Following Houston: Yehud Monosson Becomes a "Space City"

On February 22, 2019, at 8:00 p.m., the eyes of a large part of the Israeli public were fixed on the television screens, not because of coverage of election results or the finals of a reality show. They were watching the launch of the "Bereshit" spacecraft to the Moon, which the country was following with excitement mixed with great pride. Alongside the thrilling images of the launch, the broadcast focused on the control center of the spacecraft, with the caption "Yehud Monosson" at the bottom of the screen. This is because the control center was at the MBT campus of the Israel Aerospace Industries, which is located in the city of Yehud Monosson.

"It was a defining moment in the mind of the mayor, attorney Yaela Machlis, who decided to establish a think tank and a planning team to associate the city with the domain of space and brand it as a ’space and aviation city,’" explains Amnon Bouthz, head of the department employment and business areas at the Yehud Monosson economic enterprise. "At the end of extensive thinking, planning, and focusing, involving the city residents as well, it was decided to implement a concentrated effort under the management of Gil Simenhaus, the CEO of the Municipality, to brand all future employment zones in connection with the space industry, and to create an ecosystem of municipal action to support this strategic move. “This month we will launch a national campaign in the media introducing the new branding of the city: 'Yehud Monosson – city with space.’ A short promotional video will present the urban development taking place in the city from the perspective of space and aviation, with the aim of attracting investors, entrepreneurs and companies to the new employment zones that are being constructed."

Educational activity in collaboration with the Ramon Foundation
Associating the city with space and aviation is an upgrade of a familiar situation. Decades ago, most of its residents worked in the aerospace industry located in the vicinity of the nearby Ben-Gurion Airport, and mainly in the MBT campus of the Missile and Space Division, which designs and develops a variety of systems and is located in Yehud Monosson. A month ago, another satellite, half civilian and half military, was launched from the Spacecraft and Satellite Control Center located on the MBT campus in Yehud Monosson. And over the years, under the leadership of the city education department and its manager, Miri Or Gottfried, cooperation between the city and the campus has deepened, mainly in educational matters and through the education system: the issue of space runs as a red thread from kindergarten to high school.

"The education system in the city created a teaching method based on 'teams' which conveys and teaches space-related issues from a young age", explains Bouthz. "The Space Race program starts in preschool, in collaboration with the Ramon Foundation, where the children become acquainted with basic concepts in this field. From first to sixth grades, there is a Space Start-up program for children, also in collaboration with the Ramon Foundation, where students are divided into project teams. Some of the classes took part in the final competition of the school teams that was held in the International Convention Center in Jerusalem. For teams of children in the 7th-9th grades there are opportunities at the national level within the framework of the Space Olympics, which deals with astronomy and space, and they are guided by teaching staff and instructors from Maurice Kahan's space.il association, and by instructors from the Ramon Foundation. In high school, an enrichment program operates for 10th grade students in science tracks, where they learn concepts in astronomy and optics, alongside an advanced course on the solar system, stars, galaxies, and satellites. In the 11th grade, in the physics track, they already study about space, and in the 12th grade, the students in the scientific and technological tracks choose their final projects mostly in the domain of space."

Likewise, at the Ofek Center, the Make Lab employment complex operates a center for entrepreneurship and robotics financed by the municipality and established at the initiative of Avi Osfeld, an entrepreneur and activist in the field, who visits there every day. The center is operated by a professional team of volunteers, and people of all ages attend to develop products and ideas. At the formal level, the center offers training and enrichment courses for people from all over the country in areas related to business, innovation, and robotics, a combination that creates a dynamic of enterprise and development.

New neighborhoods and infrastructure development
The city of Yehud Monosson has about 34,000 residents, who make up about 10,000 households. Since 2013, the city has been headed by Attorney Maklis, who won the proper management award for the city. In 2017, Yehud Monosson was recognized by the Ministry of the Interior as a stable city, which allows it to manage its budget independently. In the same year, the credit rating agency Maalot raised the credit rating of the Yehud Monosson financing company to AAA+.

"Another factor that significantly affected the decision to focus on space industries is the umbrella agreement between the Yehud Monosson municipality and the government, signed in 2019, under which the government transfers NIS 1.25 billion to the city for the development of residential infrastructure and employment zones," says Bouthz, who, as part of his position, is responsible for promotion and working with businesses and companies operating in the city, as well as for planning and devising urban strategy for a mix of businesses. "We decided that the funds for the development of infrastructure in the employment zones will be directed toward the development of businesses related to the space industry. So far, the umbrella agreement has enabled us to invest approximately 300 million shekels in the development and renewal of infrastructure in the center of the old city, and the rest is intended for the development of the infrastructure of two new neighborhoods with employment zones in the west and east of the city. In parallel, the municipality is promoting, together with the state, the planning of an additional southern employment zone in the border area between us and Ben Gurion Airport, south of Route 461."

The two new neighborhoods described by Bouthz are Gadot in the west of the city, whose employment and commercial area will cover 320,000 square meters, and Magshimim, in the east of the city, where 290,000 square meters will be allocated for employment and commerce.

The Gadot neighborhood, which abuts the Savion intersection on Route 461, is already under construction, and over 1,100 housing units out of 4,100 have been marketed. Starting in mid-February, 30 dunams (7.4 Acres) of land are going to be marketed for employment and commerce. In the Magshimim neighborhood, which is currently in the planning phase, 3,100 housing units will be marketed.

"The two new neighborhoods were designed with the concept of ’15-minute city,’ according to which the residents will be able to satisfy all their everyday needs – employment, education, leisure, recreation, and green areas – within a 15-minute walking distance. The city is about to triple its size in the next decade, and we aim for most residents to be able to find work inside the city, in the new businesses that will be related to the field of space and aviation. This is most natural given the accessibility of the Northern Gate airport project, which is expected to be located on Route 461, near the Yehud Merkaz intersection."

Distinct industrial cluster
In Yehud Monosson, decision makers realized that one of the significant factors for infrastructure in the domains of space and aviation is high accessibility of server farms and data centers, and they aim to encourage entrepreneurs to establish such a server farm underground. In addition, in the next three years, they intend to establish in the city a museum and a visitor center dedicated to space, as well as a regional high school for space studies. "We are also going to build an urban park in the Gadot neighborhood, where the main motif of the facilities will be the worlds of space: slides in a space design, apparatuses simulating situations in space, telescopes that will be placed in green areas, and more," explains Bouthz. "According to the instructions of Mayor Maklis, we worked at headquarters to encourage the developing space and aviation industry to establish its residence in the city of Yehud Monosson, among others, by means of a differential property tax, which will be determined depending on the size of the areas purchased by companies in the new zones under construction.

"When planning employment zones, the best way is to create distinct industrial clusters with a common denominator, around which develops a belt of service providers representing complementary industries," he explains. "The market is going to invest in content in the areas of space, with research laboratories, logistics, assembly plants, production, and cutting – a wide range of types of industries – and we want to be there."

Center for entrepreneurship and acceleration in the field of space
Along the way to branding Yehud Monosson as a space and aviation city, many models of urban and regional branding were tested, starting with that of the city of Beer Sheva, which promoted the cyber industries, to foodtech in the northern region. “We have established contact with academia and industry to encourage them to cooperate with the city, especially in the area of education, to create an ecosystem that will drive the branding we have chosen," Bouthz explains. "For example, in the Big shopping complex in Yehud, we recently inaugurated an office tower. The municipality led the initiative for the companies occupying the tower to have access to the existing infrastructure on the MBT campus to promote their business, aiming to attract to the tower mainly companies from related fields."

The next project currently developing and intended to be launched soon in the city is an entrepreneurship and acceleration center in the field of space, where the Israel Aerospace Industries will invite start-up companies engaged in the areas of New Space to take part in the accelerator. At the same time, with the support of the municipality, a learning center will be established in various disciplines in the field, where students from Yehud Monosson will be able to visit, achieve further training, and participate in programs independently.

In conclusion, Bouthz states that although the city is located on the eastern edge of the metropolitan area, bordering the countryside, Yehud Monosson has several significant advantages: six light rail stations, which by 2027 will be distributed throughout the city and will allow easy access to it both from the north and from the south; Route 46, which will run from the southwest of the city to the northeast and connect to Route 6, passing over the city employment zone; a park-and-ride parking lot at the Tayassim junction, which is expected to be completed in 2027 and allow easy access for vehicles, and smooth entry into the employment zones.

In collaboration with Yehud Monosson Municipality