IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

According to UN and CBS data, Israel will be the most densely populated country in the OECD within a decade. As a result, residents and urban denizens may be forced to congregate in new, vertical spaces, in complex buildings with multiple uses and functions. Simultaneously it is evident that in Israel, there is a growing number of elevated public and semi-public spaces on structure (EPSOS) that are neglected and hidden from the eyes of city dwellers. The focus of this paper is on these elevated open spaces that are available for public to use. According to exploratory interviews with experts, many of these do not exhaust their ability to contain human activity. In this presentation we showcase an exploratory study that focuses on the elusive nature of EPSOS in Israel: conceptually, physically, visually, legally, and publicly. The study identifies common EPSOS typologies in various cities in Israel and the terminology used by experts, statutory documents and policy documents to describe the phenomenon. Following experts interviews, the study maps the challenges and opportunities of roofs and elevated areas to become part of a network of public open spaces, and to fit statutory requirements of open space per capita in densely populated cities.