City Under Construction

The project examines the spatial and temporal conditions of development and renewal areas for mass transportation infrastructure, viewing them as an opportunity to establish strategies for managing workspaces that utilize existing qualities and enhance them. The development of mass transportation systems in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area is at the forefront of this renewal in 21st-century Israel. Work sites have existed within the urban fabric since the city’s inception, but the intensity of the combined events—numerous work sites and various mega-projects occurring simultaneously across the city—since the start of railway works has transformed the city into one large work site. Urban development and renewal processes tend, as a rule, to focus on the final spatial product, often neglecting the long period during which unsuccessful, limited urban lives unfold, as well as the urban present and its importance to the lives of city residents. The very temporariness of this massive urban event, along with the awareness that it serves a purpose, allows for ignoring the consequences of living in a space that becomes a waiting room. The effects of this “waiting room” can be experienced through a quick stroll through the "dying" streets surrounding the work sites. The project calls for a paradigm shift in the management of such infrastructure projects, focusing not only on the final outcome but also on the urban present. It proposes viewing temporariness and complexity not only as challenges but also as opportunities to create new, meaningful, and community-oriented spaces—spaces that can turn the city at work into an accessible and connective environment.