How do you sum up the next 20 years? Sound like science fiction? Not at all. We already have all the data we need to see where we'll be 20 years from now if we continue to conduct ourselves as we do today – or what will happen if we take matters in hand.
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We've chosen to launch "Building a Future," the thick magazine you're holding right now, with a special project – "The Failure, the Solution, the Vision." For a change, our goal is not just to indicate our failures – in light of the tenth-year anniversary of the social protest movement – but to find a solution to Israel's serious housing problems and get rid of the country's slums. That's possible if we look at things a bit differently.
Take, for example, urban renewal. It's been decades since Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his Housing Minister, David Levy, inaugurated the Project Renewal initiative, meant to eradicate slums. Their vision has in the meantime morphed into Urban Renewal, developing real estate in prime locations rather than addressing poverty. What if, looking at the 200 impoverished neighborhoods designated for "renewal," we give residents rights not only to their apartments but also to the land on which they're built? What if the residents join combination transactions and profit from the deal too, and not only the state and its tax apparatus?
This is the plan initially proposed by Prof. Eli First, O.B.M., a leading town and social space planner, and veteran attorney Shraga Biran. Here, we'll try to revive their vision. It is just one example of how to build 7,000 buildings that will eliminate poverty in Israel – a subject that the governments of Israel have ignored for the past two decades.
So, how do you build a future? In this issue, we will discuss several elements – first, the power of the young in Israel's cities; second – the future that has already arrived, in the form of the light rail system in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; and third, and no less important, the new employment complexes that attract families to new regions.
Together with district heads at the Planning Administration, we've mapped the cities that are expected to double their population. We've also dared to forecast housing prices 20 years from now, using a method of calculation developed by the Justice Ministry's Real Estate Valuation Division.
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Along the way, we've paused at the residences of the nation's leaders to see how they've changed over the years, searched for the state's symbols, and taken the liberty of soaring ahead with new marketing methods we should all get used to.
I promise this issue will analyze the real estate market in all its hues, examining it from all sides. We hope you'll enjoy building this good, beautiful, and wise land together with us.
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