Judaism and the Environment:
What is the true worth of green space?
The plans now under discussion for building up Hayarkon Park - including adding bridges over it and running a high tension line through it - prove once again that Israeli local council leaders, government offices and planning officials have not yet understood the importance of having open green spaces in urban areas and they are unable to provide the necessary protection for them. Hayarkon Park is not the only example. There are also plans to pave roads through the Jerusalem Forest and build a gas storage facility there and in Ayalon Park, scheduled to open at the southern entrance to Tel Aviv, municipal planning officials hope to finance the park's construction by granting building rights for areas within it.
Each of the building plans for Hayarkon Park will have a negative impact, but
most troubling is their cumulative affect. Situating large infrastructure works,
like bridges and high tension lines, inside the park is totally contrary to the
nature of open areas intended to provide a relaxing refuge from the noise and
traffic of the city. It will disrupt the park's appearance which is meant to
preserve a green ribbon, uninterrupted at any point by wires and electricity
poles.
Any of the plans currently under discussion, such as building an events hall or
a McDonald's, would transform Hayarkon Park into yet another commercial center.
In the future, all sorts of entrepreneurs will want to further exploit its
promising potential to attract consumers of fast food and other products.
Each of these plans, of course, has a wide range of justifications. The high
tension wire is essential for the electricity supply of the Dan region, says the
Israel Electric Company, and the bridges will improve transportation access,
says the Tel Aviv municipality. The commercial construction will help the
municipal corporation that runs the park maintain its income.
However, other solutions can be found for infrastructure works. For example, it
is possible to run the high tension wire below ground and avoid having to place
pillars and wires inside the park. All of this, naturally, costs money, as does
ongoing park maintenance, but can someone in the Tel Aviv municipality or at the
planning agencies estimate how much an untouched Hayarkon Park is worth to the
residents of Tel Aviv and the Dan region and compare that to the cost of
maintaining or installing underground infrastructure? The answer is of course
no, because in Israel, not one official entity seriously has taken the time to
evaluate the range of advantages of green areas or to calculate their financial
importance.
Hadarom Park, which is supposed to be the largest green space in Tel Aviv
(almost 10,000 dunams), is likely to be a magnet for tourism and economic
activity, thanks to its transformation into a large park where there will be
only leisure or sports-related construction, such as facilities for sports or
horseback riding.
The same applies to the Jerusalem Forest which was recently cut into from all
sides by construction. Surveys recently conducted by green organizations pointed
out that it is possible to organize activities in the bosom of nature on a much
larger scale than what has been going on until now and also attract
ultra-Orthodox visitors who until now stayed away from such areas.
The green areas increase the value of nearby apartments and can help the process
of urban renewal and encourage social encounters among different population
groups. They attract thousands of visitors and substantially increase the
quality of life; people can walk in parks, engage in sports activities or just
look around and enjoy the mere fact of their existence.
The green areas also serve many climatic purposes. Research done around the
world, as well as in Tel Aviv, found that in green areas, the climate is cooler
and more pleasant than in built-up urban areas that emit heat stored up from the
sun's rays. Urban parks also frequently serve as a buffer between environmental
blights (noise, smells and air pollution) and residential areas.
In the United States, government officials and private entrepreneurs understood
the economic and social viability of developing green areas in urban locations.
Today there are even special taxes to generate funds for investing in the
purchase of private lands and transforming them into parks, as well as public
funds for preserving green tracts. An American expert on preserving open space
noted that the green space should be considered part of a city's vital
infrastructure, just like a power station, electricity lines and roads.
Israel badly needs more such actions because of the serious shortage of open
green spaces for the increasingly congested population. A memorandum prepared
two years ago by the metropolitan Tel Aviv planning team noted that the
availability of green spaces inside the metropolitan area is very limited and
does not meet international standards. A survey conducted by the Israel Union
for Environmental Defense noted that the amount of open space available for
sports and leisure activities in Tel Aviv is 9.8 square meters per person, well
below the target figure of 22.5 meters per person.
One of proposals suggested by experts and now being implemented is the formation
of a fund to finance open spaces, to be based, among other things, on a fee to
be paid by entrepreneurs while working on a building project. In any place where
there is construction in open spaces, the fee paid will be used to fund the
purchase of additional open areas that will improve the entire population's
quality of life.
This article also belongs to the following subjects:
Judaism
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Judaism and the Environment
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