Category: News

New essay is out: Managing public spaces in private property

This paper examines the phenomenon of mixing public floors within private developments, shedding light on underlying rationales, the acceptability of integrating different uses, and the various challenges associated with the creation and management of these mixed-use, mixed-ownership buildings.

The topic is reviewed by examining the opinions and perceptions of expert planners and developers using a triangulation of qualitative interviews data and quantitative and qualitative analysis of survey results, cross-referenced with some grey literature in the form of planning tribunal decisions. Download here

Remote Planning Hearings post COVID

Albin Toffler once predicted that the future might come too early and that we are ill prepared to face its consequences. Well, during the pandemic, local planning authorities were certainly facing adversity and had to adopt new technological instruments to keep the planning machine going. My latest paper explores this issue, namely- how planning is carried out in the age of acceleration. You can read it here

Image: ICT and Planning in the Age of Acceleration. By Chani Volpo and the Planning Policy Lab

The preservation of the White City

“The White City”, a nickname that became the second name of the city of Tel Aviv, has received great appreciation over the years, culminating in UNESCO’s declaration exactly 20 years ago as a World Heritage Site. But along with the appreciation came harsh criticism of the buildings that were abandoned and lost their original white color. Malcontent and angry owners soon followed with owners and developers suing the government for taking their property rights. A new exhibition in Tel Aviv by the Liebling Haus, in collaboration with the Technion’s Planning Policy Lab, reviews these issues. Read more.

Heritage Protection, World Heritage Exhibition

How does heritage protection impact a city and its inhabitants? How and why do owners and stakeholders object to historic preservation? Our exhibition at the Liebling House, in collaboration with our lab at the Technion, explores these issues. More details here.

The preparation of Tel Aviv’s heritage conservation plan offered a pivotal civic moment, the first of its kind: a meeting between city planners, the staff at the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, and those who objected to the plan. The clash and tensions between different stakeholders surrfaced in 2003, the year in which UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) declared the White City a World Heritage Site. It was motivated by different perceptions of private property rights and freedoms, as well as different points of view about the common good and the public interest. It marks a watershed moment of negotiation and discourse on the values, interests, and norms that guide heritage protection and would eventually impact the city’s urban space.

For five months, from September 2022 to February 2023, the participants of the Liebling Haus residency program HaDira – as part of a multidisciplinary study conducted with researchers at the Technion – discussed questions regarding heritage protection and the common good and concerning the private and public interests. The emerging exhibition mirrors these discussions.

Intellectual Property Rights, Street Art, and NFT

Mural Art Tel Aviv. 2023, Nir MualamHow can NFT help protect property rights of artists in the urban environment? Our new essay explores this issue and suggests new ways of tracing murals’ owners. When courts have increasingly recognized the rights of muralist in the anonymous urban environment, technology can now complement those court rulings while helping artists claim ownership. Read Here.

COVID pandemic and urban density paper

COVID-19 and Urban Density

Does density in the urban environs explain the spread of COVID-19?
Not all densities were created equal!
We are delighted to share a new research article, co-authored with Udi Sommer and Nir Barak – on the spread of COVID-19 in cities, and why we should look at socio-political factors like trust in institutions ,alienation, and compliance – especially of minorities – instead of associating contagion with population density. Published in the journal – Science of the Total Environment.
Read Here.

Protests and Urban Policy

Art by Leo Atelman for the Planning Policy Lab
Israeli Social Protests. By: Leo Atelman for the Planning Policy Lab

 

We asked the talented Leo Atelman to draw the J-14 protests of 2011 for our new report\paper on social movements and housing policies.

This paper examines the effect of social protests on planning and housing policies by looking at the case of Israel’s 2011 J14 social protests and subsequent governmental policy reforms. We investigate whether there is a link between the demands of the protesters and reforms put in place in between 2011 and 2017. We also examine whether the policy reforms met the demands of protesters, and to what degree the protests influenced policy changes. We establish a strong connection between the protesters’ demands and the measures the government adopted following the protests. The policies put in place did reflect the government’s willingness to adopt the protesters’ demands, even going so far as to absorb financial losses. However, the government only entertained these demands up to a certain degree. It was not prepared to radically alter its neoliberal, pro-free market outlook in the long term, nor revert to its former role as a social welfare provider.

You can download it here