Geddes Plan for Tel-Aviv centennial
Tel- Aviv’s first mayor Meir Dizengoff, recognizing the need for professional planning for his fast-growing city, commissioned Scottish sociologist, biologist and urban planner Sir Patrick Geddes, who had already worked in Jerusalem and Haifa and was sympathetic to the Zionist cause, to prepare the city’s first Master Plan, enabling its growth from 20,000 to 100,000 inhabitants.
Geddes had as his primary goal the creation of a modern garden city, one that respected the existing urban fabric. In order to understand the site’s unique characteristics, his first step was to conduct in-depth surveys, social, economic and environmental, encouraging public involvement and participation in the planning process.
Following his research Geddes proposed plan called for an orthogonal grid defined by pedestrian-friendly, tree-lined north-south and east–west boulevards, parallel and perpendicular to the Mediterranean coastline, responding to the city’s orientation – sun from the south, cool sea breezes from the west.
Defined by these boulevards were superblock neighborhoods, each with their own unique and distinct identity. Public gardens in their centers were surrounded by low-density housing. Narrow streets prioritized walkability, encouraging intimacy, discouraging thru traffic. Integrated were agricultural elements providing a source of produce as well as contributing to the city’s aesthetic appeal.
Included in his plan were important cultural institutions spatially concentrated such as the Habimah Theater and a town square – today’s Dizengoff Circle, tying the expanded city to the existing urban structure of Tel-Aviv and Jaffa, which he understood to be part of a regional whole.
Geddes envisioned a port and a major park situated at the city’s northern boundary along the Yarkon River. Years later, land allotted by Ben Gurion to Tel-Aviv Municipality, over time, became today’s Yarkon Park, the city’s superbly landscaped breathing space.
On the one hand rooted in thoughtful practicality, Geddes’ plan embodied a vision of a harmonious. green and community-oriented city. Submitted in 1925, a century ago, his plan was officially approved by the British Mandatory Government and Tel-Aviv Municipality in 1929, establishing Tel-Aviv as a modern city,
Amended many times over the last hundred years, the plan’s key principles can still be identified today, most especially in the area known as “The White City”- a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising some 4,000 buildings designed in the Early International Style, built within the framework of the Geddes Plan.
Regarded by many as the father of modern city planning, Sir Patrick Geddes significant contribution remains influential to this day.
Gerard Heumann – Architect and Urban Designer, Jerusalem
