A step ahead of time: design, allocation and preservation of private open space in the 1920s––the case of a garden suburb in Israel

In the course of the last 50 years, the landscape in Israel has undergone major changes, due to accelerated urbanization following population growth. These processes had increased the pressure on the open land, especially in areas of urban expansion. Recognizing that Governments and local Municipalities had failed to stop the consequent loss of public open spaces, not only in Israel but worldwide, had lead recently many communities to adopt new solutions in the form of private open spaces. In this article we present a “step ahead of time”: a case of privately owned land, set aside as public green area during the 1920s in a neighborhood called “Ahuza Herbert Samuel” (Herbert Samuel, the first High Commissioner of Palestine under the British Mandate), located in the City of Haifa, in Northern Israel. The roots of this unique phenomenon during the 1920s could be linked to several sources of influence: Colonial town planning concepts, the emergence of garden cities and garden suburbs and most importantly to concepts brought in by the leaders of the immigrant community coming from Rumania. Photogrammetric and GIS analysis of this phenomenon had revealed that it had prevailed throughout 75 years of constant and massive increase in the demand for built-up areas in Israel in general and in Ahuza neighborhood in particular. The success in preserving these open areas gains current relevance in view of recent trends in the Western world of allocating privately owned green areas for public use.