Urban Art, Interventionism and Graffitti

Writers, painters and artists have produced countless works of art on the urban experience. We can never explain or justify the city. The city exists. It is our space and we have no other. We were born in cities. We grew up in cities. In the cities we breathe. When we travel by train, we travel from one city to another. There is nothing inhuman in the city, perhaps only our very humanity. The traditional city landmarks are special buildings, statues and memorial pillars, squares, bridges, towers, etc., which have historical, social and artistic significance. They facilitate orientation  and significance in the city by creating an urban hierarchy and a local identity. However, the modern city is experienced as an image, as an abstract continuum of colors, lights and descriptions. This dimension intensifies urban space and transforms it into a changing picture of desires and expectations. The city has become addicted to the media and today it is shaped by this vision. The city is perceived as a visual product. As a result of the visual dominance, the traditional points of reference are now a focus of human display.

Modern  urban arts are characterized by existing in the public space. The term summarize all art forms arising in urban areas, being inspired by urban architecture or present urban lifestyle. It can be anything from a small graffiti and a corner musician performance to a very big municipal spectacle. Urban art is an international art form with an unlimited number of uses nowadays. Many urban artists travel from city to city and have social contacts all over the world, In addition to presenting in formal galleries and halls. Artists using the digital media with a subject matter that deals with contemporary urban culture can also be considered as urban artists. 

Urban Interventionism is a name sometimes given to a number of different kinds of activist design and art practices, art that typically responds to the social community, locational identity, the built environment, and public places. The goals are often to create new awareness of social issues, and to stimulate community involvement. Urban Interventionism has been associated with a changed understanding of the relationship between the social and the spatial, called the "spatial turn" of the arts and sciences in the 1980s. In this turn a new viewpoint was taken on public and urban spaces , whereby urban spaces are seen not merely as containers for or outcomes of social processes, but as a medium through which they unfold and as having constitutive significance themselves. According to this train of thought the spatial sights of a city have the power to shape interactions and create new experiences. This power is utilized by urban interventions through the works created by the artists. Urban interventions are linked to artists and philosophers of the 1960's. To put art at the service of the urban does not mean to prettify urban space with works of art. Rather, this means that time-spaces become works of art and that former art reconsiders itself as source and model of appropriation of space and time. This also echoes other art forms that are connected like the 1960's Happenings. Combining art forms are characteristic to Urban Interventionism. Artists working in this international vein often utilize outdoor video projection, found objects, sculptural artifacts, posters, and performance events that might include and involve passersby on the street. 

Graffiti are writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched, or painted illicitly on a wall or other surface, often within public view. Graffiti range from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings.Graffiti is the the main form of Urban Art. While not exhaustive, Graffiti give a sense of the millennial and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit. Graffiti writing is a way of defining what the generation is like. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people. Graffitters are a little bit more like pirates that way. They defend fiercely a territory with the space they paint on.

Historically, The term referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Use of the word has evolved to include any graphics applied to surfaces in a manner that constitutes vandalism.

The ancient Romans carved graffiti on walls and monuments, examples of which also survive in Egypt. Graffiti in the classical world had different connotations than they carry in today's society concerning content. Ancient graffiti displayed phrases of love declarations, political rhetoric, and simple words of thought, compared to today's popular messages of social and political ideals. 

Ancient tourists visiting the 5th century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka scribbled over 1800 individual graffiti there between 6th and 18th centuries. Etched on the surface of the Mirror Wall, they contain pieces of prose, poetry, and commentary. Many demonstrate a very high level of literacy and a deep appreciation of art and poetry. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there.

Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.

These early forms of graffiti have contributed to the understanding of lifestyles and languages of past cultures. 

Contemporary graffiti writing is often seen as having become intertwined with hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti. However, there are many other instances of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.

Advent of aerosol paint made Rock and roll graffiti a significant subgenre. Aerosol Graffiti became associated with the anti-establishment punk rock movement beginning in the 1970s. Following the spread of hip hop culture In 1979, graffiti artists were given gallery openings, which contributed to a growing interest outside New York in all aspects of hip hop. Style Wars film reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture by incorporating famous early break-dancing groups into the film and featuring rap music in the soundtrack. Hollywood also paid attention, as it depicted the culture and gave it international exposure in movies such as Beat Street.

With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks. Due to laws forbidding it, some of the "street artists" were arrested and charged with vandalism, and IBM was fined more than US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs. In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony.
Many graffiti artists see legal advertising as no more than paid for and legalised graffiti and have risen against mainstream ads.

Along with the commercial growth has come the rise of video games of the early 21th century also depicting graffiti, usually in a positive aspect, for example, the story of a group of teens fighting the oppression of a totalitarian police force that attempts to limit the graffiti artists' freedom of speech. In plot lines mirroring the negative reaction of non-commercial artists to the commercialization of the art form, it revolves around an anonymous hero and his magically imbued-with-life graffiti creations as they struggle against an evil king who only allows art to be produced which can benefit him. Following the original roots of modern graffiti as a political force came another game title, featuring a story line involving fighting against a corrupt city and its oppression of free speech.

Advocates of graffiti sees it as an art form, stating that Graffiti is without question the most powerful art movement in recent history and a driving inspiration. Graffiti have become a common stepping stone for many members of both the art and design communities in North America and abroad. From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Dogancay photographed urban walls all over the world. these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "The walls whisper, shout and sing...'' at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffiti artists to the public were in New York. A 2006 exhibition displayed graffiti as an art form. It displayed 22 works by New York graffiti artists. In an article about the exhibition, the curator said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti. Graffiti is revolutionary and any revolution might be considered a crime. People who are oppressed or suppressed need an outlet, so they write on walls, it's free. In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners. 

Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris, a clear acceptance of the art form into the French art world.

There is a significant graffiti tradition in South America, especially in Brazil. Within Brazil, São Paulo is a significant centre of inspiration for many graffiti artists worldwide. Brazil boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene, earning it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration. Graffiti flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities. Artistic parallels are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York. The sprawling metropolis of São Paulo has become the new shrine to graffiti. Brazil's chronic poverty and unemployment and the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples are as the main engines that have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture. In world terms, Brazil has one of the most uneven distributions of income, with Laws and taxes change frequently. Such factors contribute to a very fluid society, driven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised, that is South American graffiti art. Prominent Brazilian graffiti artists Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form and the more conventionally artistic values.

Graffiti in the Middle East is emerging slowly, with pockets of taggers operating in the various 'Emirates' of the United Arab Emirates, in Israel, and in Iran. Major Iranian newspaper has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist works on Tehran walls. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many graffiti artists in Israel come from other places around the globe. The religious reference"Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman" is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.

There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.

Spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color. Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, limiting the healthy time of using them. Time is always a factor with graffiti artists also due to the constant threat of being caught by law enforcement. In yhis way' spray paint is a medium and a message. Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes as new media for graffiti artists.

Some of the most common styles of graffiti have their own names. A tag is the most basic writing of an artist's name. it is simply a hand style. It is by far the most common form of graffiti. 
Many graffiti artists believe that doing complex pieces involves too great an investment of time to justify the practice. Doing a piece can take from 30 minutes to months on end, as was the case while working on the world's largest graffiti piece on the LA river. Another graffiti artist can go over a piece in a matter of minutes with a simple throw-up. This was exemplified by the writer "CAP" in the documentary Style Wars, who, other writers complain, ruins pieces with his quick throw ups. This became known as capping and often is done when there is a conflict between writers.

In times of conflict, graffiti art works are, in fact, an effective tool of communication and self-expression for members of socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR. The murals of Belfast and of Los Angeles offer an example of official recognition. 

Because graffiti artists constantly have the looming threat of facing consequences for displaying their graffiti, many choose to protect their identities and reputation by remaining anonymous. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. He is art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some cities have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.

Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.

By making the graffiti less explicit the drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character. Activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffiti artist painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in their being repaired within 48 hours.

Government responses around the world reflect the debate of the importance of Graffitti.

In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanise the country's communist revolution.

In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffiti artists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated Graffiti Zones. From 2007, Taipei also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites with a goal to beautify the city with graffiti. The government later helped organize a graffiti contest.

In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti. In 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and graffiti, along with other concerns over urban life. In 2004, British campaign called for zero tolerance of graffiti. The  campaign also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed 'cool' or 'edgy' image.

In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffiti artists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and create art. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing. Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions. All forms of graffiti can be found in many places throughout the city.  As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. 

In the United States Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Interventionism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_art

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti

Cincinnati Murals

Pareidolia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon in which the mind responds to a stimulus, usually an image or a sound, by perceiving a familiar pattern where none exists.

Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, the Man in the Moon, the Moon rabbit, hidden messages within recorded music played in reverse or at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds, and hearing indistinct voices in random noise such as that produced by air conditioners or fans.

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Pareidolia can cause people to interpret random images, or patterns of light and shadow, as faces. A study found that objects perceived as faces evoke an early activation of the fusiform face area at a time and location similar to that evoked by faces, whereas other common objects do not evoke such activation. This activation is similar to a slightly faster time that is seen for images of real faces.

Cognitive processes are activated by the "face-like" object, which alert the observer to both the emotional state and identity of the subject, even before the conscious mind begins to process or even receive the information. This robust and subtle capability is hypothesized to be the result of eons of natural selection favoring people most able to quickly identify the mental state, for example, of threatening people, thus providing the individual an opportunity to flee or attack pre-emptively. In other words, processing this information subcortically — therefore subconsciously — before it is passed on to the rest of the brain for detailed processing accelerates judgment and decision making when a fast reaction is needed.

Pareidolia can be considered a subcategory of Apophenia, unmotivated seeing of connections accompanied by a specific feeling of abnormal meaningfulness, Eearly stages of delusional thought, over-interpretations of actual sensory perceptions, as opposed to hallucinations. Apophenia has come to imply a universal human tendency to seek patterns in random information, such as gambling.

Rocks may come to mimic recognizable forms through the random processes of formation, weathering and erosion. Most often, the size scale of the rock is larger than the object it resembles, such as a cliff profile resembling a human face. Well-meaning people with a new interest in fossils can pick up chert nodules, concretions or pebbles resembling bones, skulls, turtle shells, dinosaur eggs, etc., in both size and shape.

The Rorschach inkblot test uses pareidolia in an attempt to gain insight into a person's mental state. The Rorschach is a projective test, as it intentionally elicits the thoughts or feelings of respondents that are "projected" onto the ambiguous inkblot images. Projection in this instance is a form of "directed pareidolia".

In his notebooks, Leonardo da Vinci wrote of pareidolia as a device for painters, writing, "If you look at any walls spotted with various stains or with a mixture of different kinds of stones, if you are about to invent some scene you will be able to see in it a resemblance to various different landscapes adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, plains, wide valleys, and various groups of hills. You will also be able to see divers combats and figures in quick movement, and strange expressions of faces, and outlandish costumes, and an infinite number of things which you can then reduce into separate and well conceived forms."

There have been many instances of perceptions of religious imagery and themes, especially the faces of religious figures, in ordinary phenomena. Many involve images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the word Allah, or other religious phenomena.

Publicity surrounding sightings of religious figures and other surprising images in ordinary objects has spawned a market for such items on online auctions like eBay. One famous instance was a grilled cheese sandwich with the face of the Virgin Mary.

Pareidolia also arises in computer vision, specifically in image recognition programs, which can spuriously detect features. In the case of an artificial neural network, higher-level features correspond to more recognizable features, and enhancing these features brings out what the computer sees. These reflect the training set of images that the network has "seen" previously. Striking visuals can be produced in this way, notably in the DeepDream software, which falsely detects and then exaggerates features such as eyes and faces in any image.

Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) has been described as auditory pareidolia. Allegations of backmasking in popular music, in which a listener claims a message has been recorded backward onto a track meant to be played forward, have also been described as auditory pareidolia. A psychologist invented an algorithm for producing phantom words and phrases with the sounds coming from two stereo loudspeakers, with one to the listener's left and the other to his right. Each loudspeaker produces a phrase consisting of two words or syllables. The same sequence is presented repeatedly through both loudspeakers; however, they are offset in time so that one when the first sound is coming from the speaker on the left, the second sound is coming from the speaker on the right, and vice versa. After listening for a while, phantom words and phrases suddenly emerge, and these often appear to reflect what is on the listener's mind, and they transform perceptually into different words and phrases as the sequence continues.

Various European ancient divination practices involved the interpretation of shadows cast by objects. For example, in molybdomancy, a random shape produced by pouring molten tin into cold water is interpreted by the shadow it casts in candlelight.[citation needed]

A shadow person, also known as a shadow figure, shadow being or black mass, is often attributed to pareidolia. It is the perception of a patch of shadow as a living, humanoid figure, particularly as interpreted by believers in the paranormal or supernatural as the presence of a spirit or other entity.

Pareidolia is also what some skeptics believe causes people to believe that they have seen ghosts.

Sacred and Magical Places

Sacred and Magical Places

An Exploration of Their Mysterious Powers 

By Martin Gray

What is the actual nature of the sacred sites? How can we explain the extraordinary - and often miraculous - phenomena that occur at them?

Hundreds of millions of pilgrims journey to these power places each year. The momentum of both religious tradition and modern tourism is commonly suggested to explain this astonishing movement of people. 

Yet much more is going on than mere religious custom or vacation travel. How do we account for the enormous popularity of these places? What makes them sacred, and what do people hope to gain from their visits to the sites?

Zionist, Jewish, liberal, Green

To the titles of: Zionist, Jewish, liberal, it is appropriate to add the title: ''Green''.  

The State of Israel sees the image of Israel as the land of the Bible a central component of its identity and religious tourism is one of the most important parts of its economy. 

Idyllic appearance is probably the most important criterion according by which Israel is examined by the peoples of the world. Likud party should adopt the identity ''Green". This identity is also the key for economic prosperity of Israel, as it encompasses a great many technological horizons, including the use of alternative energy, advanced public transport, urban and regional planning and more. In many areas the state leads.

The country is one geographical unit of Environment and Planning from the Mediterranean to the Jordan river. The insight of the entire land of Israel as one environmental unit must be reflected in all government programs.

But the desolate land of the Zionist pioneers is now largely covered by concrete and asphalt. The Palestinian residents in the country between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river are competing in doing so, creating a clash between two masses of territoriality, which has become a form of terrorism. Already we are experiencing here ecological collapse, it is still slow but could accelerate as a snowball. Nations may prefer the land of Israel as the object of their messianic longings. However, manicured environment generates respect from others, and conditions for peace can be realized for granted in a country which is working on the development of the natural landscape.

The chaos of the improper regional planning in Israel expanded to the municipal and metropolitan environment and has become embedded in Haifa metropolitan area in particular. In this metropolis, with the capital city of Haifa, there are dozens of smaller settlements, most of which are located in the bay and its surrounding. The total population is close to one million. But there is almost no coordination between communities, coordination that could be realized within the framework of consolidating authorities.

Many citizens of Haifa metropolitan area, a region with a rich history and educated population, seen as a subject of central importance for their future and the entire State of Israel, the gradual and full termination of petrochemical plants and their facilities in Haifa Bay, which dominate the area and are very dangerous in terms of health, safety, and for socio- Economic reasons.

From a health perspective, Haifa metropolitan area is suffering from cancer in a percentage which is much higher than the average of Israel. Ministry of Health thinks of declaring  it a danger to health zone. Citizens, who have been here for decades, should not be suprised of this statement, especially since many years will pass before the declaration will be implemented in practice. Citizens already know this first hand, because their hospital beds are full of sick children, a fact which was confirmed statistically. The full list of the health damage that  pollution causes is very long and has far-reaching implications. It includes brain shrinkage.

The safety-security reason for eliminating the  petrochemicals facilities is clear: Haifa bay is a constant target for instant rocket attacks. Missiles may blow up the entire region and lead easily to tens of thousands of victims.

Economically, there is a big problem throughout Israel of homes shortage and another problem in Haifa metropolitan area of a shortage of jobs, which creates negative emigration from the region. Residential areas should be established, together with advanced industrial zones in this metropolis. The petrochemical plants are on expensive land, near the beach and the river, with spectacular views, in the heart of population centers. The taxes the factories pay are very low, compared to that from a population of millions of people, who can live and work on the same land.

Mayor Yona Yahav and his coalition are supporting the development of toxic petrochemical enterprises and their facilities, together with the establishment of a new monster port. His past mistakes caused deterioration in the health and socio-economic situation. Haifa metropolitan area is already in a decaying course.

Environmental activists of Haifa metropolitan area are monitoring available polluion statistics of the petrochemical facilities. They professionally oppose the dangers of increasing their capacity. 

Their efforts are combined with those of urban planning experts against the government programs for new and unnecessary port with a huge yards, on reclaimed land from the sea.

These days, opposition activists following the official programs focus on:

Tripling the production capacity of the Bazan refineries.

Construction of a huge fuel tanks farm nearby.

Huge containers docks and yards, togehther with petroleum dock, on reclaimed area from the sea which will serve as a "new port".

Haifa new master plan which is in favor of all of the above.

Their opposition proceedings are against government programs that are in the final stages of formal approval. If these programs are approved it will seal the future of Haifa and Israel. These programs will make Haifa metropolitan area a Third World place:

Most fuel production will be for export.

Most of the containers at the ugly giant yards will be staying for a short transit time between large to small ships.

The pollution will increase greatly as a result of increased production.

Safety and security risks will grow because of the explosive potential of dense installations.

Haifa's green activists were born into this situation, of living near petrochemical plants and a port which block the sea. They gradually gather new insights and conclusions in a learning process. They hope that the world will help them assess the situation, so we all will enjoy the true gifts that the land can offer.

Even if you solve the problem of air pollution there will still be the problem of the economic absurdity of the existence of petrochemical plants in Haifa metropolitan area. 

This absurdity can be illustrated using the following question: How would Tel Aviv metropolis developed if the international airport will be replaced with petrochemical plants? Will it enable economic growth in the region, or it would become desolate and deserted? Petrochemical plants in Haifa bay provide employment for thousands of workers, compared with the hundreds of thousands who make a living, directly and indirectly, from the airport. This is an ongoing farce. These plants, spread out all around the bay and are its dominant view, are dinosaurs which destroy everything good.

The economic future of Haifa metropolitan area should be based on advanced clean industries, fruit of its academic institutions, and utilization of the unique natural features of Mount Carmel and Haifa bay, with a beach of a potential for 30 kilometers of riviera, close to major religious sites and more. 

But Haifa may be left without attention, as a metropolitan with no airport, no beaches, no jobs and no homes. 

Haifa Bay is enjoying beautiful weather, sunny, clear and calm for most of the year. It is likely to attract many tourists to its the beautiful and historic sites. Tourists currently only pass through on their way to other places. The bay is originally one of the most beautiful areas in Israel. With the beach, mountain and river, it is a spectacular landscape. Combined with its geographic advantages for deep ports and transportation routes it  could become a global center such as Singapore, or at least Beirut our nearby competitor. Instead, in its heart are the polluting factories, which have accumulated huge debts to the authorities and are with unclear future in light of changing market conditions.

Singapore has limited land resources, and its leaders were wise enough to realize that for developing its human resources they need to develop the place properly. In addition, they realized that they must ensure the development of an international airport. Today, airport revenues make up about 20% income of the city-state, which operates the largest seaport in the world. Singapore is the role model for the independent Chinese growth regions, which have become the economic powerhouse of the world. Haifa metropolitan area is in need of a major international airport, surrounded by high-tech business. The contribution of an airport city here will be much more greater than to Singapore, thanks to the aviation industry we have developed.

There is no practical way for the establishment of a civil airport at Ramat-David. Reasons for that fall into several categories:

Strategically, the Air Force and the defense establishment will not give it up now, with the terrible threats from north and east.

There are no geographic conditions for passenger aircraft operations, due to the need to lower and rise quickly over mountain ranges, also with fog for several hours during the day.

Economically, there is no infrastructure for an international civilian airport in this agricultural area which is relatively far from the major population centers of the coastal plain.

International airport in Ramat-David will destroy the most beautiful valley of the country, the Jezreel Valley, which is one of our last beautiful landscapes.

Haifa Bay can have two runways for Boeing 747 on the same area now designed for the new container yards. Undoubtedly, long runway into the sea in Haifa will be high on the list of the world's most spectacular landing sites and will help greatly to make the entire metropolis a tourism site. On the side of the long runway can be port docks, and doing so will increase the size of the planned port. Although the combined runway/breakwater will be very long, the extension of the breakwater against it, on the western side of the bay, will enclose economically a very large area of safe water.

Plan to extend the runway into the sea in current Haifa airport, which was build by the British and was never changed, were prepared by experts chaired by minister Ephraim Sneh back in 1995. They were approved by the highest committy, but was opposed at the last minute. This may be because the plan was not supported by equivalent gradual termination of the petrochemical plants which are close to the airfield. This program is currently still supported by the city's senior economic officials, who envision the international airport realized through several beats.

The plants, along with the unnecessary port, must move to third world countries, on purely economic criteria, as many other industries immigrated to these countries, where there is huge demand for them, and the labor and land costs are lower. An example of a manufacturing industry which was successfully transferred from Israel is the textile industry.

An area suitable for the transfer of the petrochemical plants is the coast of the East African countries that have friendly relations with Israel, such as Ethiopia and Kenya. These countries are also near the oil resources of the Persian Gulf. Oil refineries there will be able to interact with non-political connection with the State of Israel and enjoy all the associated economic benefits.

It is possible that the gas reserves discovered off the coast of Haifa has also a lot of oil. Noble Energy wants to build the gas and oil tankers terminal near the rig and we should support the company in this process. The gas and oil for local use, piped to Israel, could be processed in small facilities, to be constructed away from inhabited areas, if it is decided that Israel must be independent about it. But it is also possible to completely give up the production of refined fuels and settle for the establishment of large reservoirs to serve the economy in times of emergency.

The world is in transition for clean energy, particularly solar energy. Within a decade solar energy will be a major part of mankind's energy resources, so there is no financial reason to invest in oil infrastructure at the present. Transfering from Haifa bay of the petrochemical enterprises should be integrated with operations of increasing the use of clean energy in Israel.

The list of Israeli government ministers of 2015 consists of a large number of senior ministers formerly from Haifa metropolitan area. In addition, there are several ministers closely associated with the issues of regional development and the problems of Haifa metropolitan area. They can act to save the metropolis. This may be a unique opportunity.

Government ministers with connection to Haifa metropolitan area are:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - originally from Jerusalem, but his wife Sara is from Tivon, which is located near the petrochemical plants. They live in Caesarea, near the largest power station of Israel and also close to Haifa.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon - Ya'alon was born and raised in Haifa and in Haifa University he graduated in political science.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett - Bennett was born and grew up in Haifa. 

Moshe Kachalon, Minister of Finance - was a military man in its suburbs. After his military career he opened a small business in downtown Haifa, was a resident of Haifa and a member of the Likud branch in the city, where his political career began.

Yuval Steinitz, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure - studied and lectured at the University of Haifa and was a city resident and member of the Likud branch for many years.

Interior Minister Silvan Shalom - expert in regional development, deputy prime minister, a cabinet member, and minister of regional development and rehabilitation. A public figure like Shalom should take charge in Haifa Bay.

Yoav Galant, Minister of Housing and Construction - served as a fighter and commander of Squadron 13, headquartered near Haifa. He holds a BA with honors in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Haifa. Lives in Amikam, near Zichron Yaakov.

Miri Regev,  culture and sports  minister -  support green organizations of Haifa metropolitan area.

Benny Begin, a minister without portfolio - an expert on the subject of illegal settelments. 

The spectacular amphitheater view of Haifa bay creates within the viewers a constant stimulation for action, often too hasty and expressed in actions and programs unreasonable, especially given the antagonism of the petrochemical plants and ugly container yards. The combination of maritime and airial transport systems, described above, is an elegant solution to that issue.

There is great importance to the gradual evacuation of the oil refineries from their current location. They are exactly in the rear of the airport, in the orbit path which is essential for large passenger aircraft. The refineries area should become entirely part of the Kishon Park, a park which will be designed as a combination of a metropolis green park and airplanes orbit path.

Creation of Haifa International Airport should be combined with the gradual evacuation of the plants and petrochemical installations in the bay. In this way land reserves will be created for residential buildings and advanced business and industry. Many jobs will be created for the airport's needs. The slogan: ''No to Refineries - Yes to Airport'', should be made a reality.

Terrorism of poor regional planning in Israel

The 'Human figure map of the Holy Land' was created, in part, from a desire to give the  environmentally wounded Land of Israel an idyllic look.

The desolate land with a natural look which was attended by early Zionists is nowdays largely covered with a layer of concrete and asphalt, in part because of the desire for territorial achivements.

The Arabs who live in Israel and the Palestinian Authority copied the pattern and also conquered the country in the same format, of towns invading endlessly to natural areas.

The result is a clash between two teritorial masses, which already reached a critical level.

Peace to Israel will not come by politicians, nor by capital investments in combined projects of any kind.

Peace will come by geographers and city and regional planners, who will sit and draw maps of areas and settlements under the most desirable and appropriate pattern, to enable the different communities in this land to grow in harmony. 

It will be done not in accordance with 'facts on the grounds' by which, for example, most Arab towns  in Israel were declaired as cities without a proper planning, or asphalt barons constructed more and more highways with intensive consuming of land and the like.

Planning should be done according to what is right and correct from the planning point of view, under the fact that the whole land from the Jordan river to the Mediteranean sea is just one small geographical unit, a small piece of land which should be designed and built under this definition.

This insight of more then just close proximity, the insight of one planning area, was ignored by the international and local politicians.

What will be the benefit of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians if they will develop in their land concrete communities, which will spread within a few years and will cover all the hills, valleys and plains in an uncontrolled way.

Formulating a peace agreement without a united landscape image, designed and detailed in all aspects, will paradoxically hasten our  common downfall.

There are two theories of general regional collapse due to a severe environmental crisis:

The first describes the gradual and slow collapse.

The second describes an immediate collapse, after many years of apparent stability.

The best known result of terrorist extremism is terrorist acts against human beings. The results which are less published, but are very noticeable for those who know the land, are of construction terrorism, which violate the ecological balance and lndscape views under the arguments of religious, political and sectorial values.

The valleys around the Temple Mount, which were once green areas, had become over the last few decades crowded urban housing and unplanned neighborhoods.

On the other hand, the Israeli government covered the green hills around Jerusalem with suburban neighborhoods.

A building which is built in an inappropriarte  place will remain for centuries. Even if it would be demolished, there will be a very long time until nature will cover the ruins. 

This is in contrast to air pollution, which can be fixed within a relativly short time.

These serious facts on the ground are a form of terrorism that makes the conflict insoluble.

Alleged minor defaults of local authorities, which are not careful enough about construction laws, including careful planning and tight control, are the real source of the conflict today.

The Christian powers watch after the handling of the State of Israel in the field of regional planning. 

For them the State of Israel is part of the Holy Land, the idyllic land of the Bible and the New Testament, which is the object of all time longing.

Perhaps they prefer an ecological disaster, the result of construction violations which will make the country a no man's land, where might makes right.

Such a disaster is in accordance with the Messianic Christian concept of heavenly Jerusalem and the land of Israel as a place of longing only.

Environmental issues are very important to Germany in particular. Germany's re-unification was performed largely thanks to the strong German Green Party.

If we will learn to understand the critical importance of regional planning and establish appropriate authorities to enforce it properly, we can leverage it to a level where a peace agreement with the Palestinians would not be necessary.

Peace will be realized for granted in a country which is working on maintaining and developing the natural landscape, just as a person is recognized and respected by those around him if he behave properly.

Man is shaped in the pattern of the landscape of his birthplace.

The chaos of unplanned environment is spreading also to the planned urban environment.

Here are some examples of planning chaos in the cities in which we live:

Haifa metropolitan area is where the situation of the environment is getting worse all the time, in terms of regional planning in particular. For example, small adjacent cities with similar communities in Haifa bay create a dense cluster and long had to be united into one big city. This was not done and the result is a multi-year environmental cheos. The lack of strong leadership contributed to continous dangerous air pollution from the petro-chemical factories nearby.

The situation of public transportion in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area is very poor, according to a series of articles.

The damage that poor public transportion cause to the economy is enormous. Time lost for every citizen is accumulated into millions of hours each year. But it seems that none of the politicians is raising his glove, and we hear about a record year of cars sales, traffic congestion and endless new highways.

Israel need a 'Singapore Program'. Singapore has limited land resources and its civil leaders understood that they can not allow uncontrolled construction, that will prevent them from developing human resources properly. Therefore they have enforced strict rules in the field of environmental protection. Singapore is now a symbol and an international role model, but there is no political party in Israel which adopts this symbol.

There are many Insufficient government authorities in Israel, such as National Land Administration, currently undergoing a paradoxical  reform for privatizing state lands on one side and creating a unit for maintaining land resources on the other.

Preserving and maintaining the very limited land resources of Israel requires people of military stature, generals who will conduct the campaign against the territorial terrorism.  

They'll have to deal with the issues of enforcement of planning and building laws in a military disciplined manner. There should be headquarters, intelligence, forces, spokesmen and so on, as in any orgenized army.

Earth is an irreplaceable resource.

Herman Shtruck Museum in Haifa

Herman Shtruck Museum

Hermann Shtruck (1876-1944) is considered one of the most important print artists in Germany and in Israel in the first half of the twentieth century. For more than forty years of operation, as successful and respected artist, he created a plethora of works on paper, mainly in two kinds of topics - portrait and landscape. His famous series of portraits immortalized the greatest intellectuals and scientists of his time, including the most famous painting in contemporary Judaism - a portrait of Theodor Hertzel.

Hermann Shtruck : Portrait of Theodore Hertzel

In addition to his artistic work Shtruck took an important part in the Zionist movement. His major artistic initiatives led to the establishment of Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem.

Shtruck was recognized as preeminent graphic arts teacher and began teaching art print even while in Germany. Among his many students were Max Liebermann, Marc Chagall, Jacob Steinhardt, Joseph Bodko and others.

In December 1922 Shtruck moved from Berlin to Haifa. Shtruck's settling in Haifa was a cultural event which Israel did not know before. Shtruck was internationally recognized Jewish artist and contributed greatly to the development of the artistic community of the north of the country in general and the city of Haifa in particular.

Shtruck settled in Haifa in a three-storey building at Arlosorov Street 23 in Hadar Carmel, designed by his friend Alexander Berwald - one of the greatest architects who were operating in the first half of the twentieth century. He restored his studio in Berlin and gathered a club of students specialized in various print techniques. Among those who attended were Anna Ticho, Zvi Goldstein, Joseph Ehrlich and others.

Shtruck's home today is a preserved elegant building of historical and architectural value. In 2013, after a reconstruction project that included the renovation of the building, while retaining the original details, it was opened as a museum which recreate the appearance and the original spirit of the house as it was in the life of Shtruck.

The purpose of the museum is to illuminate the portrait of Hermann Shtruck in all circles of his cultural and social creativity and activity. The museum's display include furniture items, rugs, personal items, books and oil paintings by Hermann Shtruck, alongside works from the collection of Haifa Museum of Art. On the top floor of the museum will soon be opened a creative activity center, including workshops for print and etching, sculpture and painting.

Temporary exhibitions of the museum will be dedicated to the multi-scale creation of Hermann Shtruck and the art to which the artist devoted his life - print. Exhibitions will focus on issues, ideas and cultural trends in the modern era. Display platforms will bring together the work of Shtruck with other artists that work in the graphic arts field today in Israel and abroad, with the aim to conduct a dialogue between periods and points of view.

Sources:  מוזיאוני חיפה, הרמן שטרוק, בית הרמן שטרוק

The Most Strange Places in the World - Captured on Google Earth

Two crescents - Arab urban periphery around Haifa

Two crescents - Arab urban periphery around Haifa

photo: Google Maps

There are those who seek to squeeze more and more residential buildings in the city of Haifa, or oppose the development of metropolitan park in the Kishon River.

They apparently think that the city is surrounded by green mountains, and anyone who wants it can find abundant natural areas within a few minutes of driving from his home.

This is not so!

Apart from the Jewish cities and towns in the coastal plain, crowded yet designed, there is around Haifa, in less then one hour of driving, a very large periphery of Arab towns.

These towns were built without planning procedure, and therefore are not mapped properly. Only small parts of them appear in the maps.

Hence there is no proper reference to them in professional and academic organizations, in the media or in politics.

To the lack of public awareness for their existence contributes their traditional location, which is in hidden hills. These hidden hills are near major transportation routes, which make them very attractive as suburbs.

Due to the building style of these towns, of individual and spontaneous self-construction method, in mountainous and agricultural areas which are relatively inexpensive, Arab family houses are densely spread without order all around the western and southern slopes of the Galilee mountains, and the northern and western slopes of Samaria Mountains. 

They are still mostly called 'villages', but in fact these villages are today big towns, of tens of thousands of people each, which expanded their territory to create one urban continuum, where hundreds of thousands of residents live together.

In the western and southern Galilee slopes, the urban area, in the form of crescent, is consisted of the following towns:

Nazareth and more in the center.

Tamra, Iblin, Shfaram and more in the west.

Yarka, Kfar-Yasif, Gat and more in the north.

Daburia, Iksal and more in the east.

To understand fully the extent of this urban block one can visit this area of seemingly green Galilee, and drive in a dense Arab built urban sprawl, starting from a point east of Nahariya near the border with Lebanon almost to the Sea of Galilee.

In Samaria Mountains area, the urban towns, which are bigger thanks to the short distance to Tel-Aviv, are also intermingled together in a similar in the form of a crescent:

The central block is of the towns along Wadi Ara, with Um-al-Fahm in its center.

West of it, on the Carmel mountain, are the Druze towns Dalia and Osafia.

South of Wadi Ara are cities like: Tira, Taiba and Kalansawa.

East of Wadi Ara, beyond the Green Line, around the city of Jenin, are its surrounding towns in the edge of Izrael Valley.

The distance between the 2 crescents is only few kilometers, through the fields of Izrael Valley.

The people of Haifa who fight for a small garden near their house know that they will not find it elsewhere. North and central Israel became one crowded urban area. Illegal construction, unplanned construction, and construction in agricultural areas made it happen.