Ideology and urban development: Zionism and the origins of Tel-Aviv, 1906–1914
This contribution to research on Zionist urban settlement in Palestine examines the founding of Tel-Aviv and its development up to the First World War. Tel-Aviv is viewed in a number of general theoretical contexts: urban colonization —the building of modern European quarters alongside old Middle Eastern towns at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century; modernization —the spread of the garden suburb model to various parts of the world; westernization of frontier territories—the urban-industrial stage of the frontier model. The study also examines the effect of the foundation of Tel-Aviv on Jaffa and compares Tel-Aviv with Arab garden neighbourhoods in Palestine at the same period. Zionism favoured urban settlement and this ideological attitude was decisive for the establishment of Tel-Aviv. It influenced the choice of site for the garden suburb, its planning, the selection of its population, and inspired its development as the Hebrew national centre in Palestine. Tel-Aviv began as a garden suburb near an ancient port and was rapidly becoming a town on the eve of the First World War.