Jerusalem of Gold will "go green" over the next 20 years in the first municipal plan for the city has since 1959. The six-point proposal, to be presented Tuesday to the Interior Ministry's Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee by Mayor Nir Barkat, will focus on "greening" the city, and "green construction."
The plan calls for the use of solar panels, water recycling equipment, "green" roofing and other material for construction of public, commercial, industrial, residential and hotel buildings. A team of city architects and engineers will work together on the project with local and international experts in the field.
Barkat stressed that although he has adjusted the plan to reflect his own "vision", it did not originate with him. A team of 25 architects and engineers worked on the plan throughout the past two administrations of then-Mayors Ehud Olmert and Uri Lupolianski.
"Since entering office, we have worked diligently to adjust the planning that was already in process in order to reflect our vision to stop the negative migration of residents from the city and to accelerate economic development in the coming years," Barkat said.
The new Master Plan also includes six major priorities that will become the new focus for municipal development:
Affordable housing for young people
The goal is to enable residents as well as college and university students to buy or rent apartments in the capital with the goal of remaining in Jerusalem. "The intention is that parts of large building projects will be designated as residential for affordable housing," Barkat said in a statement.
Developing neighborhoods in the eastern section of the city
Infrastructure will be standardized and an additional 13,550 housing units are to be built in eastern neighborhoods, plus 10,000 more allocated for construction by 2030. Most of the new apartments are to be built in Jabel Mukabar (2,500 units) and Beit Hanina-Shuafat (2,500 units), with the rest divided up between Tel Adesa (2,000 units), A-Tur (1,500 units) and the central area of the eastern end of the city (750 units).
Creating five new city parks, open areas and urban nature areas
The plan calls for five metropolitan parks surrounding the city in a green strip that allows for a variety of leisure and recreational activities, including: extreme sports, picnic areas, a lake, hiking trails, and others. In addition, 43 kilometers of bicycle trails are planned for the open areas around the city. The plan defines a hierarchy of open areas at different levels in the city. The plan defines metropolitan parks (16,000 dunams), municipal parks (7,000 dunams), quarter parks (1,000 dunams), neighborhood parks (1,600 dunams) and neighborhood gardens (2,300 dunams). This plan provides a wide variety of activity and usage of open areas for all the different residents of the city, in the residential, business and recreational areas.
Tourist complexes
Four areas have been targeted for development of tourism, culture and leisure-oriented activities, which will require the installation of appropriate infrastructure. The areas which city officials believe will "encourage significant growth of tourism" include the Old City and the basin surrounding it, the city center, the neighborhood of Ein Kerem, and the Armon HaNatziv ridge and Lifta neighborhood.
Conservation and preservation of historic buildings
"The plan affixes the borders of the historical city to include the neighborhoods and buildings built until 1948," according to the statement. "Through this, the city conserves its cultural and touristic assets." Simultaneously, a new survey will be carried out to update the conservation index, which will later be published.
Hi-tech complexes, employment and industry
The city hopes to attract companies and institutions that will provide 150,000 new jobs in the fields of hi-tech, higher education, bio-tech and other areas. Four new industrial zones will be built towards this goal. Furthermore, the use of the Givat Shaul industrial area will be expanded to include technical colleges and job training centers for the hareidi religious community.