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16 Preserving Urban Heritage: From Old Jaffa to Modern Tel-Aviv
- Indiana University Press
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The city of Tel-Aviv–Jaffa is Israel’s metropolitan core and a dominant cultural center. Tel-Aviv–Jaffa is extraordinary in that it is among the few Israeli cities that incorporate preservation of the built environment as a principle in city planning and, in doing so, promote and institute successful preservation initiatives of large urban areas. In effect, TelAviv is at the forefront of local governments regarding the preservation activities it promotes. The city was the first in Israel to institute a local preservation policy regarding the conservation of Old Jaffa during the 1950s and early 1960s. In the 1990s, Tel-Aviv garnered local and international acknowledgement of the value of its modern architecture, culminating in UNESCO’s nomination of the “White City” in 2003 as a World Heritage Site. Old Jaffa and the White City are exceptional sites in the Israeli urban landscape, as their preservation is managed by the local government as part of the local development policy. Although many other Israeli cities have archeological and historic sites, few operate comprehensive preservation programs and even fewer succeed in integrating the historic districts into the living city. Moreover, it seems that Tel-Aviv is extending its preservation policy to new sites, as indicated by the recent conservation of the German colony of Sarona and the Ottoman train station in Jaffa. A closer look reveals, however, that the adoption of a preservation policy followed periods of inner debates and political struggles within the municipal government. Furthermore, each time the preservation issixteen Preserving Urban Heritage: From Old Jaffa to Modern Tel-Aviv Nurit Alfasi and Roy Fabian 328 Nurit Alfasi and Roy Fabian sue arose, primary administrators tended to reject it and fought for the adoption of a non-limiting development policy. As a counterforce, however , informal groups of actors from within and without the municipal administration influenced the powerful urban officials and enforced the adoption of a preservation policy by the municipality. In contrast to civil movements that pressure elected officials by raising public opinion, this essay shows how informal groups influence the urban administration and promote their ideology, viewpoint, and interests. We claim that such informal groups are a common mechanism in the local urban arena. In effect, the preservation of Jaffa in the early 1960s, as well as the preservation of the White City forty years later, occurred due to the performance of such informal alliances between private citizens and individuals from within the local government. This essay focuses on the contribution of ideological developers to the preservation of Old Jaffa and the White City. The term “ideological developer” describes a developer whose motivation is ideological as opposed to financial. The informal organizations that the ideological developer forms are termed circumstantial coalitions. The research exposes the unstable nature of these arrangements and highlights the differences and similarities in their emergence and operation. Thus, in addition to investigating the history of preservation in Tel-Aviv, we attempt to contribute to the study of urban politics in general and to the discourse regarding the process of governance in particular.1 Our research sheds light on the way individuals acquire power and influence at the urban level. Especially, we explore the way they transform their views into governing policies and manage to aim, plan, and act. We claim that these informal actors make a fundamental contribution to policymaking in local governments, as the selected cases of preservation in Tel-Aviv demonstrate. This essay begins with a brief introduction to urban regime and the role of governing coalitions at the local level and then turns to the case studies of preservation in Tel-Aviv: the preservation of Old Jaffa and the White City. In both cases we stress the crucial role of informal supporters and the circumstantial coalitions they establish with officials and politicians in order to promote their ideas. Finally, we elaborate on the operation of the circumstantial coalitions and examine their strategies. [18.224.53.202] Project MUSE (2024-04-18 00:36 GMT) 329 Preserving Urban Heritage Regime Theory and the Case of Tel-Aviv Regime theories, associated with the works of Clarence Stone and Stephen Elkin, deal with the political powers that operate at the urban level.2 In the American city, business groups and local government administration are mutually dependent, and the interaction between them is necessary for managing the local level. Governing capacities in U.S. cities derive from formal as well as informal networks and are relatively stable and enduring in nature.3 Similar...