art of settlements

Towers of Ilium tries to avoid controversial political topics. So, when I say that I do not have the authority or the knowledge to comprehensively discuss the issues in Israel and Palestine, I really mean it. However, after reading about "settlements" for many years I realized that I had never bothered to consider them from an architectural perspective. Are they a good place to live? What happens to them in the future, when the political situation has evolved and some people will have forgotten their origins?

In this picture I see only a white city on a hill surrounded by an austere and ancient landscape.