler Ruben. We want to record this – to share this – inviting you to learn with us about a critical truth of Geddes’ work. In examining the context and application of Geddes’ philosophies in Palestine and the resulting town schemes he created for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, these authors uncover his personal ideology and cosmology. They show how Geddes’ cultural and environmental beliefs, informed by his religion and nationality, were weaponised to oppress Palestinians and promote the Zionist belief in a divine right to Palestine. Importantly, although many of his plans were only indirectly or partially realised (the only plan that was realised in full was for the settler city of Tel-Aviv), Geddes actively sought appointment by the Zionist Commission in Palestine, wanting to contribute to their cause and was widely celebrated for doing so.

In 2025, Deveron Projects has been running for 30 years. An organisation of this age, formed by many voices and communities, through shifting contexts, language, knowledges and world events, is a multiplicity. It is both a product of the systems and context around it, and of the people who make it, as was Patrick Geddes. Understanding Geddes and his philosophies through the lens of his work in Palestine, adds another dimension to the multiple understandings we have of our organisation, its history and impact. Recognising the imperial logic within his philosophies helps illustrate the imperialism interwoven in Deveron Projects, within socially-engaged arts practices and the longstanding cultural complicity of organisations like ours in the occupation of Palestine. Identifying this, sharing this, is for us just a part of our work to recognise, dismantle and resist this in Deveron Projects, and a small part of what we can do as arts workers to contribute to a wider uncolonising of the Scottish arts sector.

Texts

https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1649528
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254082519_Geography_colonialism_and_town_planning_Patrick_Geddes'_plan_for_mandatory_Jerusalem

[1] From Think Local, Act Global: The Life and Legacy of Patrick Geddes, ed. Walter Stephen, accessed via Deveron Projects’ socially-engaged art library.