The Movement for Israeli Urbanism Improving affordable access to opportunities by - Creating sustainable and humane cities and communities in Israel We, the members of the Movement for Israeli Urbanism, strive to improve the quality of urban life in Israel and actively promote the development of a sustainable and humane urban environment in Israel. We founded MIU in order to transform the quality of urban life in Israel by applying: People-oriented planning that prevents deterioration and atrophy of cities Sustainable local development that enhances opportunities Democratic urban planning processes

1. Merhav Overview
The Movement for Israeli Urbanism
Affordable Access to Opportunities

2. Merhav provides a new perspective
to:
A major social problem that cuts
across the entire population of Israel
but afflicts marginalized populations
the worst.

3. The social problem:
Too many Israelis do not have
affordable access to opportunities
to better their own life…
…or even to make ends meet

4. Merhav’s perspective:
Due to their poor design -
Most Israeli cities do not
provide their residents affordable
access to economic, social and
cultural opportunities to realize
their full potential as
individuals or as a community.

5. 92% of Israelis live in 220 Urban Cities and
Towns
The City is the key mechanism that provides
people the opportunities to fulfill their
inherent potential
Most Israelis do not have affordable access to
a successful city and therefore can not fulfill
their potential

6. This is true not only in the periphery but in the
center too.
Car ownership is 1/3 of the US and ½ of W. Europe.
Only 16% of Israeli families own 2+ cars.
Yet cities and towns are built as if everyone has a
car.

7. Israel is plagued by neglected city
centers, unnecessary sprawl, planning
that leads to economic and social
polarization, wasted resources and
environmental deterioration.

8. In order to improve affordable
access to opportunities for all,
Merhav promotes quality urban
environments that are compact,
vibrant, provide many opportunities
and potential uses, and leverage
public spaces as the foundation of
community life.

9. Quality Urban Environments =
Affordable Access to Opportunities
Employment
Many other Education
People
Affordable Access
to Opportunities
Recreation for all Services
sustainable for the
long term
Culture Goods
Entertainment

10. Quality Urbanism
the no compromise solution
Simultaneously Promotes
•Economic Development
•Social Justice
•Sustainability
•Cultural Development

11. The Movement for Israeli Urbanism
Creating sustainable and humane cities and communities in Israel
• We, the members of the Movement
for Israeli Urbanism, strive to improve
the quality of urban life in Israel and
actively promote the development of a
sustainable and humane urban
environment in Israel.
• We founded MIU in order to transform
the quality of urban life in Israel by
applying:
– People-oriented planning that prevents
deterioration and atrophy of cities
– Sustainable local development that
enhances opportunities
– Democratic urban planning processes

12. Who we are
• Merhav - the Movement for Israeli Urbanism is
a registered non-profit organization which
includes more than 500 members from the
private sector, government offices and other
NGOs.
• The members of the organization are urban
planners, architects, landscape architects,
members of academic world, community
workers, economists, developers, business
people, transportation planners, environmental
activists, sociologists, lawyers, real estate
appraisers, civil servants and citizens who wish
to transform cities in Israel.
• MIU is part of the community of "environmental
organizations" in Israel; yet, MIU is the only
organization that focuses on changing the urban
built environment, and which works to develop
the necessary professional and practical tools for
making this transformation.
• MIU enrolls the planning and development
community in making a difference by
implementing a holistic planning approach.

13. MIU Activities
Changes
Awareness Tools Policies Processes
Professionals
and Academia
Target Population
Decision Makers
General Public

14. Activities
• Conferences
• Mayor’s Institute
• Model Projects
• Research, Tools and Forums
• Exhibitions
• Events
• Blog and Website

15. Some examples of our activities…

16. Conferences that Introduce New
Concepts in Urbanism to Israel
• Beer Sheva Conference and Workshops 2005
– “The Need for Urban Renaissance in Israel”
– 400 participants
• Haifa Conference and Workshops 2006
– “City Action - Tools for New Urbanism in Israel“
– 350 participants
• Bat-Yam Conference and Roundtables 2008
– “The Quality of Density”
– 400 participants
• Sachnin Conference and Roundtables 2010
– “Innovative Planning - Urbanism in Arab Towns”
– 250 participants
• Ashkelon Conference and Workshops 2011
– “the City as an Engine of Economic Growth”
– 400 participants

17. Israeli Mayors’ Institute
on City Renewal
• Professional tools for Israeli mayors to
promote sustainable city renewal and local
economic development (LED)
• A series of intense workshops with the
participation of an experienced,
multidisciplinary professional team.
• A landmark project in Israel, developed
based on the model of the US Mayors’
Institute on City Design (www.micd.org)

18. Laboratory for Urban Intensification
• Tools for the intensification and renewal of
deteriorating urban residential neighborhoods
in Israel, while reinforcing the quality of
housing and urban variety.
• Aging residential projects, built by the
government cheaply and quickly following
massive waves of immigration in the 50s, 60s
and 70s, constitute the largest part of Israel’s
housing stock, yet they are also the most
neglected, and are characterized by:
– small residential units – cramped quarters
inappropriate for growing families
– uniform housing stock – all apartments are of
the same size and plan
– low-quality construction – improvements within
apartments are expensive, and improvements to
the building as a whole are even more so
– lack of access to amenities, community services
and good consumer products
• The tool is based on Merhav’s 10 Principles for
Good Urbanism

19. Kiryat Shmona International Charrette
Collaborative Planning for the Renewal of the Old City Center
December 2-6, 2007
• The first full charrette in Israel.
• The charrette combines creative, intense work
sessions with public workshops, a collaborative
planning process that harnesses the talents and
energies of all interested parties to create and
support a feasible plan that represents
transformative community change.
• The Partners: The Ministry of Housing, Koret
Foundation, M.A.T.I - Business development center
Kiryat Shmona, citizen organizations in K.S., the
Galilee Development Authority, shop and office
owners, K.S. residents, youth and students from
Tel Hai College.
• The charrette was organized and led by an
interdisciplinary professional team from the MIU.

20. Merhav Stamp on Urban Renaissance
increasing awareness in the general public
Introduced by the Israeli
Postal Service in 2010
A paragraph from the introduction
included with the day-of-issue
commemorative envelope, written
and signed by the executive
director of the Movement for
Israeli Urbanism

21. Friends and supporters of our activities from overseas:
Dhiru Thadani, Neal Payton, John Norquist, Harald Kegler, John Kaliski, Jaime Lerner,
Heather Smith, Ralph Zucker, Michael Mehaffy, Deependra Prashad, Stefan Kuhn,
James Hulme, Anna Hercz, Paul Murrain, Nikos Salingaros, Robert Freedman, Peter Katz

22. The Social Justice Movement in
Israel
Too many Israelis do not have
affordable access to opportunities
to better their own life… or even to
make ends meet

23. Due to their poor design - Most Israeli
cities do not provide their residents
with the economic, social and cultural
opportunities to realize their full
potential as individuals or as a
community.
We can do much better!!!

24. The Social Justice Movement
• Started as a housing crisis.
– What did not lead to the crisis?
– What did lead to the crisis?
– What can be done differently?
– What additional budgets are needed?
– What can be the role of NGOs?

25. The Social Justice Movement
• Started as a housing crisis
• What was Merhav’s role in the Movement thus far?
– Education and training at the tent cities
– Providing position papers and testimony to the Trajtenberg
commission
– Position papers for use by the movement and by politicians
– Participation in the alternative expert team of the movement
– Participation in the drafting of the position papers of the
alternative expert team

26. What did not lead to the crisis?
• It is not a lack of land designated and marketed
for building
– There is more land designated for building than is
need for the next 20 years
• It is not a failure of the “free market”
– There is no free market in the Israeli real-estate
market, it is all centrally controlled
• It is not the failure of the bureaucracy to approve
enough plans
– There are approved plans for over 160,000 dwelling
units that no-one wants to build

27. What did lead to the crisis?
1. Limits on urban development that do not enable reaching
the necessary density for success and prosperity of cities.
2. Mass development of car dependent sleep only suburbs that
require their residents to buy cars and spend time and
money every day on them.
3. Urban planning that encourages and facilitates construction
on open space at the edge of towns while neglecting the
inner cities.
4. Design that encourages use of private vehicles and
inefficient public transportation based on outdated
concepts.
5. Archaic planning system, hierarchical, cumbersome and not
committed to the residents nor to promoting the true
interests of the state.

28. What can be done differently?
1. Urban densification in the periphery and intermediate cities.
2. Changes in the urban density policies of Tama35.
3. Preference and promotion for the development of the older
neighborhoods in the city centers rather than in open areas
outside the city.
4. Reducing standards and expropriations for "public purposes" in
municipal plans.
5. Development of efficient, frequent and convenient public
transport.
6. Build neighborhoods with a wide variety of residence types rather
than homogeneous neighborhoods for the rich.
7. Reforming the planning system and empowering the local
planning committees.

29. What additional budgets are needed?
• The 52B ₪ annual building budget is plenty!
• The issue is how it is used not how do we
increase it.

30. What can be the role of NGOs?
• Be the catalyst for social change of a social problem that cuts across
all populations but afflicts marginalized populations the most
– Awareness
• Affordable access to opportunities is tightly linked to city design
• Grass roots level as well as government
– Tools
• For building cities and towns around people not cars
• For participatory planning, budgeting and governance
• Model projects based on tools
– Policies
• Research to inform policy makers and the public
• Lobbying for policy change and participating in committees
– Processes
• Translate new policies to processes
• Training on new policies and processes

31. Merhav Overview
The Movement for Israeli Urbanism
nachman@miu.org.il
2011