A national network of Placemakers would create the foundation for a placemaking movement in Israel. When individual placemaking activists can contribute to and benefit from their peers though the platform of a learning network, we will begin to see placemaking not as one-off projects, but as a shift in planning strategy. The Urban Clinic is now laying the groundwork for a national network of placemaking. One key partner is the Israel Association for Community Centers, and we are looking to develop pilot projects in Arab community centers and elsewhere. Other partners who have already signed on include the Community Organizing Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the JDC’s “Mutav Yahdav”/Collective Impact program, leading placemakers from Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, Eilat and Tel Aviv, and the environmental education division of the Ministry of Environment.

 

 

Dr. Emily Silverman introduces the National Placemaking Network at the Israel Urban Forum in Acco, December 2017. Photo: Miriam Fisher