Category Archives: Israel

One-Way Pairs: the Bad and the Ugly

Posted on 2012/04/08 by

One of Jane Jacobs’ prescient observations about bus service in The Death and Life is that one-way pairs, as practiced on the avenues in Manhattan, are bad for riders. Her argument was that one-way pairs require people to walk too … Continue reading →

Posted in Incompetence, Israel, New York, Transportation, Urban Transit | 19 Comments

Democratic Versus Elite Consensus

Posted on 2011/09/07 by

This is part 2 of my series on consensus, following Consensus and Cities. Early-20th century America was a nation with remarkable consensus about cities. The progressive reformers, the populists, and the environmental movement all agreed that cities were bad, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Consensus, Israel, Politics and Society | 9 Comments

Where Did You Grow Up?

Posted on 2011/08/05 by

The last few weeks’ posts on Old Urbanist made me think about what urban forms people prefer, and how it’s affected by what they are familiar with. Rather than speculate on what people in my social circle prefer, I yield … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, New York, Personal/Admin, Urban Design, Urbanism | 34 Comments

Organized Labor and the Housing Protest

Posted on 2011/08/03 by

In both the US and Israel, the power of organized labor is in decline, and union membership is increasingly restricted to public sector and legacy manufacturing employees, who are usually well-compensated and have a middle- or even upper-middle class income, … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, Labor, Politics and Society | 6 Comments

Affordable Housing

Posted on 2011/08/03 by

A new post on Old Urbanist linking to prior posts about housing affordability, both on his own blog and on New World Economics. The theme is that various design standards – the two sites’ main scourge is streets wider than … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, New York, Politics and Society, Urban Design, Urbanism | 23 Comments

Tel Aviv Protesters’ Demands

Posted on 2011/07/28 by

The protesters on the ground in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities are often disorganized, and lack coherent goals; many have claimed that the very presence of bottom-up protest is good enough on its own (which Israeli blogger Idan Landau … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, Politics and Society | 4 Comments

Rent Control

Posted on 2011/07/25 by

Tel Aviv’s housing protest grows, and Saturday night tens of thousands of protesters descended on HaBima Square, demanding rent control. Although I have yet to see media heavyweights on the left echo those demands – instead, they view it in … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, New York, Politics and Society, Urbanism | 19 Comments

Housing Protest Ongoing in Tel Aviv

Posted on 2011/07/21 by

Over the last week or so, protesters have been occupying HaBima Square in central Tel Aviv with tents, demanding cheaper housing. Prices in Israel have been rising sharply over the last ten years, especially urban housing prices, and new urban … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, Politics and Society, Urbanism | 13 Comments

Written in Concrete

Posted on 2011/06/16 by

This post was originally written in Hebrew by Shalom Boguslavsky, a social and political activist living in Jerusalem who blogs about Israeli politics at Put Down the Scissors and Let’s Talk About It. The views expressed here are those of … Continue reading →

Posted in Incompetence, Israel, Politics and Society, Transportation, Urban Transit | 3 Comments

Quick Note: Safe Streets, Safe Cities

Posted on 2011/06/15 by

Everyone should go read Jan Gehl’s post on Streetsblog about good urban design, excerpted from his book Cities for People. I have nothing to add, except to underline one part that’s often underrated among urbanists: the role of parked cars … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, New York, Pedestrian Observations, Urban Design, Urbanism | 6 Comments