Rapid development in a small country

 

Over 6.5million people live today in Israel – a country the geographic size of New Jersey yet more densely populated than India.  How Israel utilizes and safeguards its precious land resources is an urgent national challenge. As one of the world’s most densely populated countries with population rising at some 2.5 per cent annually, Israel will have to answer by 2020 the social and economic needs of nine million people.

 

Poorly planned and improper development is leading to accelerated suburbanization in Israel’s densely populated Central Region.  Economic pressures for urban development are leaving towns bereft of parks, gardens and play areas that are crucial to health and quality of life.

 

IUED believes that crucial changes in land use and open spaces protection policies, regulations and practices are essential if Israel is to reduce the negative social, economic and environmental consequences of rapid growth, fragmented development, and suburbanization of its ancient landscapes.

 

IUED aims to preserve and protect open spaces in the urban environment, on the urban fringe and in inter-urban areas by deploying an intensive strategy of targeted legal and planning interventions. We are also working for adherence to planning norms, for the development of new planning policies and for improvements in National Planning & Building law. We believe our combined actions will help bring about a more resilient framework to safeguard quality of urban life and to protect and preserve open spaces in Israel.