Planning Versus Plan: A Comparative Analysis of Revitalization Process in Two Inner Cities

By comparing urban regeneration mechanisms implemented in two declining urban centers, this paper attempts to examine the usefulness of hybrid planning strategies over a more traditional statutory land-use plan, considering their respective effectiveness for introducing urban change. The paper compares the planning and implementation methods used to generate urban revitalization in Lev Ha-Ir (City Heart) in Tel Aviv and Hadar in Haifa. In reviewing these two case studies, the paper considers the role of the residents in each area and various bottom-up local initiatives. The paper examines how these initiatives were met and utilized by the planners and by the municipality, and how they acheived the goal of urban revitalization. The approch towards and the use of local assetes of each locality is considered, as well as the way they were implemented in the revitelazing plan. The paper draws attention to official enterprises and planning mechanisms that utilize and even encourage unofficial residents' actions and activities. The findings from the two case studies suggest the importance of mediating between bottom-up initiatives of individual residents, community organizations, and local institutions, and top-down institutional municipal systems, as early in the process as possible, in order to make both the statutory land-use plan and the hybrid planning strategies more effective.