Decoding the city

At long last, a fitting Hebrew translation of the term urbanism - among the most commonly used in architectural discourse today - has been found: ironism. Given the animated discussion of recent years in professional and academic circles of urbanity (ironiyut), urbanization (iyur), the return to the city and urban renewal, the time had come for an Israeli response.

The hope is that perhaps with the arrival of a Hebrew word for the term, there will be a simultaneous change for the better in the relationship Israeli architecture has to its urban surroundings.

The new term was coined by architect Gavriela Nussbaum, the coordinator of the annual conference of the Israel Architects Association, which will take place next week at the Jaffa Music Center under the heading "Ironism." Perhaps the ambitious and large conference on this burning issue will contribute its share to improving local urbanism.

The conference will look at the overall role of urban functions, as Nussbaum puts it, and focus primarily on public spaces, such as streets, squares, public institutions and buildings. It will also consider different uses of urban space and other assorted essential components for understanding and defining urbanism, which has ranged in recent decades from Jane Jacobs-styled urbanism, and the new urbanism movements, to the nihilistic urbanism of Rem Koolhaas.

There is still no consensus on the correct urbanism, and the perception of it changes often. One thing that is not disputed is that urbanism is not created on the drafting table. Or as the architect Jean Nouvelle once said, planning a city is like writing a library.

The feverish contemporary occupation with urbanism comes after over five decades of suburbanization and sprawl that caused the thinning of the city and earth's resources. With the sobering up from the dream of suburbanization, and with the dawning of the era of environmental awareness, the city is looking for ways in which it can be reborn.

"We are facing a change in the urban lifestyle, its leverage, branding and an understanding of its benefits," said Nussbaum, "and urban life now seems more fascinating than it did 20 years ago."

Half of the world's population currently live in cities, and most of them got there not out of some neo-bohemian desire, but for lack of better options. The contemporary city today faces a more complex reality than ever before. The goal of achieving revival is a complex one.

The difficulties and obstacles facing architects and planners in their efforts to create better cities in Israel will be addressed at the conference by architect Oded Kotok, in a lecture titled "The Unattainable City."

The difficulty in planning and implementing urban improvement plans, explained Kotok in a conversation ahead of the conference, "is great even though the phenomenon of the revived city is today at the heart of the planning, professional and academic discourse in Israel. Urban renewal is feted and urban values such as intensity and homogeny are today a popular topic for a growing number of academic papers and conferences and also at forums such as the Venice and Bat Yam Biennales that I attended. But apart from a few local successes in urban renewal, there is a long list of renewal plans that did not materialize or for which the time was not ripe, or some that the time was ripe and were realized, but did not achieve the desired results."

The shortcomings, said Kotok, are in principle and the reasons for them are diverse. It could be the opposition of politicians and developers to an architectural vision, or the objection of the potential residents themselves.

"The planning system is deluding itself thinking that it is possible to plan a city based on the ideals we advocate," he said. "But the reality is not like that. The models of 'traditional' urbanism, of returning to the street, to the square, to the stores next to the house, do not pass basic democratic tests and the public at large is not interested in them. A real change in the public space is first of all a change in the cultural mores and desires of the public.

"Therefore, if the Israeli architect wants to spearhead urban renewal he has to do so from the political, social and cultural sphere as well. Otherwise the whole festive message of all the conferences is just an illusion, like tossing sand in the eyes."

Architect Nicky Davidov will sketch an outline of the image and formation of Tel Aviv's urbanism in his conference lecture titled, "Spontaneous Urbanism of Ahuzat Bayit Around the Clock." Davidov is a lecturer at the Technion and was involved among other things in urban renewal plans for downtown Tel Aviv and Neve Tzedek.

Tel Aviv grew rapidly from its beginnings and even before then, said Davidov, using the Ahuzat Bayit society, or homestead, ideology, garden suburbs upgraded in each generation based on the conditions at the time, from Neve Tzedek, to Ahuzat Bayit itself, Ramat Aviv Gimmel and Shekhunat Hatzafon Hahadash, the new northern neighborhood. So spelled the flight from the city.

Parts of the city that were no longer suitable for the quality of life of suburban standards turned into the "urban" sections of Tel Aviv and by default developed to a large extent "spontaneously." The society's intervention consisted primarily of consent and planning after the fact.

Spontaneous urbanism became the rule in Tel Aviv, says Davidov, and the addiction to it, as he describes it, is what in effect caused the planned, official urbanization attempts to fail. Projects that officials planted in the urban fabric, such as Atarim Square or the Performing Arts Center, do indeed function to one degree or another within themselves, "but did not succeed in creating urbanism in the spaces between them and did not create a continuous urban series around them. The urban space rejects them," Davidov said.

Davidov distinguishes between three categories of urbanism: local, neighborhood urbanization, and multi-layered municipal urbanism such as Ibn Gavirol Street and metropolitan urbanism such as the Azrieli Center. Identifying the Tel Aviv genetic code and a clear distinction between the types of urbanism and their impact and drawing conclusions, will in his opinion, lead also to the success of urban planning.

The conference will also be attended by Dutch architect Ton Winhoven who will present the hottest model in environmental-urban discourse - the "Eco-city." This is a utopian, ecological fantasy that generates most of what it needs by itself, is clean and energy efficient, healthy and free of dependence on global markets.

Winhoven, a professor of architectural history and a consultant to the Dutch government on infrastructure, will present eco-technological creations and patents that he is already using in his work and is planning for a world whose population is forecast to hit 15 billion before leveling off, possibly necessitating ecological wars.

Many other lecturers will attend the conference and they will discuss a variety of issues relating to urbanism and other topics. The conference will take place on Thursday and Friday, March 26-27 at the Jaffa Music Center at 10 She'arit Israel Street.