Redevelopment Policy | City Centre Jerusalem

The term "inner-city decline" is a well known phenomena, particularity in North American cities that have grown rapidly. Characterized by deteriorating old and often historic building stock, declining commercial activity, increased transient population and personal safety concerns, city vitality disappears. In short, areas that were welcoming places to visit are now shunned and avoided.

In 1995 the City of Jerusalem initiated a programme to reverse this trend, to renew the urban historic quality fabric and more efficiently utilize scarce land resources. There has been little new construction in past years and almost no new and modern residential buildings, offices, commercial and hotels in the city center, except for the Mamilla project adjacent to Jaffa Gate of the Old City.

Studies identified the decay process of the central area as primarily resulting from a lack of attractive conditions for new construction. The main factors are the State's moratorium on land ownership structure, characterized by multiple small lots and lack of agreement between national and local planning authorities on the appropriate concept for building in central Jerusalem, with the debate focusing on building height, historic preservation and shift from private to public transportation. The result was the stagnation of the statutory local area plans and the opportunity for new construction.

In order to consolidate projects, financing, implementation and decision making the Eden Company Downtown Development Corporation was created as a subsidiary of the Jerusalem Development Authority - which aims to coordinate activities and to guide the city center effort and pool municipal budgets from different departments for this activity. This made possible the targeting of development levies and betterment taxes owed from developments, to fund the activities of Eden and upgrade the public space.

Redevelopment Policy Plan | City Centre Jerusalem

Begun in 1995 and with the initiation and participation of the City engineer, the possibility of preparing a policy document and action plans to rehabilitate downtown was explored. From this effort a work plan was prepared setting out re-development principles and a specific planning program. In the next decade the plan focused on, transportation policies, building envelopes that increase density at the periphery of the center, redesign and rehabilitation of streets within the central area to create a consistent urban pedestrian quality with places to walk, sit, eat and participate in cultural events.

The scope of work included preparation of a programmatic framework, overseeing the statutory City Center Development Plan for the restoration and preservation of the City centre.

Client:	Jerusalem Development Company
Location:	City Center
Architect / Planner:	Mann \| Shenar
Economic Consultant:	Ze'ev Barkai
Completion:	1995-2008

Local Area Redevelopment Policy Plan | City Centre Jerusalem

Based on the Redevelopment Policy Plan, several more detailed local Area Redevelopment Plans of a size covering a number of city blocks were initiated by the City. The purpose was to study the historic buildings and streets, assess the redevelopment character, development potential and provide a more detailed framework for guiding and evaluating construction projects. Three areas are presented as examples:

The Armenian Compound

The area is referred to as the "Armenian Compound" as many of the historic buildings are owned by Armenians who live in the Old City. The boundaries of the plan area are; Jaffa Street (North), Independence Park (South), Shlomo Hamelek (east), and Nahalat Shiva (west), includes Coresh and Shimon Ben Shetach streets.

The area is a mix of residential/commercial structures up to 4 or 5 stories with some structures dating back to the late 19th century. As of 2005 there was approximately – 110,000 m² of developed space. The program includes the addition of about 37,000 m² of new buildings and building additions including office, commercial, residential and hotels. In addition, the program promotes the preservation of complete about six buildings including the historic Generali building, Post Office building and a national bank structure.

Client:	Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA)
Location:	City Center – west of City Hall
Architect / Urban Design:	Amatzia Aronson
Completion:	2005-2007

Havazelet Compound

The compound takes its name from the main historic street Havazelet which is the focus of the area. The boundaries of the plan are; Street Prophets (north), Jaffa Road (south), Queen Helena Street (East), Rav Kook Street (West).

The area is a mix of residential/commercial/ institutional structures up to 4 or 5 stories with some structures dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century. As of 2005 there was approximately – 60,000 m² of developed space. The program includes the addition of about 53,000 m² of new buildings and building additions including office, commercial, institutional and residential. In addition the program promotes the continued use of historic buildings, including building Sergei Building, Rothschild Hospital, home to the Hadassah College today, and additional rights to existing buildings. The program emphasizes the improvement of building facades to create a uniform environment throughout.

The prime objective was to regenerate downtown by adding building rights integrating the existing urban fabric while maintaining the historical character and rich identity.

Client:	Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA)
Location:	City Center – north of City Hall
Architect / Urban Design:	Danny Assayag
Completion:	2005-2007

Triangle Compound

The compound takes its name from its shape. The boundaries of the plan are; intersection of Jaffa (north), King George (east) and Independence Park (south), and includes Ben Yehuda pedestrian promenade.

The area was historically the commercial and shopping area in the pre-State period, and continued it dominance with café's and entertainment venues until the 1970's. It is a mix of commercial, residential and institutional structures up to 5 or 6 stories with some structures dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century. The program includes renovations and the addition of new buildings and building additions including office, commercial, institutional and residential.

The prime objective was to re-establish the historic entertainment "glory" and regenerate the business center focus downtown by re-populating the area with young urban people who prefer a living in proximity to active commercial streets, adding building rights and integrating the existing urban fabric while maintaining the historical character and rich identity.

Client:	Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA)
Location:	City Center
Architect / Urban Design:	Rosenfeld Arens
Completion:	2005-2007

Urban Street Redevelopment | City Centre Jerusalem

Having completed planning guidelines for Local Redevelopment Areas, the City created an implementation company Eden that would be responsible for financing the necessary below street municipal infrastructure and public areas that would facilitate the Local area development. This work entailed replacement of water and sewage infrastructure, electrical and communications, in roads, and the development of public areas. The street design and redevelopment was governed primarily by the new central City Transportation plan that included an emphasis on light rail transit, and de-emphasis of vehicles in the core area. Thus the center would become more accessible and comfortable for pedestrians.

The scope of work included managing the urban street design and the supervision of construction of streets, curbs, ornamental paving, urban furniture, lighting, service areas, waste removal all while the traffic system and pedestrian movement was maintained.

Work was undertaken in the period 2002-2008 for approximately $18M (72 M shekels), and required assembling a multidiscipline consultant team, an equally multidisciplinary steering committee, within the context of the relevant government and the municipality authorities. Three streets are presented as examples:

Ben Shetach Street

The planning decision was how to reconcile the vehicular access to a major government office complex and the desire to enhance and stimulate a pedestrian return to the historical street and unitize the potential of restaurants and night life. The final decision was to make Ben Shetach a pedestrian street, and allow the restaurants café's and entertainment enterprises to spill "outside" and creature a vibrant pedestrian life. A creative solution was found for the access of government employees to underground parking using electronic cards. This is a good example of mixing pedestrian s and vehicles in historical areas.

Client:	Eden
Location:	City Center
Landscape Architect:	Amatzia Aronson
Budget:	$2.5 M – 10 M shekels
Completion:	1995-2008

Hillel Street

Hillel Street historically was a "cross city center" artery that allowed traffic to bisect the city core. The traffic master plan for the core area determined that to bring people to the center, traffic circulation should be a "ring" system (like Paris), and therefore to discourage through traffic. It was decided to redefine Hillel into a pedestrian and vehicle area by designing a wide urban street with a narrow vehicle and service corridor and a pedestrians promenade with shaded seating. It is expected that the pedestrian oriented areas will general restaurants, cultural, and artistic shops.

Client:	Eden
Location:	City Center
Architect:	Moria Sekely
Budget:	$5 M – 20 M shekels
Completion:	1995-2008

Agrippas Street

Agrippas street historically provided access to the "Shuk" and the city core. With additional pedestrian access to the "shuk" being provided by the light rail transit the vehicle access to the core was redirected to the traffic ring. It was then possible to "connect" the "shuk" to the city core by re-creating pedestrian streets, and emphasizing "connection and direction".

Client:	Eden
Location:	City Center
Architect:	Yacov Molcho
Budget:	$2 M – 8 M shekels
Completion:	1995-2008