Restructuring of rural space in Israel.
Michael Sofer
Time: 11-12 pm
Venue: M107 Lecture Theatre, Marine Campus
The last two decades have seen a rapid transformation of rural space in Israel. The changes, the result of long-term trends and processes common to many developed economies, have been characterised by a tremendous increase in the intensity of production, the decline of agricultural employment, the evolution of non-agricultural land uses and activities under a strategy of pluriactivity, the encroachment of urban areas and the suburbanisation of the countryside. Rural space is being restructured by shifting from agricultural space to multi-functional space.
The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying mechanisms operating in rural space with special emphasis on Moshav type (smallholder) settlements – the most common type of rural settlement in Israel. The trends experienced in the Moshav reflect major economic and social changes in rural space. The changes in the land use patterns can be understood as adjustment measures at the household level to changing economic conditions, particularly those affecting the rural sector. It is possible to identify two major domains of change. First, a transition from dependence on farming to a more diversified economic base, suggesting newly shaped interrelationships between rural settlements and urban space. Second, a new rural residential pattern and landscape that has rejuvenated failing and ageing rural settlements and attracted urbanised people, including those who are the avant-gardes of a gentrification process. Rural space is becoming more heterogeneous – physically, economically and socially – than ever before. The outcome is a major process of restructuring that affects the economic, social and environmental spheres.
