Tag: White City

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.