Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., April 30, 2008 Nisan 25, 5768 | | Israel Time: 16:23 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Last update - 23:21 28/04/2008 The country is decentralizing By Zafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: environment, Israel  Last month the Environmental Policy Center of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and the Ministry of Environmental Protection published a comprehensive study about the state of built-up areas that should be encouraging news for those who fear for the fate of the landscape and nature in the country. According to the study, only 5% of the country is built up, and even north of the Negev, where most of the nation's population is located, the figure is only slightly over 10%. Ostensibly, the situation looks good - there is still a great deal of open space in Israel. However, concentrating only on the absolute percentage of built-up area does not enable an understanding of the problematic trends of development in Israel. A more precise analysis of the data relating to the years 1998-2003 indicates that the decentralization of construction is steadily increasing, and with it the negative influence on the landscape and the environment. The study, which was conducted by environmental planner Moti Kaplan and his staff, presents an exceptionally incomplete assessment of the extent of built-up areas. It does not include many areas used by the defense establishment outside the cities, with their large army bases, nor extensive Bedouin areas in the Negev that have become built-up. Also missing are isolated built-up areas of less than 10 dunams, a type of construction that is common in many places. Advertisement What then are actually the worrisome findings of the study? About half of the growth in built-up areas occured in local or regional councils that comprise rural or suburban communities. This means that although the planning system in Israel declares its encouragement of urban development, in fact those in charge of implementing this policy, headed by the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) and the planning and construction committees, are doing the opposite, particularly when it comes to expanding rural communities, an initiative that began in the mid-1990s and reached a peak at the beginning of the present decade. All this is helped along by the fact that Israelis continue to desire to live in a village or a suburban community. Market pressures and initiatives such as the establishment of new communities in Iron, Lachish and the Judean plain help them fulfill their dream. Half the population of the country lives on 70% of the built-up area, while the other half is crowded onto the other 30%. The decentralization of construction in recent years has taken place mainly in the center of the country, where the demand is primarily for suburban and rural residences. This part of the country has seen the greatest increase in built-up area as well as in population. Residential units are not the only development moving to the village. One of the prominent results of the pressures to unfreeze agricultural land is moving employment and commerce to areas of local councils. One of the interesting findings in the study is that most of the construction for industry and employment (53%) was located in the local councils. "This can by explained by the large supply of land and by local pressures," writes Kaplan. The period covered by the study, 1998-2003, precedes the approval of National Planning Scheme 35, which is supposed to anchor in law the overall framework of concentrating construction in urban areas, while limiting construction in small communities. The effect of this plan is supposed to be examined by a monitoring team appointed by the Interior Ministry. It is important to recall that the study refers to a period during which ILA decisions to unfreeze land were still in force, and had not been overturned by the High Court of Justice. It is therefore possible that in follow-up checks that the Environmental Protection Ministry plans to carry out five years from now, it will turn out that there were changes in the development trends. However, already today we can see that initiatives such as the establishment of new communities have not disappeared, and that pressure continues to bring about ILA decisions that will enable additional construction in the moshavim (cooperative communities) and kibbutzim (collective communities) and the establishment of large commercial areas in these communities. We can learn what to expect in the future regarding the extent of built-up areas from figures collected by the Deshe (Open Landscape) Institute, which was established by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) in order to study the problem of preserving open spaces. According to a recent publication by the institute, from 1948 until 2000 the built-up area in Israel grew by a factor of 17 and reached 240 million square meters. By 2020, built-up area is expected to more than double, to 525 million square meters. Therefore, the effect of this construction on the environment and the landscape, and of course on the quality of life in general, will be largely determined by the way in which development is directed. Already in the previous decade, those involved in planning and in nature preservation emphasized the significance of decentralizing construction within the open landscape. Kaplan himself did so in a study that he prepared for the Environmental Protection Ministry, in which he wrote: "The nature of construction in Israel is one of a multiplicity of communities with lines of infrastructure stretched between them. The lines of infrastructure bisect the open space and damage its contiguity. This means that the area that is considered to be part of the reservoir of open spaces is actually half-closed and surrounded by infrastructure." In a comprehensive document on the state of open spaces prepared four years ago by a team of experts headed by Prof. Eli Stern, the following was written about the same issue: "The percentage of open spaces nationwide is high, but there is nevertheless a shortage of open spaces, one of the reasons for that being their degree of contiguity." "The more the open space is bisected by built-up blocs, the more the open area shrinks," said the comprehensive report prepared by Stern's team. "Beyond the biotic and environmental implications of bisection, the impossibility of being in an open space without any man-made interruption increases psychological stress and reduces the effect of openness that open space has on a person." An illustration of the fact that open spaces are gradually disappearing even though the overall area remains large, was provided by the SPNI, by means of a special map that includes an index of the contiguity of open space as reflected by the maximum distance between built-up areas and their surroundings. This map indicates that most of the open spaces in Israel are located at a distance of less than five kilometers from a built-up area. Only in certain places in the Negev can a person look around him from a high vantage point without seeing houses or roads. But as recently pointed out by Iris Hahn, a planner at SPNI, even this situation will change in light of the many development plans for the Negev. In terms of ecology, cutting off the contiguity of open spaces is presently the main threat to flora and fauna in Israel. Today is it clear that these natural assets are also important for the real estate business, as evidenced by construction plans, which in order to attract buyers who are interested in proximity to nature, are named after plants that are situated near them. The Deshe Institute points out that there is a close connection between the size of the open space and the number of species of flora and fauna that it can contain. The higher the contiguity, the greater the number of species. Although in Israel 17% of the land has been allocated for nature reserves and national parks, many of them are located within army firing ranges or are surrounded and bisected by construction and infrastructure. "When it comes to isolated nature reserves, the rate of loss of species per unit of area as a result of cutting off their habitat is faster," says the Deshe Institute paper. The national mission facing Israel, which is also emphasized by master plans in recent years, is the construction of what Kaplan describes as "a quality urban culture." This is no small challenge in light of the great demand for private homes and the willingness to provide them. Kaplan is convinced that a compact, efficient and modern city will attract many people who will prefer it to suburbs and villages, as a quality choice. Therefore the strategy that leads to the preservation of open spaces is actually dealing with the other side of the equation - the creation of better cities. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Deterring Tehran Bush: Disclosure of IAF strike on Syria sends a message to Iran. A lesser evil In Haaretz issue from 1932, Hitler makes a better impression than expected.   1.   Decenteralizing? 05:32  |  Mark Lincoln 28/04/08   2.   Just exactly what is included in "the country"? 06:36  |  Bob 29/04/08   3.   Replu to Bob No 2 21:20  |  Jackie 29/04/08   4.   lost in translation 16:19  |  traintalk 30/04/08

Read & React Syrian emissary: We won't cut Iran ties for peace with Israel Responses: 126 Y. Sheleg: Holocaust shows Europe must not be silent in face of fundamentalist Islam Responses: 74 U.S. Jewish leaders call for boycott of Beijing Olympics Responses: 56 Uzi Benziman: Israel mustn't jump to blame enemy for tragedies like Gaza deaths Responses: 38 More Headlines 15:51 Islamic Jihad: Cease-fire agreement conditioned on lifting of Gaza siege 14:27 T.A. University: 6.6% rise in violent anti-Semitic attacks worldwide 15:06 Gaza militants fire 10 Qassams at Negev, continuing barrage 11:52 Top Syrian emissary: We won't sever ties with Iran for peace with Israel 16:17 Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, briefly banned in Gaza, appears again 16:12 Is Israel finished? Five questions 14:09 Jewish partisans remembered; their story to hit the big screen 16:21 Police, IDF troops demolish illegal outpost in West Bank 14:27 MK Eldad to Barak: Security on W. Bank roads is deteriorating 11:49 Concentration camp doctor Aribert Heim tops list of most wanted Nazis 12:39 U.S. Jewish leaders call for boycott of Beijing Olympics 13:04 Repo men suspected of beating Israeli Arab woman during repossession 12:14 The 'b'seder' Arabs Previous Editions Select Day 29 apr 28 apr 27 apr 25 apr 24 apr 23 apr 22 apr 21 apr 20 apr 18 apr 17 apr 16 apr

Special Offers Advertisement Pardes Institute Summer Sessions http://www.pardes.org.il/programs/summer/summer_sessions/summer_s.php FAREWELL ISRAEL New Film The Coming War for Islamic Revival - View Movie Trailer The interest rates haven't changed But your profits will! Learn Hebrew online with Israel's best teachers Sign up for a trial lesson today Free the Palestinians from: Corrupt Kleptocracy, Tyrannical Theocracy, Abysmal Anarchy Fattal Hotel Chain Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel. ISRAEL BONDS Build Israel Israel bonds - a multi-purpose way to celebrate Israel's 60th Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |

Real Estate in Israel

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved