Conservation of open space is a difficult goal to achieve in a densely inhabited country such as Israel. Despite the efforts of Israel’s statutory planning bodies and the availability “on paper” of a plethora of planning and legal tools, development pressures often win out. More innovative tools, or a repackaging of tools, are therefore necessary. The purpose of this book is to offer Israeli decision makers and planners with a broader set of tools than are usually applied. The research project that led to this book was commissioned by the research department of the Jewish National Fund – a quasi-national body that is responsible for the maintenance of most of Israel’s forested areas and many of its parks. In this book we collage a broad range of open space conservation tools applied in various countries, assess each tool critically, and classify the set according to their preservation purposes. We then compare the tools available in Israel with the broad international set, point out the tools Israel lacks, and conclude with an assessment of the potential for adaptation of each to the Israeli context.
The research for this book was financed by a research grant from the Jewish National Fund.
The book was published by the Klutznick Center for Urban and Regional Studies and the Samuel Neaman Institute.
