Architect and Lab member Amir Dominitz gave a lecture on centralization of planning powers in Israel. His MSc Thesis focused on a rather distinctive phenomenon in Israeli land use planning – the concentration of planning powers in the hands of a single planning committee also known as ‘the Supertanker’. Architect Dominitz has assessed the apparatus of the Israeli Supertanker, since its foundation in 2014. The committee was intended to address the housing crisis, expand the inventory og housing, and provide new affordable housing solutions. Despite speeding up the pace of plan approval, by 2018 the committee has not produced a single housing unit on the ground.
On July 11, Architect and urban planner Eynat Mendelson Shwartz gave a paper at AESOP 2019 Venice, focusing on mural art and the conflicts associated with its creation in the public domain. The paper touched on contemporary challenges faced by artists, owners, and city officials in their attempts to create and regulate art on the streets.
In a later session, Dr. Mualam – together with Dr. Talia Margalit of Tel Aviv University- presented the idea of selective rescaling. The paper asks: ‘what happens when central government decides to re-zone an entire country and give apartment owners nationwide incentives to upgrade their assets? Can such a plan benefit all, and what happens when it does not?’ Dr. Mualam and Dr. Margalit discussed these questions by referring to a national program for earthquake preparedness approved in Israel in 2005. This plan encourages apartment owners in older buildings to make them earthquake-ready by giving them options to add floorspace. The findings point out a certain ‘scalar jump’ which involves central government’s intervention in local planning matters. The findings presented at AESOP point out the regressive impact of this nationwide policy.
PPL (the Planning Policy Lab) and the Israeli Planning Association host an event which focuses on Tel Aviv’s Central Bus Station. The so called “New” Bus Station is constantly referred to as a White Elephant, a juggernaut structure which is one of the biggest bus stations in the entire world. The Station poses many challenges on its surrounding; it is environmentally dangerous owing to high air pollution. It also imposes other externalities on the surrounding neighborhoods, such as high crime rates and a degraded urban environment. Calls to remove the Station are often made by a group of activists who campaign for the its relocation.
The conference discussed a recent documentary film, directed by Lavi Vanunu. Interviewed by Dr. Nir Mualam, Mr. Vanunu told the audience about an intricate web of interests surrounding the Station, and the difficulties he faced when making his film (‘Last Station’ or ‘TAHANA SOFIT’). Dr. Mualam continued to discuss the future (and past) of the station with Orit Siag-Orion, of the City Planning department of Tel Aviv, as well as with a panel of experts: Gil Gan-Mor of the Association for Civil Rights who litigates on behalf of local residents, the historian and researcher Architect Elad Horn, City Council member Shula Keshet, and Nisan Almog-a local activist who has worked to make the Station home to a group of artists.
Together with Dr. Eyal Salinger and lab member Gal Neuhaus-Foyerstein, Dr. Nir Mualam presented the research on Vertical Allocations to the Forum of the Israeli Planning Administration. The Forum includes head of departments in central and regional government. Hosted by the Technion and by its Social Hub, the Forum came to Haifa to learn about new studies that can inform and affect government legislation and policies in the field of urban and regional planning.
Lab members take the floor in the PPE convention at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Living Vertically !
Dr. Nir Mualam, head of the planning policy lab, spoke about the challenges of living in and maintaining high-rise apartment buildings in Israel. He presented his recent study on crumbling high-rise apartment buildings and proposed a few recommendations which have been adopted by cities such as Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Mualam argued that sinking funds- managed by land trusts (or banks) – could pave the way forward for sustaining high-rise residential buildings in the long run.
Civic solidarity in cities!
While cities are typically characterized as a sub-unit of the state that functions as a socio-economic node, cities are changing their role and becoming semi-independent political actors: they are the most meaningful political entity in citizens’ daily life; by devising innovative urban policies that address 21st century problems, cities are filling regulatory vacuums unaddressed by state-policy; and sometimes, cities are putting forward municipal policies that challenge, and even oppose, state policy and norms. In so, cities are manifesting themselves as meaningful political entities and raising fascinating questions about civic relations therein: What is civic solidarity in cities? How is it manifested? How is nurtured? And how does it affect the city’s relationship with the state?
Watch Nir Barak from the Planning Policy Lab discuss these questions in a plenary lecture at the Jerusalem PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economy) convention in May 2019 (in Hebrew).
בעוד ערים מאופיינות בדרך כלל כיחידת משנה של המדינה (אשר מתפקדת כצומת משמעותי בקבלת החלטות) ערים משנות אט אט את תפקידן והופכות לשחקניות פוליטיות עצמאיות למחצה: הן הישות הפוליטית המשמעותית ביותר בחיי היומיום של האזרחים; על ידי קביעת מדיניות עירונית חדשנית המטפלת בבעיות של המאה העשרים ואחת, ערים ממלאות ריק רגולטורי שהמדינה הותירה אחריה. לעיתים ערים מציגות מדיניות עירונית המאתגרת ואף מתנגדת למדיניות המדינה ולנורמות שהיא מבקשת להחיל. בכך הערים מתבטאות כישויות פוליטיות בעלות משמעות ומעלות שאלות מרתקות, בהן: מהי סולידריות אזרחית בערים? איך היא באה לידי ביטוי? איך מטפחים אותה? ואיך זה משפיע על מערכת היחסים של העיר עם המדינה ושלוחותיה?
ד”ר ניר ברק, מהמעבדה למדיניות התכנון בטכניון מתייחס לסוגיות אלה ואחרות בהרצאה מאלפת שניתנה לפני מס’ חודשים במסגרת כנס פכ”מ באוניברסיטה העברית בהרצליה. לצפיה בהרצאה בשלמותה ראו כאן:
Political Theory and the City – 2 research workshops in March & April 2019
While political theorizing explicitly and implicitly assumes that the political framework within which we function is the state or sometimes the international system, contemporary patterns of urbanism are positioning cities as meaningful polities with increased political power. As a political entity, the city has its particular political attributes that are different from those of the state. This difference makes a difference in the way we approach political issues at large and specifically when we want to think about policy and political institutions in the city. In 2019, the Planning Policy Lab co-organized (with the Max Kampelman Chair at the Hebrew University) two research workshops on these topics.
Dr. Mualam was invited to a panel discussing highrise development in Israel. The panel of experts was part of the Muni-Expo exhibition and conference, the largest annual conference of local governments in Israel. The panel discussed what could turn into a grim future of vertical living. Dr. Mualam presented his book (‘Forever Young’) which focuses on the ability of government to increase the sustainability of high-rise housing estates in Israel, while improving upkeep. The book also makes practical recommendation on how landowners can better maintain their property in the long run. Vertical living in multi-title, multi-floor buildings has drawn much attention in Israel in recent years, as the country is increasingly facing several challenges in the form of a rapidly growing population in cities, which is often housed in large apartment buildings which are susceptible to constant tear and wear.
The Planning Policy Lab at the Technion, jointly with Israel’s Planning Association, has hosted an event focused on the Israeli National Outline Plan No. 38 (also known as TAMA 38). The plan is a top-down initiative to renew urban environments by granting landowners and developers extra building rights, to be sold in the free market in order to finance certain works (reinforcement of the building against earthquakes, as well as facelift of the entire structure). As a value capture mechanism, the Plan is innovative yet it brings to the fore many questions about fairness, distributional justice, and the possible regressive outcomes of policies that ignore local conditions.
The Lab screened a doco film (“Naftali Street Operation”) which tells the story of apartment owners seeking to renew and refurbish their crumbling building with the help of the TAMA. Following screening, we opened the floor for the directors – Vered Yeruham and Oren Reich – to discuss the motivations behind the documentary and the lessons gleaned from it. We then discussed the very same project described in the film, with the help of its developer, city and government officials.
Dr. Mualam was invited by the Israeli Urban Renewal Authority to discuss the difficulties of maintaining high-rise apartment buildings. Mualam highlighted the challenges of urban renewal and the problems in the current land legislation in Israel. Being a former practitioner, Mualam emphasized the significance of joint academic and practitioners attempts to address daily, so-called mundane, challenges such as the long-term maintenance of massive structures constructed in Israel. Mualam outlined several ‘off the shelf’ solutions that practitioners, developers, and municipal officials could apply. Mocking the snail pace at which proven solutions were being adopted by government, Mualam brought with him a bag containing pieces from his own crumbling apartment building.
Dr. Nir Mualam was invited to an excursion organized by the Mayor of Tel Aviv and the City’s Planning Administration. The excursion focused on the challenges and opportunities of mixing together private and public uses in the same building. The tour also hosted Member of Parliament Yoav Kish, who heads the Parliamentary Committee which had drafted a new bill on mixed use (public-private) development.
