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Growing Pains: Urban Planning and Resource Management for Israel's

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Growing Pains: Urban Planning and Resource Management for Israel's Growing Pains: Urban Planning and Resource Management for Israel’s Next 70 Years Scholar-in-Residence: Sigal Yaniv Feller — 055-6660384 JFN Staff: Judy Mann — 1-917-734-8306 “In the next 30 years, an additional State of Israel will be built on this same parcel of land.” This thought, from an Israeli environmental researcher, reinforces how sustainability is not solely an environmental concern but a critical factor as this small country grapples with increased population growth and urban development. Today’s choices will have countless rippling repercussions on every aspect of our lives, and the lives of the next generation of Israelis. This tour takes a critical look at resources and strategic, sustainable planning in the context of infrastructure, environment, social development, and regional relations. You’ll gain insight into the current models of long-term infrastructure planning, green public spaces, regional development plans, and the impact of technology. Discover philanthropy’s role in leading change, and creating a just and comfortable future. Detailed Itinerary 7:45 - 8:30 Drive to Hiriya Recycling Park 8:30 - 9:15 Arrive, Walk Around the Park & Video 9:15 - 10:00 "The Big Picture" With Professor Alon Tal 10:00 - 10:30 “Special Story of Hiriya” with Dr. Martin Weyl 10:30 - 11:30 Drive to Gazelle Valley, Jerusalem 11:30 - 12:30 “The Importance of Biodiversity in an Urban Space” with Amir Balaban 12:30 - 13:00 Picnic Lunch 13:00 - 14:00 Drive to Lido Junction 14:00 - 15:00 “Pollution Knows No Borders” with Gidon Bromberg 15:00 - 15:30 Drive to Metsoke Dragot 15:30 - 16:30 “See the Outcome of Human Activity on the Earth” — Dead Sea Sinkholes with Leehee Goldenberg 16:30 - 18:00 Cocktail Hour Overlooking the Dead Sea at Metsoke Dragot 18:00 - 20:00 Drive Back to Hotel Scholar-in-Residence: Sigal Yaniv Feller Sigal is the director of advisory services at JFN (Jewish Funders Network) Israel. Her role includes consulting to Jewish funders from around the world and assisting them in the development of philanthropic strategies for their Israel giving. Sigal joined JFN in 2015 after returning from living in Hong Kong for three years, where she served as the Israeli representative for KH-UIA (Keren Hayesod) in Hong Kong and the Far East. Sigal has over 19 years of experience with the Israeli philanthropic sector; between the years of 2001-2011, Sigal served as the founding Executive Director of the Green Environment Fund (GEF), a unique philanthropic model of five foundations supporting the environment in Israel through a joint strategy. In 2006, Sigal was chosen as one of the 10 most influential people on the environment in Israel by the "The Marker" Israeli magazine. Sigal was born in New York to Israeli parents and moved to Israel at the age of 6. She holds BA & MA degrees in Biology and Environmental Science from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Tour of Hiriya Recycling Park The Hiriya Recycling Park was established by the Dan Region Association of Towns for Sanitation and Waste Management as a part of a complex, integrated change effort intended to accomplish a substantial improvement in the quality of life, public health, and state of the environment in Israel. The Park seeks to transform what was once the Hiriya dump into an Industrial Park, home to a variety of state-of-the-art facilities for treating various types of municipal garbage. Its use of advanced technologies has turned the Recycling Park into an international leader in the field of solid waste management, attracting many professionals in the field and visitors from Israel and worldwide. The park represents the pinnacle of Israel’s environmental revolution, and testifies to how prevailing attitudes can be channeled toward a better, sustainable society Professor Alon Tal - “The Big Picture” Alon Tal is a leading Israeli environmental activist and academic. He is currently chair of the department of Public Policy at Tel Aviv University, where his research involves environmental and water policy. He is a long- time proponent for stabilizing population in Israel and co-founder of the new Israel Forum for Demography, Society and Environment. Tal was the founding director of the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, Israel’s preeminent environmental organization, and also founded the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, a regional Middle Eastern training program for Israeli, Jordanian, Palestinian and international students. From 2010 to 2013 he chaired Israel’s Green Party. In 2015, along with Uri Shanas he co-founded “This is My Earth”, an international initiative that uses crowdsourcing strategies to acquire critical habitats for biodiversity protection. For the past nine years, Professor Tal has headed the Jewish National Fund’s international board committee to oversee Israeli forestry policy. “Special Story of Hiriya” with Dr. Martin Weyl Dr. Martin Weyl is an Israeli curator and activist. A Holocaust survivor, he immigrated to Israel in 1959 and settled in Kibbutz Beit HaEmek, later relocating to Jerusalem to teach at the then-newly constructed Israel Museum. Dr. Weyl earned a degree art history at Hebrew University and evening took over as Director General of the Israel Museum from 1973 to 1996. After his retirement from the Museum, he served as CEO of the Bracha Foundation until 2011 and remained active in his community, notably as part of the effort to establish Ariel Sharon Park at the Hiriya site. Gazelle Valley, Jerusalem The Gazelle Valley is the largest urban wildlife site in Israel, spreading over some 60 acres in the heart of Jerusalem. The valley is named for its famous pack of 30 wild gazelles, but also contains hedgehogs, owls and other biblical wildlife native to the Jerusalem hills, The park is a center for urban recreation, comprised of rolling green hills, natural and man-made bodies of water, and hiking and biking trails. Construction on the park began in 2013 after a lengthy struggle between real estate developers and environmental conservation activists from the Society of Protection of Nature, and was funded by the city of Jerusalem. Its historic opening in 2015 cemented its place as Israel’s first nature urban nature reserve. Amir Balaban, Co-Founder of Jerusalem Bird Observatory and Co-Director of Gazelle Valley Amir Balaban is a pioneer in the field integrating nature within the urban arena. Amir is the Director of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel’s Urban Nature Department, as well as being the Co-Founder and Director of the Jerusalem Bird Observatory and is Director of the recently opened Gazelle Valley Park, Israel’s largest urban nature projects. He is in the process of developing a national urban nature masterplan and supervising projects in over a dozen over cities and localities, both in Israel and internationally Dr. Emily Silverman Founding Director Dr. Emily Silverman is a faculty member at the Hebrew University Geography Department where she teaches courses in housing policy and urban regeneration, social aspects of planning, and community development. Emily holds a Ph.D. in social policy from the London School of Economics, a master’s degree in public policy from Tel Aviv University, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Swarthmore College in the United States. Her work in academia builds on her previous practice in non- profit management and community development, including working with and for numerous international and Israeli philanthropic foundations, Israeli governmental ministries and municipalities, NGOs and civil society. She is a founding member of the Coalition for Affordable Housing in Israel, was the first director of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel’s Tel Aviv community action center, and has been a founder and board member of Transport Today and Tomorrow and the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, among others. “Pollution Knows No Borders” with Gidon Bromberg Gidon Bromberg is the Israeli Director of EcoPeace Middle East (formerly Friends of the Earth Middle East). EcoPeace is a regional organization that brings together Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists to promote sustainable development and advance peace efforts in the Middle East. He has spearheaded the organization's advocacy campaigns both in Israel and internationally, and developed its cross-border community peace-building project "Good Water Neighbors", which is now seen as a model for other programs in conflict areas. An attorney by profession, Bromberg previously worked in public interest environmental law and speaks regularly on water, peace and security issues in various forums. He holds a Bachelor of Economics and a law degree from Monash University in Australia. As a fellow of the New Israel Fund, he completed a master's degree in international environmental law at the American University in Washington, D.C. and is an alumnus of Yale University's World Fellows program. EcoPeace Middle East is an environmental peacebuilding organization that advances cross-border solutions to regional water-related issues. EcoPeace brings together Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists to cooperate on protecting a shared environment. In so doing, it seeks to advance sustainable regional development and create the necessary conditions for lasting peace. With offices in Bethlehem, Amman and Tel Aviv that employ some 60 paid staff members, EcoPeace has deep ties in the communities in which they work. Moreover, EcoPeace's strong presence on each side of the border enables it to foster awareness and advocate for policy changes and practical solutions in a way that cannot be accomplished from any one country alone, and employs a successful collaborative, cross-border approach that combines bottom-up community-based actions with top-down education and advocacy. “See the Outcome of Human Activity on the Earth” — Dead Sea Sinkholes with Leehee Goldenberg Leehee Goldenberg is Director of the Economy, Environment and Natural Resources Department at the Israel Union for Environmental Defense.
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