URBAN DESIGN - LINEAR CITY

PARADIGM SHIFT - ISRAELI IMPERATIVE

Wolf  Pearlman

Faculty of Architecture & Town Planning, Technion

arc_med@netvision.net.il

 

 

Drucker’s (1969) prediction - that discontinuities would likely mold and shape social and economic policies - was stillborn, at least in matters pertaining to sustainable town design.

 

Thereafter, an analysis of the ‘structure and function’ of a particular urban design proposal, realized a model for design and a theory - manifested as a ‘tetrad of [design] functions’. The primary designated function (to note) is density - redefined as a correlate of geometry and space (Pearlman1977). Today, density is propagated as a crucial factor of sustainability!

 

Yet, nearly thirty years later, Rogers (1997) contends that our patterns of social and economic behavior are the root cause of cities’ development in ways that undermine ecological balance. Furthermore, in both developed and developing worlds the carrying capacity of cities is being stretched to the limit. Cities are increasing in size and at such a rate that conventional patterns of accommodating urban growth have become obsolete. (Phoenix now sprawls over territory as vast as Los Angeles but sustains only one third of its population). 

 

Likewise in the Israeli realm: there the State Comptroller’s report condemns ‘government ministries for wasteful and inefficient use of state lands and acting against the policy of conserving space - as required by national plans they themselves conceived (1998) or Housing Minister Herzog’s comment on ‘lack of land’ (Jerusalem Post, 6 September, 2005).

 

In 2006 the 44th Making Cities Livable conference focused on issues related to urban sprawl and its costs in terms of land depletion, transportation/infrastructure, pollution, health; whilst the Venice Architecture Biennale’s theme is ‘the future of cities in the 21st century - the urban age’. Consequently, ‘the creation of sustainable compact cities’ becomes a universal challenge!

 

Undoubtedly, the ‘Israeli Imperative’ is assent to this challenge and dissent from the ‘business as usual’ norm – so unflinchingly exposed by Daniel Doron (Jerusalem Post, 14 September, 2006: ‘Galilee {Negev} Gravy Train’). “For 60 years Israeli governments have wasted billions on government development projects that have enriched cronies and spawned red tape”!

 

The paper will review the social and economic benefits attainable through a ‘paradigm shift’ in urbanism. The resulting ‘Compact Linear City’ paradigm, offers a potent instrument for rapid realization of strategic planning and urbanization objectives, particularly, in threatened locations within the Israel geographical domain (2005-2006).

 

 

Drucker, Peter F., 1969     The Age of Discontinuity. Heineman

Pearlman, Wolf W.,  Towards a Theory of Generating Habitable Space and Urban Place. In Journal of

        Urban & Environmental Affairs. University of Waterloo: Vol.9, No.2, 1-23, 1977.

Rogers, Richard, 1997 Cities for a Small Planet . Faber

Pearlman, W.,  Memorandum:  World Bank/Rand Corporation/US Government Plans for Gaza/Hebron

        Link. October, 2005. 

Shachar, Arieh,   “Chief among these threats is…a continuous urban bloc arising between Beersheba

        and Gaza”. In Conference Transactions: Defining Israel’s Permanent Borders.Tel/Aviv Univ.2006