Israel huddling around Tel Aviv

• Author: Arik Mirovsky
• Published date: 23 January 2023
• Publication title: Globes (Rishon LeZion, Israel)

The Central Bureau of Statistics' survey "Homes and Buildings in the State of Israel" has monitored the number of homes in Israel's cities and local authorities since 2012. Altogether, since that date, some 458,000 dwellings have been added in the country as a whole. Some of them are new homes, some are the result of splitting existing homes, and some are the result of urban renewal programs in which old residential blocks have been demolished and replaced with new, larger ones. The number of homes added therefore does not exactly match the number of new homes built, although there is clearly a strong connection between the two numbers

Jerusalem has added the largest number of dwelling since 2012, some 40,600. This is more than the total number of dwellings in Herzliya, for example. There are currently 241,000 dwellings in Jerusalem, and the city will surpass the quarter of a million mark within a few years. Immediately after Jerusalem comes Tel Aviv, which has added 27,300 dwellings, slightly more than the total number of dwellings in Ra'anana. The number of dwellings in Tel Aviv currently totals 216,000.

Tel Aviv metropolitan area: Fastest growing

These two big cities have extended the gaps between them and the cities that come after them in the urban table. In Haifa, there are 124,800 dwellings, but it has added just 10,000 since 2012. In Petah Tikva there are 87,000 dwellings, with 14,000 added since 2012. Rishon LeZion, with a current total of 85,000 dwellings, and Beersheva, with a current total of 83,000, have added 12,000. All these places are along way behind Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

A broader look reveals a deeper phenomenon. Although Jerusalem is the fastest growing city in Israel, the Tel Aviv metropolis is the fastest growing area.

A metropolis is defined as a web of neighboring settlements between the residents of which there are connections in employment, education, culture, and shopping. Each metropolis has a dominant large city, the kernel of the metropolis, surrounding which there are rings of settlements . The connections between these settlements are measured by the frequency of journeys between them.

In Gush Dan, surrounding Tel Aviv, for example, a substantial proportion of the residents travel between cities for work, entertainment, or shopping.

Gush Dan, however, is only the inner part of the Tel Aviv metropolis. The Central Bureau of Statistics finds that this metropolis actually extends from Ashdod in the south to Netanya in the...