A Garden City and a Metropolis
Tel-Aviv was founded in 1909 in order to realize the Zionist dream of a 'Hebrew City', with a high standard of life and culture. The city started out as a garden suburb, modest and yet prestigious, with low houses set amongst greenery.
The town continued to grow during the British Mandate period, and five years after adopting the Geddes Plan in 1929 became a city.
Decisive world events such as the Second World War accelerated the realization of the Zionist dream and the establishment of the State of Israel; furthermore, the convenient location of Tel-Aviv further encouraged its rapid develoment, and the city's growth outmatched any attempts at city planning.
As a result, the period between the 1950s and 1970s saw the city 'betraying' its original architectural principles: overintensive development of the city resulted in a dead-end from several aspects.
This process was first reversed in the 1980s when attempts were made to return the city to its original planning principles, with a view to establish its status as a metropolitan center.
Effort was now made at drawing up plans and architectural guidelines which would resolve this apparent paradox.
The projects presented in these panels have been chosen as representative of Tel-Aviv's urban transformations as the city enters the 21st century - projects which address and resolve the apparent contradiction of a garden city that is also a metropolitan center.
Shevi Sagiv