Urban Vision And Its Practice Of Zionists(1906~1948)

With the rise of Zionism,Zionists had proposed a number of ideas to create a national homeland in Palestine.Among them,the vision about development of modern Jewish cities cannot be ignored.The urban vision of Zionist including the utopian fantasy of the early Zionists represented by Herzl on the modern Jewish city,as well as the urban vision put into practice by the founders of Tel Aviv,such as Akiba Weiss and Meir Dizengoff.Essentially,the urban vision of Zionists stems from the Zionism,which aims to transplant European industrialization and urbanization to Palestine.From the perspective of urban Zionists,the growth of a modern Jewish metropolis requires the join forces of rational modern urban planning and the encouragement of the development of an entrepreneurial industrial and commercial economy.The creation of the Ahuzat Bayit in 1909 was regarded as a turning point in the development of the modern Jewish urban community.In fact,as early as during the first Aliya movement,Jewish immigrants had created Jewish communities such as Neve Tzedek outside the Jaffa Old City.However,such communities cannot escape the shackles of the “Eastern” and “traditional”,lacking the planning concept of being modern city,and was being increasingly “segregated” for it cannot cope with the influx of large scale Jewish immigration.Directly,it result in the initiative of the modern community named Ahuzat Bayit proposed by Jewish middle class from Jaffa in 1906.In addition,the advocates represented by Weiss realized that there was an inseparable connection between the establishment of a modern Jewish urban community and the construction of Jewish national home.As a result,the Ahuzat Bayit Association led by Weiss has cooperated with Zionist organizations such as the Jewish National Fund on issues such as raising loans and purchasing land.In order to ensure the modernity of the community and create a modern an livable Jewish urban template for Yishuv,the committee set the general planning rules of Ahuzat Bayit based on the idyllic city planning concept.Therefore,the foundation of Ahuzat Bayit community marked that the history of Jewish cities will completely bid farewell to the image of “segregated” Jewish urban life during the Diaspora.In 1910,“Ahuzat Bayit” was renamed “Tel Aviv”,which originally meant “Spring Hill”,also could be extended to “Old-New Land”.This naming indicates that the urban Zionists want to create an ideal modern city in Palestine.Since then,the Tel Aviv community is in a stage of rapid construction and expansion.Before the First World War,Tel Aviv's construction process showed many features full of modernity,such as paying attention to the scientific and rational layout of the residential structure,improving the modern infrastructure,focusing on shaping the community's cultural atmosphere,and adjusting the community's management in a timely manner.This led to Tel Aviv's development into a close-knit modern Jewish community with close neighborhood.In the process of community building in Tel Aviv,with the influx of Jewish immigrants and the emergence of industry and commerce,land acquisition and land speculation activities around the community have risen,causing Tel Aviv's borders be expanded to the outside gradually,laying the basis for the independent municipal status in 1934.However,the chaotic and spreading expansion of the town violated the vision of the “garden neighborhood” set by Tel Aviv when it was founded,but the “Geddes Plan” of 1925 recreated the framework of the “Garden City” and presented the future expansion of Tel Aviv in the north,presenting the Mediterranean style,which is still clearly visible today.By the mid-1930 s,the vision of Dizengoff for Tel Aviv's development as a regional industrial and commercial center city in Palestine had been realized.Tel Aviv has not only own a complete industrial system that including construction,industry,commerce,services and finance,but also being the economic center of Yishuv.It is undeniable that the surge of Jewish immigration and the infusion of private capital are the core factors that forcing Tel Aviv owns the industrial system.During the period of British rule,especially during the prosperous period of the 1930 s,Tel Aviv's industrial structure was unique,with the construction industry occupying a dominant position,which was the primary sector for attracting investment and providing jobs,and was affected by the immigration waves;the industrial production is diversified,mainly small and micro enterprises,but its development has not been supported by the Jewish national public capital,mainly relying on the private capital of immigrants;business and trade have been dominated the Yishuv.In addition,as the only municipal government that enjoyed Jewish autonomy during the Yishuv period,Tel Aviv municipality actively carried out management aimed at stabilizing market order during the emergency period,which can be described as an attempt by the Zionists to independently explore and manage the national economy before the Israel State.As the “First Hebrew City”,Tel Aviv is not only the industrial and commercial center of Yishuv,but also the center of Yishuv's Hebrew culture.Besides reviving the Hebrew spoken through the “language war”,in order to achieve the vision of urban Zionism in the cultural field,Tel Aviv also constructed the Jewish urban public culture via a path that combining tradition and modernity.That is,on the one hand,it relies on modernist architectural concepts to shape the modern urban built environment;on the other hand,it promotes the public ritualization of national festivals on the basis of “the invented tradition”.As an integral part of Yishuv's modern Jewish culture,Tel Aviv's urban public culture plays an important role in exploring and constructing Israeli collective identity.