Is Urban Regeneration in Israel a Tragedy or a Common?

Abstract

“The tragedy of the commons” illuminates the tension between two opposing forces that are at work in urban society and space during contemporary urban regeneration: mobility and growth on the level of individuals as they maximize their abilities on the one hand, and the decline and deterioration of cities on the other hand. Based on a data-driven analysis of the spatial and economic changes occurring in Bat Yam, a suburban city in Israel’s Tel Aviv metropolitan area, as well as on a qualitative study (n = 25) with professionals, this chapter proposes conceiving of the work of professionals leading urban regeneration as a ceaseless effort to balance the commons, but with no sufficient tools or backing. In their eyes, the city had no other economic way out when it commenced the regeneration process more than a decade ago, although it now appears that the apartment owners, the developers, and the political leadership are leading the city into a situation of over-planning and a state of uncertainty. The research contributes mainly to the understanding of the impact of market forces on disadvantaged towns, which are liable to collapse beneath the burden of the need to provide services and overloaded infrastructure as the population density increases.

1. Introduction

According to the theory of “the tragedy of the commons,” free access to and unlimited demand for a resource necessarily result in its destruction through over-exploitation. It is a tragedy because all members of the human race, by nature, act to the best of their ability, and in a wholly rational manner, to maximize their profit from the public domain, and in the process are also party to its exploitation until it is too late, and the resource is exhausted. We propose examining contemporary urban regeneration in Israel using the concept of “the tragedy of the commons” to illuminate the tension between two opposing forces that are at work in urban society and urban space in Israel: mobility and growth on the level of individuals, as they maximize their abilities; and the decline and deterioration of cities, particularly the disadvantaged among them, which, as the population density increases, collapse beneath the burden of overloaded infrastructure and the need to provide services.

In our research on urban regeneration, we focused on the city of Bat Yam, Israel, which is currently ranked last among large cities in Israel in terms of quality of life and is simultaneously leading the country in the approval of building requests for urban regeneration [1]. In Israel, urban regeneration is based primarily on privately owned homes; therefore, starting and maintaining the process requires the involvement of apartment owners. In conjunction with developers, they advance the projects involving their apartments to improve their living environment and increase the value of their property [2]. In high-demand areas and on their margins, where developers seek opportunities for profit, the apartment owners choose or are compelled to advance the redevelopment of their apartments along with their neighbors in their buildings. The municipality advances development plans in accordance with its policy and its vision (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

A view of Bat Yam. Picture by Roi Boshi, 2020.

To provide background, we collected data from a variety of information sources, and we analyzed the spatial and the economic changes occurring in the city of Bat Yam and their demographic implications. In this chapter, we present the findings of qualitative research we conducted with 25 officials involved in the process of urban regeneration in Bat Yam, including planners in the municipal planning department, members of the local and district planning and building committees, assessors, developers, apartment sales reps, and real estate agents. The findings of this research indicate that, in the eyes of the professionals, the city had no alternative economic route more than a decade ago but to commence the regeneration process, although it now appears that the apartment owners, the developers, and the political leadership are leading the city toward a state of over-planning and uncertainty. The professionals engaged in leading urban regeneration are working to balance the commons, but they lack the tools and backing required to do so.

The chapter begins with background on entrepreneurial urban regeneration in Israel followed by a presentation of the research site and methodology. The findings section presents the perspective of professionals on the urban regeneration process in Bat Yam. The conclusion discusses the question of whether the process in Israel constitutes a tragedy of the commons.

2. Literature review: private market-driven urban regeneration

The 1980s witnessed the onset of the establishment of a Neoliberal trend in urban regeneration in cooperation with private elements [3] as a way of maximizing the market value of lower value neighborhoods and attracting private investment [4]. The public system assumed that the development of private assets would lead to a rejuvenation of urban spaces [5, 6, 7], increased demand for sites in city centers, and improvement of the appearance of the city and the economic activity it contains [8]. Therefore, to an increasing extent, the market has become responsible for the planning, financing, and implementation of regeneration on urban land with high-profit potential, which is typically populated by disadvantaged residents. This trend has been accelerating since the 2008 mortgage crisis in the United States and the intensification of financialization and investment in real estate over the past decade [9].

From the perspective of the private sector, urban regeneration sites in the neglected city centers are considered to be realms of risk and uncertainty, due to the absence of proven demand for new expensive buildings in these areas and to the involvement of many different actors [10]. Regeneration in city centers usually requires government and municipal intervention to stimulate the activity of the market by means of incentives [11]. As a result, public planning policy, which advances urban regeneration, deals primarily with increasing the efficiency of the planning system, accelerating the process of land acquisition, and using planning as a lever for reintroducing run-down sites to the land market [12].

The visual framework regulating the public-private partnership in spot planning is known as the “planning deal” [5, 13, 14]. This is a reference to the agreement between the municipality and the developer, in which the developer takes upon itself planning obligations, public building undertakings, or increased taxation in exchange for building rights [15]. Development based on urban regeneration plans conducted within the framework of planning deals has been the subject of significant criticism. Scholars have been critical of the policy of market-driven urban regeneration as fragmented planning that does not effectively integrate public needs [16]. The phenomenon of large numbers of spot plans and reduced long-term comprehensive planning has been suspected of playing a role in doing injury to public interests [17, 18]. Scholars have argued that this is not a strategy for the development and establishment of infrastructure in urban areas, with the exception of the regeneration of individual housing sites, and has emptied the goals of city planning of all content [19, 20, 21].

From a social perspective, gentrification is perceived as an inseparable part of the process, with the goal of bringing investment and members of the middle class back to the central parts of the city, at the expense of the local population [22, 23, 24, 25], through “creative destruction” [26]. The research literature identifies a gap between the profit of developers and strong population groups on the one hand, and the injury done to disadvantaged and low-income populations [27] on the other hand; urban redevelopment, it is argued, is an effective tool for accelerating regeneration, but not for achieving equitable development [28], as it involves the dispersion of communities in public housing [29] and detrimentally impacts community cohesion in working-class neighborhoods [30]. Broad discussion has revolved around the original residents’ displacement from their homes during processes of urban regeneration [9, 31, 32].

On the other hand, several researchers have argued that the phenomena of gentrification and displacement are not as widespread as people tend to think [32, 33, 34, 35]. Freeman [33] suggests that displacement and higher mobility play minor roles as forces of change in gentrifying neighborhoods. According to his research in the urban United States, demographic change in gentrifying areas results from lower rates of intra-neighborhood mobility and the relative affluence of in-movers. Hamnett [35] argues that it may be more appropriate to view the gentrification-induced displacement in London between 1961 and 2001 partly as a replacement resulting from the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial urban economy. Shaw [36] finds that when the gentrification and displacement do occur, they are not necessarily negative, as the displaced move to neighborhoods in which they can find better housing for cheaper rent. Easton et al. [37] argue that in the absence of longitudinal data regarding individual income, it is impossible to say whether the reduction in the number of the most poor in the neighborhood stems from their migration or from the fact that they are benefitting from the socioeconomic improvement of the region [38, 39]. They also maintain that, because the elements associated with Neoliberalism differ from country to country and place to place, they are difficult to use in a generalizing manner in order to understand gentrification-like processes on the local level [40].

In Israel, many apartment owners are party to the process of urban regeneration and therefore profit from their improved living conditions and the increase in the value of their property [41]. Mualam et al. [42] quantified the economic profit of all the actors in projects conducted under National Outline Plan 38 (commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym “Tama” 38) and showed the many benefits to the apartment owners, in addition to the displacement of renters from Raze-and-Rebuild projects [43]. They also found a direct link between the long-time residents’ mode of activity—selling or renting—at Raze-and-Rebuild sites after their regeneration, and real estate values [44]. That is to say, in the Israeli case, the research found different patterns of action than the classic displacement and gentrification [45].

The tension between these two perspectives, the good of the individual, as pursued in urban regeneration in Israel, and the reduction of the overly general view—that is, injury to the general good—led us to ask whether urban regeneration could be examined using the theory of the “tragedy of the commons.” It is customary to explain this theory using the analogy of a fishpond in a small village. If each of the village residents fishes to his or her heart’s content without taking others into consideration, their extensive fishing would, in practice, be detrimental to the fish’s reproduction, and, ultimately, all the residents of the village, including themselves, would go hungry. Even as the urban system is collapsing under the current abundance of individual residential regeneration projects of residents and developers and the need to provide services, this chapter asks whether this is a blind race based purely on the subjective logic that every individual member of the human race by nature acts to the best of their ability to maximize their profits from the public space. In this case, does not the unlimited demand for the resource (urban land) lead to its own exhaustion due to over-exploitation? Will a change in the management of common resources, in a manner that is beneficial to the general public, occur before it is too late? Are Bat Yam and other cities in Israel facing a tragedy of the commons?

3. Methodology

Bat Yam is located on the Mediterranean coast in the first ring of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area. It has an area of 816 dunams and a population of 129,000 [46]. For the sake of comparison, Tel Aviv is home to 3.5 times the number of residents and has 6.3 times the area. In other words, Bat Yam is almost twice as densely populated as Tel Aviv. It also has a cumulative deficit and a low average income in comparison with Israel’s major cities [47].

The population of Bat Yam leads the poverty indexes vis-à-vis the metropolitan and the national average; it is also home to a significant percentage of elderly residents, recipients of state support, and immigrants living in crowded conditions. The population indices for the city (Socioeconomic Cluster 5) reflect a particularly high concentration (20%) of residents over the age of 65, most of which receive state support, and a relatively small percentage of young residents. The rate of academic education is lower than the national average (22.8 versus 28.4%), and the rate of those receiving unemployment benefits and earning minimum wage is higher than the national average. The immigrant population in Bat Yam today accounts for 33% of the total population, which is markedly higher than that of the metropolitan area and double the national average (16%). The percentage of apartment renters is also high, standing at 35.8%, in comparison with a national average of 27.6% (Table 1) [48].

Criterion		Bat Yam	Holon	Rishon Lezion	Tel Aviv	Nationwide
Demog. Profile	Avg. Household Size	2.6	2.8	3.1	2.1	3.2
	% Age 0–17	20	25	25	19	33
	% Age 65+	19	15	11	14	10
	% 1990 Immigrants + of Total Pop.	33	17	18	13	16
Edu. and Employment	% with; Academic Education	19	20	24	37	23
	% with; Matriculation Cert.	23	27	27	25	23
	% in Civic Workforce	60	64	68	70	60
	% of Employees; Earning up to Min. Wage	32	27	25	27	31
	Avg. Wage of Employees (NIS), 2010	6,938	8,621	9,896	10,837	7,921
	% Recipients of Unemployment and Income Sec. Benefits, 2011	2.4	1.4	1.5	1.6
Ownership of Sustainable Products	% of Households; with at Least One Car	48	66	74	60	62
	% of Households; with Two or More Cars	8	20	29	17	19
	% of Households; with a Personal Computer	64	73	81	79	71
	% of Households; with Internet Service	94	94	96	95	91
Housing	% Living in; Owned Apt.	64	71	73	45	66
	% Living in; Rented Apt.	33	26	24	48	26
Socio-Econ. Measures	Socio-Economic; Cluster	6	6	7	8
	Dependency Ratio; (per 1000)	716	728	641	549	838
	Gini Coefficients	0.37	0.41	0.43	0.48	0.39

Table 1.

Characteristics of Bat Yam residents in comparison with neighboring cities before implementation of urban regeneration.

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, Local Authorities in Israel, 2011.

Implementation of the Raze-and-Rebuild plans for urban regeneration that are currently being advanced within the planning system will result in the addition of 26,000 housing units to the city’s already existing 50,000 units, and a population growth of approximately 50%. In the absence of vacant land, this means that population density will grow accordingly. Some 12,000 old housing units in Bat Yam are currently taking part in urban regeneration, meaning that approximately one-third of the apartments in the city today are involved in a regeneration project of some kind. On average, the number of housing units per lot in Raze-and-Rebuild projects increases fourfold, and under National Outline Plan 38 (the government plan for protecting buildings against earthquakes, including reinforcing the building and adding additional built space to the existing building), it increases by a factor of 1.7. Under National Outline Plan 38/2 (a plan for reinforcing buildings from earthquakes that allows for a building’s demolition and re-construction), the number of housing units increases by an average factor of 3.4 (Figure 2) [49].

Figure 2.

An example of an urban regeneration site, among many others. Picture by the author, 2022.

In the course of 2021, we conducted a qualitative study in Bat Yam that included tours in the city and semi-structured interviews (n = 25) with officials and others involved in the planning, approval, marketing, and sale of the apartments in the regeneration projects. We selected the interviewees individually, and we contacted them for this purpose on our own initiative in an effort to understand the public motivations for promoting redevelopment in the city. This included 10 past and present managers and employees from the municipal engineering department and the urban regeneration administration: 3 assessors and economists, 2 members of the district and local planning and building committees, 2 planners from the neighboring municipality of Tel Aviv, 1 municipal welfare worker, and 7 developers, sales reps, and real estate agents. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed.

4. Findings: Tragedy of the commons?

4.1 A life-saving medication

The study interviewees pointed out the fact that the point of departure of the planning work in Bat Yam, when urban regeneration got underway approximately 15 years ago, was that construction and development constituted the life-saving medication for the city. They said that without engaging in construction and demolition, the city would continue to decline and deteriorate. We heard that “in another two decades there will be twenty million people here. Hundreds of thousands of housing units will need to be added to the Tel Aviv metropolitan area in the coming years, and the crowding will continue to increase” (L.) The thinking was that Bat Yam should take full advantage of the construction: “This will allow us to leverage processes of change of which the city is in need. If we do not do so, the infrastructure will remain as it is, the buildings will remain and continue to deteriorate, and the disparity between Bat Yam and other cities will only continue to grow” (N.).

In Bat Yam, the way to engage in regeneration was to re-plan and rebuild: “It is not without its problems, but it is preferable to leaving the status quo” (P.), as “what exists is not good. There are many problems with the status quo, in infrastructure, in people’s lives, in the city’s ability to be what we would have liked it to be. The way to change it is through the implementation of urban regeneration” (N.). Urban regeneration, the interviewees maintained, is “the only existing alternative” (L.). Therefore, striving for improvement was perceived to be a worthy aspiration, and city planning was the main tool for doing so.

4.2 Striving for the common good

Urban regeneration in Bat Yam has been based on strategic plans that were approved in 2009 and that constituted the main working document. The strategic plan asked the following questions: What is the municipal capacity? How should it be distributed among the neighborhoods? And, what scope should be planned for in order to reach it? One conclusion reached by the team of professionals working on the plan was the fact that, although Bat Yam is one of the most densely populated cities in Israel, it is not densely populated enough: “That is to say, its density was not good enough, and it was crowded with people, but nothing else” (L.). The professionals viewed urban density as a planning ideal with economic and environmental justifications as well. The interviewees used density to describe efficiency in the management of city infrastructure and resources. As a result, the plan called for increasing density in the most deteriorated places in the city that are in need of regeneration more than others, or where there is already enough infrastructure, such as public or regional institutions located close to main transportation arteries, or where development could stimulate the city’s economy.

Urban regeneration was a tool for improving existing infrastructure, physical and social alike. From the perspective of the local municipality, it was an opportunity to create more attractive public spaces, to bring more public transportation to the city, to renovate the city center that had atrophied, and “to upgrade built environments that for years had been in a run-down state” (A.). At the same time, some of the interviewees noted that the planning team’s Neourbanist approach to compact urbanism fit like a glove: “We told ourselves that we were not simply destroying the neighborhood, and we justified it, from a planning perspective, as an improvement to the quality of city life” (S.).

A main principle of urban regeneration has been to plan as much space for employment and commercial use as possible, in order to offset the additional housing units in terms of local property tax revenue (arnona). In Israel, the taxation of employment space is the primary tool possessed by municipal authorities to improve the urban economy, as opposed to residential space, which is deficit. As the city’s economic situation was poor to begin with, the planning aspiration was to produce employment space (S.). However, in the conditions that existed when the plan got underway, it was extremely difficult to attract investors to build office buildings in the city, and therefore, large amounts of residential space were also added: “If there is a city that is in good economic condition, this may raise the question: Why spoil it with more housing units? But part of what we wanted to do was to change the balance” (N.). Another argument was that the regeneration of housing would bring employment, “as it is a complete image package, and the more new buildings there were, the greater the chance the office buildings will have to be built” (O.).

4.3 The new social

The interviewees repeated the fact that the municipality’s situation had been nothing to speak of from the outset and that the situation of the residents, the owners, and the renters alike was also not good: “Life in buildings that are falling apart, with terrible services and a chronic lack of funding, is not a good life. People sign and are part of the processes because they do not like the status quo” (N.). Urban regeneration made it possible to improve the state of residential buildings that were in poor condition and that residents were unable to maintain and a municipality without resources (L.). In terms of private profit, the apartments taking part in the regeneration projects will enjoy a new or renovated reinforced building with an elevator and an enlarged apartment. In addition, regeneration is also perceived as being beneficial in that it “lifts up the people economically” (S.). That is, the interviewees pointed out that they regard the planning work as making a social contribution by both improving the living conditions of the residents and raising the value of their property: “It is a different conception of social” (S.). Moreover, the interviewees regarded the positive impact of regeneration as also influencing the neighborhood residents whose homes are not undergoing regeneration, “because they create new surroundings” (L.), or, in other words, because “some earn more than others, but no one gets left behind” (N.), and “because it is unavoidable that, ultimately, the buildings that have not yet gotten organized will also undergo regeneration” (S.).

On the other hand, the interviewees were also aware of the extent of the injury sustained during the process and said that, in practice, the distribution of rights in the city is not carried out equitably, but rather depends on the self-organization of the residents vis-à-vis the developers. The buildings that advance in the process receive the construction rights, and those that do not do so suffer from a blockage of light and air: “They will dig them in from all sides, and the building is no longer in its early days, it is already falling apart itself. There is real concern here” (R.). In other words, they told us that “regeneration makes shade, but not on the person who receives the apartment, rather on those who do not” (S.), that economic motivations were stronger than the need to reinforce the buildings, and that the entire population loses more than it gains: “It is an accident of sorts over which market forces took control. There is nothing here beyond the tool for making a profit, and the general population pays for it on all possible levels. The vacuum from which the planners emerged was entered by market forces” (H.).

4.4 Regeneration “on speed”

Over the years since the approval of the strategic plan, most of the planning work in Bat Yam has focused on the question of whether spot planning on the ground is coordinated with the overall framework. Due to the relatively low land values in the city, the market needed to be stimulated. Therefore, in practice, the interviewees said, almost everything that made it onto the table was advanced: “The attempt was to march this city to become a wheel that would start to move on its own and produce attractiveness to create an engine that works” (P.). The assumption was that the majority would be unable to advance toward implementation and that it would therefore be necessary to approve many so that some were implemented. When the city began a planning drive, the question of when to stop approving plans, or “what should be done on the day it is necessary to say no” arose (N.).

Unlike the Raze-and-Rebuild plans that are implemented with high intensity construction that is necessary to bring about a fundamental change, projects conducted under National Outline Plan 38/1 are limited to reinforcing the existing buildings. Although the possibility of reinforcement could have been an effective tool for maintaining the existing texture and effecting a more equitable division of development, the feeling was that urban regeneration in such a city was “on speed” (R.). Almost all reinforcement projects are approved, and “the feeling is very chaotic, like a pressure cooker” (S.). The interviewees said that “Tama at the existing intensiveness is destructive” (A.), that the city was not prepared for large numbers of constructions sites in dense areas, and that requests for permits are not integrated with one another. The outcome is that “there is not enough parking, sufficient space is not left between buildings, the interface with the street is not dealt with as it should be, and the quality of life of the residents suffers” (A.).

The interviewees noted out that the building standards employed in reinforcement projects are lower and the density created is too high. One noted that “these are crazy situations that cannot be accommodated” (R.), and another stated that “ultimately, they receive cages. It’s a terrible thing” (A.). In addition, during the process itself, the residents “actually live in dangerous construction sites” (H.). Some interviewees told us that “if people knew ahead of time, they would not start it” (Z.), that “these are poor projects” (M.), and that they cause “not only damage to the commons, but also to the residents’ quality of life. Everyone here fell asleep at the switch” (K.). Nonetheless, “it is a situation that cannot be stopped. They are approving plans and they will [continue to] approve plans, because there is no other solution. It is an extremely unsuccessful building solution provided for a population that is not managing to maintain the building” (D.). Ultimately, however, the interviewees stated that “our ability to intervene on the level of property is not great” (M.), and that “it can be explained to them as much as they want, but they are dealing with the developer, and the developer hardly sees them” (P.).

4.5 The private good versus the public good

The interviewees said that when the team of professionals suggests setting rules for the plans, a mixture of uses, height limitations, and conditions for the public good, the residents usually complain to them that they are delaying implementation: “First and foremost, they are looking at their apartment, and they get annoyed at anything delaying them” (M.). The interviewees frequently hear residents say things like: “Why are you even asking us? Do Raze-and-Rebuild. Don’t ask the people, because this will only delay the plans. Raze everything” (L.). But when the professional team proposes a more minor regeneration alternative, such as the municipality itself implementing a Raze-and-Rebuild plan that does not increase the area of their apartments or allocate space for private shops, with the aim of reducing the built mass and the height, or the municipality leading the project, as opposed to a private developer, the residents say: “What are you talking about? The developer already promised us an additional 40 square meters per apartment” (L.). That is to say, the interviewees hold that the result is a mixture of the Neoliberal approach of “let me maximize my profit” (R.) on the one hand, and the residents’ expectation that the municipality will assume responsibility for the whole thing, safeguarding the surrounding area and the occupants, and, most importantly, not allowing the apartment owners to end up with bad developers.

Some of the interviewees stressed the involvement of politicians in the work of the professional staff as adding to the chaotic situation. “The politicians tell us: you recommend, but we decide. This weakens us vis-à-vis the residents” (B.). We heard the assertion that planning today is motivated by “the developers’ pressuring politicians, and the pressure of residents who understand the game” (H.); that “anything goes and there are almost no rules” (Y.); and that “one hand washes the other” (M.). The interviewees repeated the fact that uncertainty is the hardest part of planning behavior in the city for all parties. “The management frequently changes its mind according to different interests and does not provide backing to the professional teams in a uniform manner. This creates a dynamic nature that is not healthy for the city” (P.). Without the approval of clear policy documents, no planning certainty can be established, and this is detrimental to the proper functioning of the processes of change and creates an unrealistic torrent of expectations.

The interviewees also made arguments against the state, saying that there was no economic support for urban regeneration like there was for the establishment of new settlements. Regeneration could be organized, limited in scope, and better suited to the urban capacity and not come at the expense of the rights of residents. They complained of a severe shortage of human resources and jobs, resulting in an ongoing dynamic of putting out fires. Some focused on the fact that there is no correspondence between the required infrastructure and the intensity of the development: “The public puts pressure on the housing, but in the end there will be no infrastructure, and people will say – someone here didn’t do their job” (H.). This quote reflects the conviction that, on the metropolitan level, employment and services should be distributed in a manner that reduces travel and balances the local economy. “In the existing system, however, every city plans for itself according to its [own] needs” (H.), without an integrated vision. This was the reason the city began the massive process of urban regeneration from the outset.

5. Discussion and conclusions

As a result of higher housing density and the lack of income-generating space, in addition to a reduction in government funding in recent decades, Bat Yam is in an ongoing state of being unable to function. The stronger population has left the city, and the built environment has continued to decline. In this situation, the city’s management regards private market-driven urban regeneration as the only way of improving living conditions, attracting a young population, and effecting a flow of income into the municipal treasury. The municipality works tirelessly to achieve this goal. However, as we have learned from this study, in the event of a chronic shortage of human resources and an inability to shoulder all the expenses of the anticipated investments in infrastructure, services, and public purposes, the success of regeneration depends on restraint.

As a result of the sharp rise in housing costs in Israel over the past few years, real estate developers have identified the profit potential and have forcefully pushed ahead with urban regeneration. Along with them, the apartment owners in Bat Yam’s run-down neighborhoods have been provided with an economic springboard. Local politics play a role in this state of affairs, and a feeling of planning uncertainty prevails in the city. Many plans and permits are on the table concurrently, and the array of considerations is not devoid of external pressures. Although regeneration got underway with an organized strategic plan, this study shows that, in practice, Raze-and-Rebuild plans are not integrated, in terms of scope and location, with the permits issued under National Outline Plan 38, which in themselves create low-quality construction situations. In addition, the pace of development of the necessary infrastructure does not constitute a condition for the approval of plans, creating real concern that the city’s anticipated population growth will not be provided for properly.

With regard to the question of whether this is “a tragedy of the commons,” in which each individual maximizes their profit from the public good until the point that it harms their chances and their quality of life, we offer answers on three levels: the level of individual building, the city level, and the level of the metropolitan area.

On the level of the individual building, residents seek to maximize their profit. Even if they are aware of the lack of balance vis-à-vis their neighbors in the surrounding buildings and the pressure on the public infrastructure that will result, each of them continues to seek their profit. Moreover, they even prefer larger projects with a broader impact, as these projects promise greater certainty and a greater return. The municipality is expected to balance the needs of everyone, but when this is done, municipal employees are accused of holding up the advancement of the plans and imposing too many requirements.

On the city level, urban regeneration is perceived not as a war over limited resources, but rather as a product of the resource. We can compare the situation to a fish pond: when the regeneration began approximately 15 years ago, the pond had already been emptied, and the goal of the urban regeneration was to cause water to flow back into it to bring it back to life. The professional officials in the city are certainly aware of their role of balancing the different desires and acting for the public good. However, this is precisely why they are being accused by the public. Therefore, the pressure of the developers, the residents, and the politicians is leading the city into a chaotic state of uncertainty.

On the level of the metropolitan area, in the absence of integrated aims, capacities, and the division of income among the cities, every city must take care of itself, like on the free market. As we have seen, this approach leads the city into an immense whirlpool of pressures with high costs.

This study indicates that the major points requiring attention when promoting urban regeneration are as follows: first, integration and coordination between the planning and the licensing departments to achieve balance among the various plans; second, an increased quantity of human resources in the municipalities; third, strengthening the professional authority of the planning teams; fourth, creating certainty through the approval of policy documents or an overall plan for urban regeneration; fifth, integration between the needs of the cities in the metropolitan area and the equitable distribution of income, building intensity, and density; and sixth, compatibility in the time table between the required infrastructure on the national level and development on the ground.

The phenomenon described here, with local changes, is consistent with processes of urban regeneration in other cities in Israel, albeit at a lower intensity. In practice, it is apparently characteristic of additional professional systems in the country, which lack the backing and funding of the state. Therefore, in an ongoing state of change and uncertainty, as is typical of urban regeneration, the conclusions of this study should be taken into consideration in order to ensure that Israel is not facing a tragedy of the commons.