Heather's Haifa (Educational) Holiday

Haifa is Israel’s third largest city (pop. 260,000) set on a hill above the Mediterranean and serves as Israel’s largest port. It holds socially diverse population including Arabs, Jews, Christians and a major Baha' i shrine. There are three distinct neighborhoods along the hill: The port or industrial area, the business district (Hadar) and the Carmel district at the highest point where the conference took place. Israel’s only subway the Carmelit runs up and down through the Haifa hillside. The city is also home to a number of universities, including the University of Haifa and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology and a number of student and professors attended the conference.

Demand for the first toolbox of information on CD was high as the webmaster burned Cds as fast as participants could buy them. Certainly, this gathering showed that New Urbanists are well on their way to fostering change. Overall this was an impressive event and organizers Irit Solzi, Yodan Rofe and Dror Gershon deserve much praise and support for their work in getting more Israelis to embrace New Urbanism. For more information on the Movement for Israeli Urbanism and their next agenda visit http://www.miu.org.il

Here's another photo of some of the streets and the city hall in Haifa. The city hall has been criticized quite a bit since it brought a lot of workers away from the downtown and into this modern building. What do you think of it?

Also here is a photo of a model of the city of Jerusalem. CNU members Michael Mehaffey and Ralph Zucker and I were lucky enough to get a tour of the model which is located in the lower level of the municipality or city hall in Jerusalem.