Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ تل أبيب
—  City  —
From top, left to right: Jaffa Clock Tower, Tel Aviv's beachfront, Azrieli Center, Rothschild Boulevard, and Tel Aviv skyline at night
Flag Coat of arms
Nickname(s): The White City, The City That Never Sleeps, The New York of the Middle East, The Miami of the Middle East
Tel Aviv Location of Tel Aviv within Israel
Coordinates:
Country	Israel
District	Tel Aviv
Metropolitan Area	Gush Dan
Founded	April 11, 1909
Government
- Type	Mayor-council
- Body	Tel Aviv City Council
- Mayor	Ron Huldai (Labor)
Area
- City	51.4 km2 (19.8 sq mi)
- Urban	176 km2 (68 sq mi)
- Metro	1,516 km2 (585.3 sq mi)
Elevation	5 m (16 ft)
Population (2009)[1][2]
- City	393,900
- Rank	2nd in Israel
- Density	7,606/km2 (19,699.4/sq mi)
- Density rank	12th in Israel
- Urban	1,236,200
- Urban density	7,023.9/km2 (18,191.8/sq mi)
- Metro	3,238,400
- Metro density	2,136.1/km2 (5,532.5/sq mi)
Demonym	Tel Avivian
Ethnicity
- Jews	91%
- Muslims	3%
- Christians	1%
- Unclassified	5%
Time zone	IST (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	IDT (UTC+3)
Postal code	61999
Area code	+972 (Israel) 3 (City)
Website	tel-aviv.gov.il

Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew: תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, lit. "Spring Mound"-Jaffa; Arabic: تل أبيب‎, Tall ʼAbīb),^[3] usually referred to as Tel Aviv, is the second-largest city in Israel, with an estimated population of 393,900.^[1] The city is situated on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, with a land area of 51.4 square kilometres (19.8 sq mi). It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, home to 3.2 million people as of 2008.^[4] The city is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, headed by Ron Huldai.^[5]

Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa (Hebrew: יָפוֹ‎‎, Yafo; Arabic: يافا‎, Yaffa). The growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffa, which was largely Arab at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of Modernist-style buildings.^[6][7][8]

Tel Aviv is classified as a beta+ world city,^[9] being a major economic hub and the richest city in Israel, and home to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and many corporate offices and research and development centers.^[10] Its beaches, bars, cafés, restaurants, upscale shopping, great weather, cosmopolitan lifestyle and famous 24-hour culture have led to it being a popular tourist destination for domestic and overseas visitors alike,^[11][12][13] and has made its reputation as "the city that never sleeps".^[14][15]

It is the country's financial capital and a major performing arts and business center.^[16] Tel Aviv's urban area is the Middle East's second biggest city economy,^[17] while the city is ranked 50th among global cities by Foreign Policy's 2010 Global Cities Index.^[18] It is also the most expensive city in the region, and 17th most expensive city in the world.^[19] New York City-based writer and editor David Kaufman called it the "Mediterranean’s New Capital of Cool".^[20] In 2010, Tel Aviv has been named the third-best city in the Middle East & Africa by Travel + Leisure magazine, and the ninth-best beach city in the world by National Geographic.^[21][22]

Contents 1 Toponym 2 History 2.1 Jaffa 2.2 Urban development 2.3 Under the British Mandate 2.4 After Israeli independence 2.5 Historical materials 3 Geography 3.1 Climate 3.2 Districts 4 Architecture 4.1 Bauhaus 4.2 Modernism 4.3 Green architecture 4.4 Restoration 5 Demographics 5.1 Religion 6 Economy 7 Culture and contemporary life 7.1 Tourism and recreation 7.2 LGBT in Tel Aviv 7.3 Fashion 7.4 Entertainment 7.5 Museums 7.6 Sports 8 Government 8.1 Mayors 9 Education 10 Transportation 10.1 Bus & Taxi 10.2 Rail 10.3 Roads, Bicycles, and Private Cars 10.4 Air 10.5 Light rail 10.6 Electric car 11 Media 11.1 Twin towns — Sister cities 12 References 12.1 Bibliography 12.2 Notes 13 External links

Toponym

The name Tel Aviv (literally "Spring Mound") was chosen in 1910 out of many suggestions, including "Herzliya". Tel Aviv is the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzl's book Altneuland ("Old New Land"), translated from German by Nahum Sokolow. Sokolow took the name from Ezekiel 3:15: "Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days."^[23] This name was found fitting as it embraced the idea of the renaissance of the ancient Jewish homeland. Aviv is Hebrew for "spring", symbolizing renewal, and tel is an archaeological site that reveals layers of civilization built one over the other.^[24] Theories vary about the etymology of Jaffa or Yafo in Hebrew. Some believe that the name derives from yafah or yofi, Hebrew for "beautiful" or "beauty". Another tradition is that Japheth, son of Noah, founded the city and that it was named for him. The name is also transliterated as Tel-Abib in the King James Bible.

History

Jaffa

The ancient port of Jaffa has changed hands many times in the course of history. Archeological excavations from 1955 to 1974 unearthed towers and gates from the Middle Bronze Age.^[25] Subsequent excavations, from 1997 onwards, helped date earlier discoveries.^[25] They also exposed sections of a packed-sandstone glacis and a "massive brick wall", dating from the Late Bronze Age as well as a temple "attributed to the Sea Peoples" and dwellings from the Iron Age.^[25] Remnants of buildings from the Persian, Hellenistic and Pharaonic periods were also discovered.^[25]

The city is first mentioned in letters from 1470 BCE that record its conquest by Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III.^[8] Jaffa is mentioned several times in the Bible, as the port from which Jonah set sail for Tarshish;^[26] as bordering on the territory of the Tribe of Dan;^[27] and as the port at which the wood for Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem arrived from Lebanon.^[28] According to some sources it has been a port for at least 4,000 years.^[29]

In 1099, the Christian armies of the First Crusade, led by Godfrey of Bouillon occupied Jaffa, which had been abandoned by the Muslims, fortified the town and improved its harbor.^[30] As the County of Jaffa, the town soon became important as the main sea supply route for the Kingdom of Jerusalem.^[31] Jaffa was captured by Saladin in 1192 but swiftly re-taken by Richard Coeur de Lion, who added to its defenses.^[32] In 1223, Emperor Frederick II added further fortications.^[32] Crusader domination ended in 1268, when the Mamluk Sultan Baibars captured the town, destroyed its harbor and razed its fortifications.^[32][33] To prevent further Crusader incursions, the city was ransacked in 1336, 1344 and 1346 by Nasir al-Din Muhammad.^[34] In the 16th century, Jaffa was conquered by the Ottomans and was administered as a village in the Sanjak of Gaza.^[33] Napoleon besieged the city in 1799 and killed scores of inhabitants; a plague epidemic followed, decimating the remaining population.^[33]

Jaffa began to grow as an urban center in the early 18th century, when the Ottoman government in Constantinople intervened to guard the port and reduce attacks by Bedouins and pirates.^[33] However, the real expansion came during the 19th century, when the population grew from 2,500 in 1806 to 17,000 in 1886.^[8]

From 1800 to 1870, Jaffa was surrounded by walls and towers, which were torn down to allow for expansion as security improved.^[35] The sea wall, 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) high, remained intact until the 1930s, when it was built over during a renovation of the port by the British Mandatory authorities.^[35] During the mid-19th century, the city grew prosperous from trade, especially of silk and Jaffa oranges, with Europe.^[8] In the 1860s Jaffa's small Sephardic community was joined by Jews from Morocco and small numbers of European Ashkenazi Jews, making by 1882 a total Jewish population of more than 1,500.^[8]

The first Jews to build houses outside of Jaffa, in the area of modern day Tel Aviv were Yemenite Jews, who in 1881 built houses that later became the neighbourhood of Kerem HaTeimanim (Hebrew for "the Vineyard of the Yemenites"). In 1896 the Yemenite Jews established the neighbourhood of Mahane Yehuda, and in 1904 the neighbourhood of Mahane Yossef. Those two neighbourhoods were later merged into one neighbourhood - Shabazi neighbourhood.

During the 1880s, Ashkenazi immigration to Jaffa increased with the onset of the First Aliyah. The new arrivals were motivated more by Zionism than religion and came to farm the land and engage in productive labor.^[8] In keeping with their pioneer ideology, some chose to settle in the sand dunes north of Jaffa.^[8] The beginning of modern-day Tel Aviv is marked by the construction of Neve Tzedek, a neighborhood built by Ashkenazi settlers between 1887 and 1896.^[6]

Urban development

The Second Aliyah led to further expansion.^[8] In 1906, a group of Jews, among them residents of Jaffa, followed the initiative of Akiva Arye Weiss and banded together to form the Ahuzat Bayit (lit. "homestead") society. The society's goal was to form a "Hebrew urban centre in a healthy environment, planned according to the rules of aesthetics and modern hygiene".^[8] The urban planning for the new city was influenced by the ideas of the Garden city movement.^[36] In 1908, the group purchased 5 hectares (12 acres) of dunes northeast of Jaffa. Following this purchase, Meir Dizengoff, who later became Tel Aviv's first mayor, decided to join Ahuzat Bayit.^[37][38] His vision for Tel Aviv involved peaceful co-existence with the Arabs.^[8]

In April 1909, sixty-six Jewish families gathered on a desolate sand dune on what is now Rothschild Boulevard to parcel out the land by lottery using seashells. This gathering is considered the official date of the establishment of Tel Aviv, although some of Tel Aviv's neighbourhoods had already existed back then, including Tel Aviv's first neighbourhood, Kerem HaTeimanim, that was built by Yemenite Jews. The lottery was organised by Akiva Arye Weiss, the president of the association. Weiss had an original idea, the names of the families were inscribed on white shells and the plot number on shells of a different color.^[39] Within a year, Herzl, Ahad Ha'am, Yehuda Halevi, Lilienblum, and Rothschild streets were built; a water system was installed; and 66 houses (including some on six subdivided plots) were completed.^[36] At the end of Herzl Street, a plot was allocated for a new building for the Herzliya Hebrew High School, founded in Jaffa in 1906.^[36] On May 21, 1910, the name Tel Aviv was adopted.^[36] Tel Aviv was planned as an independent Hebrew city with wide streets and boulevards, running water at each house and street lights.^[40]

By 1914, Tel Aviv had grown to include more than 100 hectares (247 acres), including several new neighborhoods.^[36] However, growth halted in 1917 when the Ottoman authorities expelled the Jews of Jaffa and Tel Aviv.^[36] A report published in The New York Times by United States Consul Garrels in Alexandria, Egypt described the Jaffa deportation of early April 1917. The orders of evacuation were aimed chiefly at the Jewish population.^[41]

Under the British Mandate

Under British administration, the political friction between Jews and Arabs in Palestine increased. On May 1, 1921, the Jaffa Riots erupted and an Arab mob killed dozens of Jewish residents. In the wake of this violence, many Jews left Jaffa for Tel Aviv, increasing the population of Tel Aviv from 2,000 in 1920 to around 34,000 by 1925.^[1][6] New businesses opened in Tel Aviv, leading to the decline of Jaffa as a commercial center.^[36] In 1925, Patrick Geddes drew up a master plan for Tel Aviv that was adopted by the city council led by Meir Dizengoff.^[8] The core idea was the development of a Garden City. The boundaries he worked within, the Yarkon River in the North and Ibn Gvirol Street in the East, are still regarded as Tel Aviv's real city limits although it has since grown beyond them.^[42]

Tel Aviv continued to grow in 1926, but suffered an economic setback between 1927 and 1930.^[8][36] The Ben Gurion House was built in 1930-1, part of a new worker's housing development. At the same time, cultural life was given a boost by the establishment of the Ohel Theater and the decision of Habima Theatre to make Tel Aviv its permanent base in 1931.^[36] Tel Aviv gained municipal status in 1934.^[36] The population rose dramatically during the Fifth Aliyah when the Nazis came to power in Germany.^[36] As the Jews fled Europe, many settled in Tel Aviv, bringing the population in 1937 to 150,000, compared to Jaffa's 69,000 residents. Within two years, it had reached 160,000, which was over a third of the country's total Jewish population.^[36] Many new immigrants remained after disembarking in Jaffa, turning the city into a center of urban life. In the wake of the 1936–39 Arab revolt, a local port independent of Jaffa was built in 1938, and Lod Airport (later Ben Gurion Airport) and Sde Dov Airport opened between 1937 and 1938.^[8]

Tel Aviv's White City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, emerged in the 1930s. Many of the German Jewish architects trained at the Bauhaus, the Modernist school of architecture closed by the Nazis in 1933, fled Germany. Some, like architect Arieh Sharon, came to Palestine and adapted the architectural outlook of the Bauhaus as well as other similar schools, to local conditions, creating what is claimed to be the largest concentration of buildings in the International Style in the world.^[6][8]

Starting in July 1940, Tel Aviv was a major target of the Italian Bombing of Palestine in World War II. On 9 September 1940, bombing of Tel Aviv caused 137 deaths.^[43]

According to the 1947 UN Partition Plan that proposed dividing Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, Tel Aviv, by then a city of 230,000, was slated for inclusion in the Jewish state. Jaffa with, as of 1945, a population of 101,580 people, 53,930 of whom were Muslim and 16,800 Christian, making up the Arab population, and 30,820 Jewish, was designated as part of the Arab state.^[44] The Arabs, however, rejected the partition plan.^[8] Between 1947 and 1948, tensions grew on the border between Tel Aviv and Jaffa, with Arab snipers who were firing at Jews from the "minaret" of the Hassan Bek Mosque. The Haganah and Irgun Jewish forces retaliated with a siege on Jaffa.^[8] From April 1948, the Arab residents began to leave. When Jaffa was conquered by Israeli forces on May 14, few remained.^[8]

After Israeli independence

By the time of Israel's Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948, the population of Tel Aviv had risen to more than 200,000.^[1] Tel Aviv was the temporary government center of the State of Israel until the government moved to Jerusalem in December 1949. However, due to the international dispute over the status of Jerusalem, most foreign embassies remained in or near Tel Aviv.^[24] In the early 1980s, 13 embassies in Jerusalem moved to Tel Aviv as part of the UN's measures responding to Israel's 1980 Jerusalem Law.^[45] Today, all but two of the national embassies are in Tel Aviv or the surrounding district.^[46]

The boundaries of Tel Aviv and Jaffa became a matter of contention between the Tel Aviv municipality and the Israeli government during 1948.^[47] The former wished to incorporate only the northern Jewish suburbs of Jaffa, while the latter wanted a more complete unification.^[47] The issue also had international sensitivity, since the main part of Jaffa was in the Arab portion of the United Nations Partition Plan, whereas Tel Aviv was not, and no armistice agreements had yet been signed.^[47] On 10 December 1948, the government announced the annexation to Tel Aviv of Jaffa's Jewish suburbs, the ex-Arab neighborhood of Abu Kabir, the ex-Arab village of Salama and some of its agricultural land, and the Jewish 'Hatikva' slum.^[47] On 25 February 1949, the abandoned Arab village of Sheikh Muanis was also annexed to Tel Aviv.^[47] On 18 May 1949, the former Arab neighborhood of Manshiya and part of Jaffa's central zone were added, for the first time including land that had been in the Arab portion of the UN partition plan.^[47] The government decided on a permanent unification of Tel Aviv and Jaffa on 4 October 1949, but the actual unification was delayed until 24 April 1950 due to concerted opposition from Tel Aviv's mayor Israel Rokach.^[47] The name of the unified city was Tel Aviv until 19 August 1950, when it was renamed as Tel Aviv-Yafo in order to preserve the historical name Jaffa.^[47]

Tel Aviv thus grew to 42 square kilometers (16.2 sq mi). In 1949, a memorial to the 60 founders of Tel Aviv was constructed.^[48] Over the past 60 years, Tel Aviv has developed into a secular, liberal-minded city with a vibrant nightlife and café culture.^[8][14]

In the 1960s, some of Tel Aviv's older buildings were demolished and replaced by the country's first high-rises, among them the Shalom Meir Tower, which was Israel's tallest building until 1999. Tel Aviv's population peaked in the early 1960s at 390,000, representing 16 percent of the country's total.^[49] A long period of steady decline followed, however, and by the late 1980s the city had an aging population of 317,000.^[49] High property prices pushed families out and deterred young people from moving in.^[49]

At this time, gentrification began in the poor neighborhoods of Southern Tel Aviv, and the old port in the north was renewed.^[8] New laws were introduced to protect Modernist buildings, and efforts to preserve them were aided by UNESCO recognition of the Tel Aviv's White City as a world heritage site. In the early 1990s, the decline in population was reversed, partly due to the large wave of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.^[49] Tel Aviv also began to emerge as a high-tech center.^[8] The construction of many skyscrapers and high-tech office buildings followed. In 1993, Tel Aviv was categorized as a world city.^[50] The city is regarded as a strong candidate for global city status.^[16]

In the first Gulf War, in 1991, Tel Aviv was attacked and hit by several Scud rockets from Iraq, but there were few casualties and no fatalities. The inhabitants of the southeastern suburb of HaTikva erected an angel-monument as a sign of their gratitude, that "it was through a great miracle, that many people were preserved from being killed by a direct hit of a Scud rocket."^[51]

On November 4, 1995, Israel's prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated at a rally in Tel Aviv in support of the Oslo peace accord. The outdoor plaza where this occurred, formerly known as Kikar Malchei Yisrael, was renamed Rabin Square.^[8]

Since the post-First Intifada period, Tel Aviv has suffered from violence by Palestinian militant groups. The first suicide attack in Tel Aviv occurred on October 19, 1994, on the Line 5 bus, when a bomber killed himself and 21 civilians as part of a Hamas suicide campaign. The most deadly attack occurred on June 1, 2001, during the Second Intifada, when a suicide bomber exploded at the entrance to the Dolphinarium discotheque, killing 21 and injuring more than 100. The most recent attack in the city occurred on April 17, 2006, when nine people were killed and at least 40 wounded in a suicide bombing near the old central bus station.^[52]

In recent years, Tel Aviv has become more environmentally aware. City lights were turned off in support of Earth Hour in March 2008.^[53] In February 2009, the municipality launched a water saving campaign, including competition granting free parking for a year to the household that is found to have consumed the least amount of water per person.^[54]

Historical materials

In 2009, Tel Aviv celebrated its official centennial.^[55] In addition to city- and country-wide celebrations, this anniversary saw the public release of several significant digital collections of historical materials. These include the History section of the official Tel Aviv-Yafo Centennial Year website;^[55] the Ahuzat Bayit collection, which focuses on the founding families of Tel Aviv, and includes photographs and biographies;^[56] and Stanford University's Eliasaf Robinson Tel Aviv Collection,^[57] documenting the history of the city. The last of these consists of several thousand photographs, postcards, posters, books, and other historical documents from the 100-year history of Tel Aviv.

Geography

Tel Aviv is located around on the Israeli Mediterranean coastal plain, the historic land bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa. Immediately north of the ancient port of Jaffa, Tel Aviv lies on land that used to be sand dunes and as such has relatively poor soil fertility. The land has been flattened and has no important gradients; its most notable geographical features are bluffs above the Mediterranean coastline and the Yarkon River mouth.^[58] Because of the expansion of Tel Aviv and the Gush Dan region, absolute borders between Tel Aviv and Jaffa and between the city's neighborhoods do not exist. The city is 60 kilometers (37 mi) northwest of Jerusalem and 90 kilometers (56 mi) south of the northern port city of Haifa.^[59] Neighboring cities and towns include Herzliya to the north, Ramat HaSharon to the northeast, Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Giv'atayim to the east, Holon to the southeast, and Bat Yam to the south.^[60] The city is economically stratified between the north and south. South Tel Aviv is generally considered to be poorer than Northern Tel Aviv with the exception of the Neve Tzedek neighborhood and some recent development by the Jaffa beach. It also includes the city's "downtown." Central Tel Aviv includes Tel Aviv's Azrieli Center and is also an important financial and commerce district that stretches along the part of Ramat Gan on the Ayalon Highway. The northern side of Tel Aviv is home to Tel Aviv University and some of Tel Aviv's most costly upper class residential neighborhoods such as Ramat Aviv, Ramat Aviv Bet and Ramat Aviv Gimmel.

The prosperity of the north stretches to neighboring Herzliya Pituah, Ramat HaSharon, and Kfar Shmaryahu.^[61]

Climate

Tel Aviv has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), with hot, humid summers, unpredictably cool to warm springs and autumns, and typically cool, rainy winters. Humidity tends to be high year-round due to the city's proximity to the sea. In winter, average temperatures are usually between 9 °C (48 °F) and 17 °C (63 °F), with temperatures as low as 6 °C (43 °F) occurring several times a winter. In summer, the average is 26 °C (79 °F), with daytime temperatures sometimes exceeding 32 °C (90 °F). Despite the high humidity, precipitation during summertime is rare. Tel Aviv averages 530.7 millimeters (20.9 in) of precipitation annually which mostly occur from September through May. Winter is the wettest season, with cold fronts occurring often. Snow is extremely rare, with the last snowfall occurring in February 1950. Tel Aviv enjoys long daytime hours with more than 300 sunny days a year.

Climate data for Tel Aviv (1916-2007)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	26.8 (80.2)	29.6 (85.3)	35.2 (95.4)	40.4 (104.7)	46.5 (115.7)	37.6 (99.7)	37.4 (99.3)	34.4 (93.9)	35.4 (95.7)	38.4 (101.1)	35.3 (95.5)	27.9 (82.2)	46.5 (115.7)
Average high °C (°F)	17 (63)	17.7 (63.9)	19.2 (66.6)	22.8 (73)	24.9 (76.8)	27.5 (81.5)	29.4 (84.9)	30.2 (86.4)	29.4 (84.9)	27.3 (81.1)	23.4 (74.1)	19.2 (66.6)	24 (75)
Daily mean °C (°F)	13 (55)	13.8 (56.8)	15.4 (59.7)	18.6 (65.5)	21.1 (70)	24.1 (75.4)	26.2 (79.2)	27 (81)	26 (79)	23.2 (73.8)	19 (66)	15.2 (59.4)	20.3 (68.5)
Average low °C (°F)	9 (48)	9.8 (49.6)	11.5 (52.7)	14.4 (57.9)	17.3 (63.1)	20.6 (69.1)	23 (73)	23.7 (74.7)	22.5 (72.5)	19.1 (66.4)	14.6 (58.3)	11.2 (52.2)	16.4 (61.5)
Record low °C (°F)	2.5 (36.5)	-1.9 (28.6)	3.5 (38.3)	7 (45)	11.2 (52.2)	15 (59)	19 (66)	20 (68)	15.7 (60.3)	11.6 (52.9)	6 (43)	4 (39)	-1.9 (28.6)
Precipitation mm (inches)	126.9 (4.996)	90.1 (3.547)	60.6 (2.386)	18.0 (0.709)	2.3 (0.091)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0.4 (0.016)	26.3 (1.035)	79.3 (3.122)	126.4 (4.976)	530.7 (20.894)
Avg. precipitation days	12.8	10.0	8.5	3.1	0.8	0	0	0	0.3	3.2	7.5	10.9	57.1
Source: Israel Meteorological Service[62][63]

Districts

Tel Aviv is divided into nine districts that have formed naturally over the city's short history. The most notable of these is Jaffa, the ancient port city out of which Tel Aviv grew. This area is traditionally made up demographically of a greater percentage of Arabs, but recent gentrification is replacing them with a young professional and artist population. Similar processes are occurring in nearby Neve Tzedek, the original Jewish neighborhood outside of Jaffa. Ramat Aviv, a district in the northern part of the city largely made up of luxury apartments and including the Tel Aviv University, is currently undergoing extensive expansion and is set to absorb the beachfront property of Sde Dov Airport after its decommissioning.^[64] The area known as HaKirya is the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) headquarters and a large military base.^[61]

Historically, there was a demographic split between the European northern side of the city, including the district of Ramat Aviv, and the southern, more Sephardi and Mizrahi neighborhoods including Neve Tzedek and Florentin.^[8]

Since the 1980s, however, restoration and gentrification have taken place on a large scale in the southern neighborhoods, making them some of the city’s most desirable neighborhoods for the more prosperous north Tel Avivis.^[8] In north Tel Aviv, the old port area, which had become run-down since the port was decommissioned in 1965, also saw an urban revival, becoming an upmarket area with shops and restaurants.^[8]

Architecture

The early architecture of Tel Aviv consisted largely of European-style single-story houses with red-tiled roofs.^[42] Neve Tzedek, the first neighborhood to be constructed outside of Jaffa is characterised by two-story sandstone buildings.^[6] By the 1920s, a new eclectic Orientalist style came into vogue, combining European architecture with Middle Eastern features such as arches, domes and ornamental tiles.^[42] Municipal construction followed the "garden city" master plan drawn up by Patrick Geddes. Two- and three-story buildings were interspersed with boulevards and public parks.^[42]

Various architectural styles, such as Art Deco, classical, and modernist exist in Tel Aviv. Daniel Alarcón, a writer for the Virginia Quarterly Review, said that Tel Aviv reminded him of Lima, Peru and that it had no dominant architectural style. Alarcón describes Tel Aviv's archiecture as "a curious, often unslightly mishmash" and "a visual cacophony." Etgar Keret, an Israeli filmwriter and director, said that Tel Aviv received the architecture that it did because the Jews who settled Tel Aviv came from diverse backgrounds and because planners did not put a lot of effort into city planning, since the city could have been destroyed in an impending war.^[65]

Bauhaus

Bauhaus architecture was introduced in the 1920s and 1930s by German Jewish architects who settled in Palestine after the rise of the Nazis. Tel Aviv's White City, around the city center, contains more than 5,000 Modernist-style buildings inspired by the Bauhaus school and Le Corbusier.^[6][7] Construction of these buildings, later declared protected landmarks and, collectively, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, continued until the 1950s in the area around Rothschild Boulevard.^[7][66] Some 3,000 buildings were created in this style between 1931 and 1939 alone.^[42]

Modernism

In the 1960s, this architectural style gave way to office towers and a chain of waterfront hotels and commercial skyscrapers.^[8] Some of the city's Modernist buildings were neglected to the point of ruin. Before legislation to preserve this landmark architecture, many of the old buildings were demolished. In recent years, efforts have been made to refurbish Bauhaus buildings and restore them to their original condition.^[67] Tel Aviv has become a hub of modern high-rise architecture due to the soaring price of real estate in the city. The Shalom Meir Tower, Israel's first skyscraper, was built in Tel Aviv in 1965 and remained the country's tallest building until 1999. The Azrieli Center, composed of three buildings— one square, one triangular, and one circular—usurped that title. Since 2001, Israel's tallest building is the City Gate Tower, which is located in the neighboring city of Ramat Gan, although the country's tallest wholly residential building, the W-Tower, is in Tel Aviv. New neighborhoods such as the Park Tzameret are being constructed to house luxury apartment towers including YOO Tel Aviv towers designed by Philippe Starck, while zones such as The southern Kirya are being developed with office towers. Other recent additions to Tel Aviv's skyline are the 1 Rothschild Tower, Be'eri Nahardea Tower and First International Bank Tower.^[68][69] As Tel Aviv celebrated its centennial in 2009,^[70] the city attracted a number of brand-name architects and developers, including I. M. Pei, Donald Trump, and Richard Meier, who have been flocking to this Bauhaus mecca to help create the next generation of iconic landmarks.^[71] American journalist David Kaufman reported in New York magazine that since Tel Aviv “was named a UNESCO World Heritage site, gorgeous historic buildings from the Ottoman and Bauhaus era have been repurposed as fabulous hotels, eateries, boutiques, and design museums.”^[72]

Green architecture

In the early 21st century, Tel Aviv's municipality transformed a derelict power station into a garden ("Gan HaHashmal") and pedestrian walkway, paving the way for eco-friendly and environmentally conscious designs.^[73] In October 2008, Martin Weyl turned an old garbage dump near Ben Gurion International Airport, called Hiriya, into an attraction by building an arc of plastic bottles.^[74] The site, which was renamed Ariel Sharon Park to honor Israel’s former prime minister, will serve as the centerpiece in what is to become a 2,000-acre (8.1 km²) urban wilderness on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, designed by German landscape architect, Peter Latz.^[74]

Restoration

At the end of the 20th century, the city council awakened to the advantages of restoring the buildings of its earliest neighborhood, Neve Tzedek, the historicist buildings of the 1920s, and the long-neglected Bauhaus architecture of the 1930s. Since 2007, the city hosts its annual Open House Tel Aviv weekend, which offers the general public free entrance to the city's famous landmarks, private houses and public buildings.

Demographics

The city has a population of 393,900 spread over a land area of 51,788 dunams (51.8 km²) (20 mi²), yielding a population density of 7,606 people per square kilometer (19,699 per square mile). According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), as of 2009 Tel Aviv's population is growing at an annual rate of 0.5%. Jews of all backgrounds form 91.8% of the population, Muslim and Christians Arabs make up 4.2%, and the remainder belong to other groups (including various non-Arab Christians and various non-Jewish Asians).^[75] As a multicultural city, many languages are spoken within its borders, alongside Hebrew. These include Russian, French, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Arabic, Amharic and English. According to some estimates, about 50,000 unregistered Asian foreign workers live in the city.^[76] Compared with other Westernised cities, crime in Tel Aviv is relatively low.^[77]

According to Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, the average income in the city, which has an unemployment rate of 6.9%, is 20% above the national average.^[78] The city's education standards are above the national average: of its 12th-grade students, 64.4% are eligible for matriculation certificates, the qualification received by high school graduates.^[78] The age profile is relatively even, with 22.2% aged under 20, 18.5% aged 20–29, 24% aged 30–44, 16.2% aged between 45 and 59, and 19.1% older than 60.^[79]

Tel Aviv's population reached a peak in the early 1960s at around 390,000, falling to 317,000 in the late 1980s as high property prices forced families out and deterred young couples from moving in.^[49] Since the mass immigration from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, its population has resumed steady growth.^[49] Today, the city's population is young and growing.^[80] In 2006, 22,000 people moved to the city, while only 18,500 left,^[80] and many of the new families had young children. The population of Tel Aviv is expected to reach 450,000 by 2025; meanwhile, the average age of residents in the city fell from 35.8 in 1983 to 34 in 2008.^[80] The population over age 65 stands at 14.6% compared with 19% in 1983.^[80]

Religion

Though Tel Aviv has, over the years, developed an image of a secular city, it contains numerous houses of worship. The city has 544 active synagogues with daily prayers,^[81] including historic buildings such as the Great Synagogue, established in the 1930s.^[82]

In recent years, a center for secular Jewish Studies and a "secular yeshiva" have opened in the city.^[83] Tensions between religious and secular Jews before the gay pride parade ended in vandalization of a synagogue.^[84]

One of Tel Aviv's famous landmarks is the Hassan Bek Mosque, on the beachfront. Jaffa is home to sizable Muslim and Christian communities. The number of churches has grown in recent years to accommodate the religious needs of diplomats and foreign workers.^[85]

The Tel Aviv District population is 93 percent Jewish, 1 percent Muslim, and 1 percent Christian. The remaining 5 percent are not classified by religion.^[86] Israel Meir Lau is chief rabbi of the city.^[87]

Economy

Forty percent of national employment in finance and 25 percent of national employment in business services is in the city.^[49] Since Tel Aviv was built on sand dunes, farming was not profitable and maritime commerce was centered in Haifa and Ashdod. Instead, the city gradually developed as a center for scientific and technical research. Tel Aviv emerged as a high-tech center in the 1990s.^[8] Economic activities in the city account for about 15 percent of national employment and about 17 percent of GDP.^[49] The economy of Tel Aviv has developed dramatically over the past decades. The city has been described as a flourishing technological center by Newsweek and a "miniature Los Angeles" by The Economist.^[8][88] Many computer scientists, their numbers increased by immigration from the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s, live and work in Tel Aviv. In 1998, the city was described by Newsweek as one of the top 10 most technologically influential cities in the world. Since then, high-tech industry in the Tel Aviv area has developed even more.^[88] The Tel Aviv metropolitan area (including satellite cities such as Herzliya and Petah Tikva) is Israel's center of high-tech and is sometimes referred to as Silicon Wadi.^[88][89] Tel Aviv is home to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), Israel's only stock exchange, which has reached record heights since the 1990s.^[90] Many international venture-capital firms, scientific research institutes and high-tech companies are headquartered in the city. Industries in Tel Aviv include chemical processing, textile plants and food manufacturers.^[8] The city's nightlife, cultural attractions and architecture attract tourists whose spending benefits the local economy.^[91]

In 2008, the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) at Loughborough University has reissued an inventory of world cities based on their level of advanced producer services. Tel Aviv was ranked as a beta world city.^[9]

Nine of its fifteen Israeli-born billionaires live in Israel; four live in Tel Aviv or its suburbs, according to Forbes.^[92][93] The cost of living in Israel is high, with Tel Aviv being its most expensive city to live in. According to Mercer, a human resources consulting firm based in New York, as of 2008 Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the Middle East and the 14th most expensive in the world. It falls just behind Singapore and Paris and just ahead of Sydney and Dublin in this respect. By comparison, New York City is 22nd.^[89]

Culture and contemporary life

Tourism and recreation

With 1.5 million foreign tourists visiting annually, Tel Aviv is a magnet for international tourism likened by some to Barcelona and Miami Beach.^{[11][12][94][95]} It is described as a top international tourism destination by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Toronto Star.^[96][97][98] According to the Tel Aviv Municipality, it has 44 hotels with more than 6,500 rooms.^[78] Tel Aviv has been called "the city that never sleeps" due to its thriving nightlife, young atmosphere and 24-hour culture.^{[99][100][101]}

Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park is the largest and most visited public park in the city, with other parks such as Charles Clore Park, Independence Park, Meir Park and Dubnow Park, all located within the city limits. About 19% of the city are green areas such as parks and gardens.^[102] Dizengoff Center was Israel's first mall. Tel Aviv has branches of some of the world's leading hotels, among them the Crowne Plaza, Sheraton, Dan, Isrotel and Hilton. It is home to many museums, architectural and cultural sites, with city tours available in different languages.^[103] Apart from bus tours, there are architectural tours,^[104] Segway tours^[105] and walking tours.^[106] The nightlife centers particularly around the city's promenade area due to its many nightclubs and bars. NBA player Anthony Parker called Tel Aviv the best basketball city to go out in. The city is famous for its wide variety of restaurants offering traditional Israeli dishes as well as international fare.^[107] More than 100 sushi restaurants, the third highest concentration in the world, do business in the city, and an Italian restaurant in Tel Aviv was called the best Italian restaurant outside of Italy by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture.^[7][108]

LGBT in Tel Aviv

Named by Out Magazine "the gay capital of the Middle East", Tel Aviv is a liberal and accepting city for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender-transsexuals with a well-established LGBT community.^[109][110] American journalist David Kaufman has described the city as a place “packed with the kind of ‘we're here, we're queer’ vibe more typically found in Sydney and San Francisco.’^[111] The city hosts an annual pride parade, the biggest in Asia, attracting thousands of goers, In 2010 pride a 100,000 people participated. Early 2008 saw the city hosting Israel's first sex festival.^[112][113] In January 2008, Tel Aviv's municipality established the city's LGBT Community Center, providing all of the municipal and cultural services to the LGBT community under one roof. In December 2008, Tel Aviv began putting together a team of gay and lesbian athletes for the 2009 World Outgames in Copenhagen. The event is planned to feature a "Tel Aviv-style beach experience" to celebrate the city's upcoming centennial.^[114] Moreover, Tel Aviv hosts a yearly LGBT Film Festival.

Tel Aviv's LGBT community features prominently in Eytan Fox's 2006 film The Bubble

Fashion

Over the past several years, Tel Aviv has become one of the world's international centers of fashion and design.^[115] Dov Alfon, editor-in-chief of Israel’s leading newspaper, Haaretz, calls Tel Aviv “one of the best-kept secrets in the world.”^[116] Others refer to it as the “next hot destination” for fashion.^[117] Israeli designers, such as swimwear company Gottex, can be found on the runways of some of the world’s most notorious fashion shows, including New York’s Bryant Park fashion show.^[118]

Entertainment

Tel Aviv is a major cultural center in Israel and within the region.^[119] Eighteen of Israel's 35 major centers for the performing arts are located in the city, including five of the country's nine large theaters, where 55% of all performances in the country and 75% of all attendance occurs.^[49][120] The Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center is the home of the Israeli Opera, where Plácido Domingo was house tenor between 1962 and 1965, and the Cameri Theater.^[121] With 2,760 seats, the Frederic R. Mann Auditorium (Culture Palace) is the city's largest theater.^[122] Habima Theater, Israel's national theater, was closed down for renovations in early 2008. Enav Cultural Center is one of the newer additions to the cultural scene.^[120] Other theaters in Tel Aviv are the Gesher Theater and Beit Lessin Theater; Tzavta and Tmuna are smaller theaters that host musical performances and fringe productions. In Jaffa, the Simta and Notzar theaters specialize in fringe as well.

Tel Aviv is home to a number of established dance centers and companies. The Batsheva Dance Company, a contemporary dance troupe, as well as Bat Dor and the Israel Ballet are also headquartered in Tel Aviv.^[120] Tel Aviv's center for modern and classical dance is the Suzanne Dellal Center in Neve Tzedek.^[123]

The city also hosts pop and rock concerts in venues such as Hayarkon Park, the Israel Trade Fairs & Convention Center and the Barby Club.^{[124][125][126]}

Opera and classical music performances are held daily in Tel Aviv, with many of the world's leading classical conductors and soloists performing on Tel Aviv stages over the years.^[120]

The Tel Aviv Cinemathèque screens art movies, premieres of short and full-length Israeli films, and hosts a variety of film festivals, among them the Festival of Animation, Comics and Caricatures, the Student Film Festival, the Jazz, Film and Videotape Festival and Salute to Israeli Cinema. The city has several multiplex cinemas.^[120]

Museums

Israel is said to have the highest number of museums per capita of any country, three of the largest of which are in Tel Aviv.^[127][128] Among these are the Eretz Israel Museum, known for its collection of archaeology and history exhibits dealing with the Land of Israel, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Housed on the campus of Tel Aviv University is the Beth Hatefutsoth, a museum of the international Jewish diaspora that tells the story of Jewish prosperity and persecution throughout the centuries of exile. Batey Haosef Museum specializes in Israel Defense Forces' military history. The Palmach Museum near Tel Aviv University offers a multimedia experience of the history of the Palmach as well as archives depicting the lives of Jewish soldiers who became Israel's first defenders. Near Charles Clore Park in the city's southwestern part is a small museum of the Etzel Jewish militant organization, which conquered Jaffa in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Israel Trade Fairs & Convention Center, located in the northern part of the city, hosts more than 60 major events annually. Many offbeat museums and galleries operate in the city's southern areas, including the Tel Aviv Raw Art contemporary art gallery.^[129][130]

Sports

Tel Aviv is home to some of the top sports teams in Israel, including a successful basketball team. It is the only city with three clubs in Israeli Premier League, the country's top football league. Maccabi Tel Aviv Sports Club was founded in 1906 and competes in more than 10 sports. Its basketball team holds 47 Israeli titles, has won 36 editions of the Israel cup, and has five European Championships, and its football team has won 18 Israeli league titles and has won 22 State Cups, two Toto Cups and two Asian Club Championships. Yael Arad, an athlete in Maccabi's judo club, won a silver medal in the 1992 Olympic Games.^[131]

Hapoel Tel Aviv Sports Club was founded in 1923 and has included more than 11 sports clubs,^[132] including the Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club (13 championships, 11 State Cups, one Toto Cup and once Asian champions) which plays in Bloomfield Stadium since 1950, men's and women's basketball clubs. Hapoel sports association which was affiliated with the Histadrut trade union, and supporters of the club were often referred to as communists. This is also one of the reasons Histadrut's Hapoel has is rivalry with Bourgeoisie Maccabi.

Bnei Yehuda (once Israeli champion, twice State Cup winners and twice Toto Cup winner) is the only Israeli football team in the top division that represents a neighborhood, the Hatikva Quarter in Tel Aviv, and not a city. Shimshon Tel Aviv and Beitar Tel Aviv both formerly played in the top division, but dropped into the lower leagues, and merged in 2000, the new club now playing in Liga Artzit, the third tier. Another former first division team, Maccabi Jaffa, is now defunct, as are Maccabi HaTzefon Tel Aviv, Hapoel HaTzefon Tel Aviv and Hakoah Tel Aviv, who merged with Maccabi Ramat Gan and moved to Ramat Gan in 1959.

There are several clubs in the regional leagues from Tel Aviv suburbs, including Hapoel Kfar Shalem in the South Division of Liga Alef, Hapoel Ramat Yisrael in the South A Division of Liga Bet, and Beitar Ezra, Elitzur Jaffa Tel Aviv, Gadna Tel Aviv and Hapoel Kiryat Shalom, who play in the Tel Aviv Division of Liga Gimel.

Tel Aviv is also the home to Hapoel Ussishkin, a fan-owned basketball club founded in 2007 due to disagreements between the Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball club's management and the fans.

Two rowing clubs operate in Tel Aviv. The Tel Aviv Rowing Club, established as early as 1935 on the banks of the Yarkon River, is the largest rowing club in Israel.^[133] Meanwhile, the beaches of Tel Aviv provide a vibrant Matkot (beach paddleball) scene.^[134] Tel Aviv Lightning represent Tel Aviv in the Israel Baseball League.^[135] Tel Aviv also has an annual half marathon, run in 2008 by 10,000 athletes with runners coming from around the world.^[136]

In 2009, as part of the centennial celebrations, the Tel Aviv Marathon was revived after a 15 year hiatus, and attracted a field of 10,000 runners.^[137]

Government

Tel Aviv is governed by a 31-member city council elected for a five-year term in direct proportional elections.^[138] All Israeli citizens over the age of 18 with at least one year of residence in Tel Aviv are eligible to vote in municipal elections. The municipality is responsible for social services, community programs, public infrastructure, urban planning, tourism and other local affairs.^{[139][140][141]} The Tel Aviv City Hall is located at Rabin Square. As of 2008, Ron Huldai is mayor of Tel Aviv, having held that office since 1998.^[138] Huldai was reelected in the 2008 municipal elections, defeating Dov Henin's list.^[142] The longest serving mayor of the city was Shlomo Lahat, who was in office for 19 years. The shortest serving was David Bloch, in office for just two years, 1925–27.

The demographic split in the city has also created political divisions between the Labor Party, usually strongest in the north, and Likud and other right-wing and religious parties, usually strongest in the south.^[8] In the 2006 election, however this pattern changed when the new centrist Kadima party gained 28 percent of the city's vote, followed by Labor with 20 percent.^[143][144] While much of the country leaned right ahead of 2009 legislative elections in Israel, a plurality (34%) of Tel Aviv voted for Kadima. Outside the kibbutzim, Meretz is stronger in Tel Aviv than in any other city in Israel.^[145]

Mayors

Mayors of Tel Aviv

	Name	Took office	Left office
1	Meir Dizengoff	1921	1925
2	David Bloch	1925	1927
3	Meir Dizengoff	1928	1936
4	Israel Rokach	1936	1952
5	Haim Levanon	1953	1959
6	Mordechai Namir	1959	1969
7	Yehoshua Rabinowitz	1969	1974
8	Shlomo Lahat ("Chich")	1974	1993
9	Roni Milo	1993	1998
10	Ron Huldai	1998

Education

Tel Aviv is home to many schools, colleges, and universities. As of 2006, 51,359 children attended school in Tel Aviv, of whom 8,977 were in municipal kindergartens, 23,573 in municipal elementary schools, and 18,809 in high schools.^[78] Sixty-four percent of students in the city are entitled to matriculation, more than 5 percent higher than the national average.^[78] Four thousand children are in first grade at schools in the city, and population growth is expected to raise this number to 6,000 by 2012.^[80] As a result, 20 additional kindergarten classes will open in 2008–09 in the city, while additional classes will be added at schools in north Tel Aviv. A new elementary school is planned north of Sde Dov as well as a new high school in north Tel Aviv.^[80]

Gymnasia Herzliya moved from Jaffa to Tel Aviv in 1909. The school continues to operate, although has moved to Jabotinsky Street.^[146] Other notable schools in Tel Aviv include Shevah Mofet, the second Hebrew school in the city, Ironi Alef and Alliance.

Tel Aviv's major institution for higher education is Tel Aviv University. Together with Bar-Ilan University in neighboring Ramat Gan, the student population is more than 50,000, with a sizeable number of international students.^[147][148] Tel Aviv University, founded in 1953, is now the largest university in Israel, internationally known for its physics, computer science, chemistry and linguistics departments. The campus is located in the neighborhood of Ramat Aviv.^[149] Tel Aviv also has several colleges.^[150]

Transportation

Tel Aviv is a major transportation hub, with many major routes of the national transportation network passing through the city.

Bus & Taxi

As with the rest of Israel, bus transport is the most common form of public transport and is very widely used. The Tel Aviv Central Bus Station is in the south of the city. The main bus network in Tel Aviv is operated by Dan Bus Company; the Egged Bus Cooperative, the world's second-largest bus company, provides intercity transportation.^[151]

The city is also well served by local and inter-city share taxis, known locally as "'moniyyot sherut'" or simply "sheruts". Most local and inter-city bus routes also have "sheruts" which follow the same route and display the same route number in their window. Fares are standardised within the region and are comparable to or less expensive than bus fares. Unlike other forms of public transport, "sheruts" operate on Friday night and Saturday (the Jewish sabbath "Shabbat").

An extremely popular form of transportation in Tel Aviv is the taxis ("Monit"). Taxis in Israel are identifiable by their white colour scheme and yellow sign on top. Taxis can be found throughout the city and can be hailed on the street at most times of the day or night. Fares are standardised and metered however they are often negotiated ahead of time with the driver.

Rail

Tel Aviv has four train stations along the Ayalon Highway. The stops are from north to south: University station, Tel Aviv Central station, Hashalom station (adjacent to Azrieli Center) and Tel Aviv Hahaganah (near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station). It is estimated that over a million passengers travel by train from the surrounding cities to Tel Aviv each month. In 2011, two more stations: 'Holon Gate' and 'Holon-Wolfson' will be opened south to the current stations. Although the stations are named after the nearby city of Holon, the stations will also serve Jaffa. Trains in Israel do not run on "Shabbat".

Roads, Bicycles, and Private Cars

With increasing private car ownership in Israel, private cars have become more prevalent in Tel Aviv. The main highway leading to the city is the Ayalon Highway (Highway 20), which runs along the eastern side of the city from north to south along the Ayalon River riverbed, dividing for the most part Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. Driving south on the Ayalon gives access to Highway 1, leading to Ben Gurion International Airport and Jerusalem. Within the city, main routes include Kaplan Street, Allenby Street, Ibn Gabirol Street, Dizengoff Street, Rothschild Boulevard, and in Jaffa the main route is Jerusalem Boulevard. Namir Road connects the city to Highway 2, Israel's main north–south highway, and Begin/Jabotinsky Road, which provides access from the east through Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and Petah Tikva. Tel Aviv, accommodating about 500,000 commuter cars daily, suffers from increasing congestion. In 2007, the Sadan Report recommended the introduction of a congestion charge similar to that of London in Tel Aviv as well as other Israeli cities. Under this plan, road users traveling into the city would pay a fixed fee.^[152]

Tel Aviv Municipality is trying to encourage the use of bicycles in the city, aiming to open 100 bicycle-rental stations to serve 74 kilometers (46.0 mi) of bicycle paths. The bicycle route network has grown substantially in recent years.

Air

The main airport of Tel Aviv is Ben Gurion International Airport (IATA: TLV). Located in the nearby city of Lod, it is the main airport of Israel. The airport serves both international flights and domestic flights, and uses the main hub of El Al, Arkia Israel Airlines, Israir Airlines and Sun D'Or International Airlines. The airport is 15 kilometres (9 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv, on Highway 1 between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It had traffic of 11 million passengers in 2008, and rated as the best airport in the Middle East.

Another airport in the Tel Aviv area is Sde Dov (IATA: SDV). It is located in northwestern Tel Aviv, near the upscale Ramat Aviv neighborhood. Sde Dov Airport serves only a few domestic flights, and is about to be closed because it occupies prime coastal real estate.^[153] In the future all services to Sde Dov will transfer to Ben Gurion Airport.

Light rail

One of the most important transportation projects in Tel Aviv, is a light rail. The first line of the light rail system is under construction and scheduled to open in 2016.^[154] The Red Line starts at Petah Tikva's Central Bus Station, east of Tel Aviv and follows the Jabotinsky Road (Route 481) westwards at street level. At the point were Jabotinsky Road and Highway 4 intersect the line drops into an underground tunnel for 10 km (6.21 mi) through Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv and emerges again to street level just before Jaffa, were it turns southwards towards Bat Yam.

The underground section will include 10 stations, including an interchange with Israel Railways services at Tel Aviv Central Railway Station and the nearby 2000 Terminal. A maintenance depot, connected via a branch line and tunnel to the main section of the line, will be constructed in Kiryat Arye, across from the existing Kiryat Arye suburban railway station. The owner of the first line, MTS, has had financial difficulties that postponed the line's opening. In May 2010, the treasury decided to cancel the agreement with MTS due to the difficulties and the agreement cancelled in August 2010.^[155] The first opening target was 2012 and today the target is 2016 after several postponements.

Electric car

In early 2008, Tel Aviv Municipality announced a pilot scheme to build charging stations for electric cars. Initially, five charging points will be built, and eventually 150 points will be set up across the city as part of the Israeli electric car project, Project Better Place.^[156] Battery replacement points will be located at the city's entrances. A visitor center of Better Place is located in northwestern entrance to the city at Pi-Glilot site.

Media

The three largest newspaper companies in Israel - Yedioth Ahronoth, Maariv and Haaretz - are headquartered in Tel Aviv.^[157] Several radio stations cover the Tel Aviv area, including the city-based Radio Tel Aviv.^[158] The three major Israeli television networks, Keshet, Reshet, and Channel 10, are based in the city, as well as two of the largest radio stations in Israel: Galatz and Galgalatz, which are both located in the same building in Jaffa.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Tel Aviv has 27 twin towns and sister cities around the world^[159] and a partnership with Los Angeles, California, USA

Toulouse, France, since 1962 Mexico City, Mexico Philadelphia, United States, since 1967 Cologne, Germany, since 1979 Frankfurt, Germany, since 1980[160] Bonn, Germany, since 1983 Buenos Aires, Argentina, since 1988 Budapest, Hungary, since 1989[161] Belgrade, Serbia, since 1990 Warsaw, Poland, since 1992[162][163] Essen, Germany, since 1992[164]

Sofia, Bulgaria, since 1992 Cannes, France, since 1993 Łódź, Poland, since 1994[165] Milan, Italy, since 1994[166] Thessaloniki, Greece, since 1994[167] Beijing, China, since 1995 New York City, United States, since 1996 Barcelona, Spain, since 1998[168]

İzmir, Turkey, since 1998 Gaza, Palestinian Authority, since 1998 Note: Suspended by Tel Aviv in 2008[169] Almaty, Kazakhstan, since 1999 Chişinău, Moldova, since 2000 Incheon, South Korea, since 2000 Limassol, Cyprus, since 2000 Moscow, Russia, since 2000 São Paulo, Brazil, since 2004[170][170][171] Vienna, Austria, since 2005

References

Bibliography

• Michael Turner, Catherine Weill-Rochant, Geneviève Blondiau, Silvina Sosnovsky, Philippe Brandeis, Sur les traces du modernisme, Tel-Aviv-Haïfa-Jérusalem, CIVA (ed.), Bruxelles 2004. (Hebrew and French)
• Catherine Weill-Rochant, L'Atlas de Tel-Aviv 1908-2008, Paris, CNRS Editions, 2008. (Historical maps and photos, French, soon in Hebrew and English)
• Catherine Weill-Rochant, Bauhaus » - Architektur in Tel-Aviv, L’architecture « Bauhaus » à Tel- Aviv, Rita Gans (éd.), Zurich, Yad Yearim, 2008. (German and French)
• Catherine Weill-Rochant, 'The Tel-Aviv School : a constrained rationalism', DOCOMOMO journal (Documentation and conservation of buildings, sites and neighbourhoods of the modern movement), April 2009.
• Rochant Weill, Catherine (2006). Le plan de Patrick Geddes pour la « ville blanche » de Tel Aviv : une part d’ombre et de lumière. Volume 1. (PhD thesis), Paris: Université Paris 8. Retrieved 2010-07-09. And: Rochant Weill, Catherine (2006). Le plan de Patrick Geddes pour la « ville blanche » de Tel Aviv : une part d’ombre et de lumière. Volume 2. (PhD thesis), Paris: Université Paris 8. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
• Catherine Weill-Rochant, Le travail de Patrick Geddes à Tel-Aviv, un plan d'ombre et de lumière, Saarbrücken, Éditions Universitaires Européennes, May 2010.

Notes

External links

• Boutique Hotels in tel Aviv
• The official Tel Aviv municipality website
• The official Tel Aviv municipality website (Hebrew)
• The official Tel Aviv municipality website (Arabic)
• Tel Aviv official tourism website
• [2]
• Tel Aviv beach guide

Tel Aviv District Cities Bat Yam · Bnei Brak · Giv'atayim · Herzliya · Holon · Kiryat Ono · Or Yehuda · Ramat Gan · Ramat HaSharon · Tel Aviv-Jaffa Local councils Azor · Kfar Shmaryahu Other sub-divisions: Center District · Haifa District · Jerusalem District · Judea and Samaria Area · North District · South District

Israeli cities with a 50,000+ population 500,000+ Jerusalem 200,000 – 499,999 Tel Aviv • Haifa • Rishon LeZion • Petah Tikva • Ashdod 100,000 – 199,999 Beersheba • Holon • Netanya • Bnei Brak • Ramat Gan • Bat Yam • Rehovot • Ashkelon 50,000 – 99,999 Herzliya • Kfar Saba • Ra'anana • Hadera • Beit Shemesh • Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut • Lod • Nazareth • Ramla • Giv'atayim • Rahat • Nahariya • Kiryat Ata

Summer Paralympic Games host cities 1960: Rome • 1964: Tokyo • 1968: Tel Aviv • 1972: Heidelberg • 1976: Toronto • 1980: Arnhem • 1984: Stoke Mandeville/New York • 1988: Seoul • 1992: Barcelona • 1996: Atlanta • 2000: Sydney • 2004: Athens • 2008: Beijing • 2012: London • 2016: Rio de Janeiro