Yehuda Gradus

Negev Center for Regional Development and Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Desert areas make up a third of the world's lands. In an era of increasing population growth, with possible shortages of food, arid zones will be the frontiers of future development, and proper strategies for planning man-built environments in desert areas may shortly become a major world concern. Established in 1948 on a territory that was two-thirds desert, with the urgent task of settling large numbers of new immigrants, Israel provides a case study of what happens when the modern man-built environment interacts with the desert. Israel's experience - both successes and failures - has much to contribute to the future development of other desert environments throughout the world.

This paper examines three settlement projects in Israel's Negev desert, in light of the urban and regional concepts applied in their planning and development. It becomes clear that preconceived urban models cannot simply be 'transplanted' to arid zones; cultural and environmental considerations are essential for the implementation of such projects. A change in attitude is necessary in the planning process in desert areas: moving from the preconceived to the responsive.

The first case-study deals with the regional planning strategy of the entire settlement system in the Negev. The preconceived concepts derived from Zionist ideology are examined, and the impact of the arid environment on the system's evolution and the ensuing readjustment of concepts are explored.

The second example deals with the urban planning concept of the internal structure of towns and neighborhoods in the desert, influenced by the "Garden City" model, why this concept failed, and how it later changed, due mainly to responsive environmental considerations.

The third case is that of planning for the indigenous Negev Bedouin - how planners perceived future urban environments for this population, and how the original models were readjusted in light of environmental and socio-cultural considerations.

Case One: The Settlement System of the Negev Selecting a strategy of optimal spatial distribution of settlement in an unpopulated frontier desert environment is still a theoretical issue in most countries, but for Israeli regional planners, it was a real and immediate challenge. Their plan, based on preconceived concepts derived from a ruralistic ideology, was to create balanced and integrated regions, each with a central urban core as a service center. These urban centers were to constitute a hierarchy of central places (Cristaller 1933), ranging from small urban centers to metropolitan areas. The policy objective was population dispersal and spatial equality rather than concentration - a rare case of urban system development based on a theory of spatial organization. However, in applying this plan, the physical desert environment was almost neglected. During the early 1950s, ten new towns were established in the Negev based on this preconceived concept of the dispersed hierarchical central place. By the early 1960s, it was evident that the economic development of the towns could not be based on service-provision to surrounding rural areas, and there was no significant interaction with the few, small agricultural settlements that had developed. The towns offered only a low level of health, educational and cultural services and inadequate physical urban planning, and suffered from high unemployment and widespread poverty.

It was clearly crucial to adopt a development strategy more appropriate to the desert environment. The industrialization of the Negev towns, the expansion of regional industrial complexes, and the spread of private and government investment, created a demand for a more efficient pattern of service provision. Beer Sheva emerged as the natural center for the entire Negev, where the regions' large employers located their headquarters. The government recognized the need to develop the city. Beer Sheva was declared the capital of the Southern District, and regional government offices were located there, providing thousands of service jobs. A new central medical hospital serving the entire Negev was established in 1962. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev was founded in 1965 as a scientific base and training center for professional workers for regional industry, education and health services.

The Negev urban system now functions as an integrated metropolitan unit. Instead of a continuity of built up areas, there are 'islands' of small and medium-sized urban communities and industrial complexes, connected by a network of roads. Analysis of commuting patterns indicates a clear radial pattern focusing on Beer Sheva, suggesting a mobile interconnected system of shared interests which acts as both a single labor market area and a single service unit (Gradus and Stern 1980).

The Central Place theory adopted by Zionist planners as a strategy for regional development failed because (a) it was developed in an agricultural environment but applied to an arid zone with little agriculture; and (b) it emphasized dispersal, regional balance, hierarchical systems, and the service sector, primarily consumer-oriented activities. The latter were ineffective and inappropriate where economic activity is conditioned mainly by the location of raw materials. This strategy prevented the Negev's urban settlements from becoming self-sustaining communities.

If a country's goal is planned, permanent settlement in remote deserts, it must provide basic services (health, education, culture and commerce) capable of competing with those in the national core. Regional development must aim to create a compact, functionally inter-related system with a major dominant growth center capable of providing those necessities.

Case Two: The " Garden City" Concept The potential problems in applying a preconceived Western model of urban planning to non-Western populations in an arid environment are demonstrated in the design of Beer Sheva's internal structure (Gradus 1978). Israeli planners of the new towns were greatly influenced by the garden-cities movement (Howard 1965). One of its major concepts - the idea of creating a rural atmosphere in an urban environment and fostering contact with the land - greatly appealed to leaders and planners of the Zionist socialist movement, and to the local leadership and founders of Beer Sheva, who were veteran members of the socialist agricultural sector.

European garden-cities had low density housing arranged in homogeneous, semi-self-sufficient neighborhood units, each with its own schools, shops, libraries, community centers, etc. Each neighborhood had internal winding streets, unrelated to the transportation system of other neighborhoods or the city as a whole, and was surrounded by a 'greenbelt'. These principles were applied in Beer Sheva and other Negev new towns. What resulted was a dispersed city of quarters isolated from one another. The dispersion of services and the winding roads entailed large municipal expenditures, created problems of communication and orientation, and required residents to walk long distances in the desert heat. The undeveloped vacant areas designated 'green belts' between neighborhoods created internal deserts within the city. By the early 1960s, it had become evident that the garden-city concept was inapplicable to Beer Sheva's desert environment and its socio-cultural reality. New policies emphasized consolidating the city and transforming it into an organic unit functioning as a single economic and social entity.

Twelve years after the implementation of the garden-city concept in Beer Sheva, the town of Arad was founded 40 km to the east. This time the desert environment was studied carefully, and planning was done on location, adopting a more practical and realistic approach.

Case Three: Settlement Design for the Indigenous Bedouin The Negev Bedouin belong to 25 tribes scattered over an area of 1000 sq.km., most of whom came to the area after 1949. Their spatial spread is also due to a process of spontaneous sedentarization, which has been taking place over the last 20 years, but has only recently become a planning problem (Musham 1970). The scattered pattern of permanent and semi-permanent spontaneous Bedouin settlements has conflicted with development plans for the Negev, and hampered - and rendered more costly-the supply of regional services. The Israeli government has therefore attempted to resettle the Bedouin in planned urban settlements forming an integral part of a regional development program.

Man-built environments for indigenous nomads can be potentially disruptive to their whole system of life (Rapoport 1978). Rapoport (1979) suggests several principles for reducing the incongruence between traditional lifestyles or settings and new ones: (1) relate spatial organization to social organization, space and time use, meanings, and control of communication and interaction; (2) view settlements and dwellings in cultural context and allow for preservation of important elements; (3) relate affective and perceived density to traditions.

Israel's first attempt to develop an urban settlement populated solely by former nomads - Tel Sheva, near Beer Sheva - failed because it did not apply the above principles, but rather implemented preconceived planning concepts and misinterpreted the effect of local environmental conditions on the Bedouin and their socio-cultural needs and behavior. No consideration was given to spatio-social division or possible interaction patterns. The high density of the town, the small dwellings with few windows, and misconceptions about Bedouin practices, all contributed to the failure.

A more responsive planning process was successfully tried in a second planned settlement, Rahat. In Rahat, each neighborhood serves as an independent social framework, allowing for tribal territoriality, while its internal structure accommodates the hierarchical structure of Traditional Bedouin society, each street being identified with an extended family within the tribe. In addition, residents were offered large plots of land per family and encouraged to build their homes according to their own budgetary limits, needs and pace, while the physical and social infrastructure was pre-planned. The town's master plan also provided for growth and development, and for the Bedouin's changing occupational profile, moving toward industry rather than husbandry or agriculture.

Summary and Lessons for the Future. The three case-studies examined above demonstrate the real and potential problems arising due to the application of transplanted urban and regional development concepts originating in different cultural and environmental conditions to a fragile arid human ecosystem. The transplanted models reflected the Zionist ideology of 'back to the land' without considering what 'land' means in the desert, where Western spatial, physical and social standards proved unrealistic and inappropriate.

Analysis of Israel's experience in formulating and implementing development policies in its Negev desert can contribute to future development projects in arid zones, and shows how desert planning must be sensitive to local needs and conditions and facilitate a framework for continuous response and interaction between the various elements of the arid system.