Planning Mixed Residential and Business Neighborhoods Is Essential to Affordable Housing

With available land in short supply and young couples wishing to live in city centers, new local plans allowing more mixed residential, retail and office uses should be encouraged. Mixed-use neighborhoods are not new: they exist in most European and American city centers and were adopted in Israel during the Mandate. Modern cities operate in “shifts” around the clock. To keep a city active, organic and attractive, diverse uses are needed in every neighborhood, especially downtown. Mixed use is an internationally accepted approach to urban planning and affordable housing and contributes to employment security, says Adv. Uri Shiloh, real-estate specialist and partner at A. Shiloh & Co.
The growing search for creative solutions to Israel’s housing shortage has prompted proposals to convert old, abandoned, inexpensive office buildings into homes. The opposite phenomenon is also visible, particularly in Hadar and Carmel: converting apartments in residential buildings into private offices and businesses. Adv. Uri Shilohnotes that this constitutes nonconforming use, unlawful without special permission, and undermines planning authorities’ ability to balance planning and social needs. He believes the state should limit this solution and encourage strategic planning that introduces business and retail uses into most urban residential neighborhoods.
The shorter the distance between home and work, the less time people need to spend commuting. Shorter distances reduce congestion, air pollution and lost working hours, and help reduce crime because residential neighborhoods are no longer deserted during working hours and city centers are no longer empty in the evening and at night.
Mixed-use buildings are designed from the outset for several uses: street-level shops, offices and clinics on intermediate floors, and apartments above. They are common in many countries but remain a minority of projects in Israel. Urban planners should consider young people unable to afford a car, parking and an expensive apartment. Affordable housing must first and foremost be in city centers close to jobs. Israel’s many entrepreneurs and startups, which do not need enormous offices, make it possible to combine apartments for young people and offices in the same neighborhood or building. Such planning creates neighborhoods with technology centers, housing, shops and entertainment, turning dormant areas into attractive places that offer young people a suitable housing alternative without being considered inferior accommodation.
Under the Planning and Building Law, permitted property uses are determined by the uses and purposes listed in the applicable detailed plan and building permit. Anyone seeking a different use must generally apply to the local planning committee for nonconforming-use permission, obtain neighbors’ consent, provide parking and pay a betterment levy. Authorities have recently imposed further obstacles to converting homes into businesses as part of tackling the housing shortage. But these are individual responses to applications, rather than strategic planning for affordable housing.
Amending existing detailed plans to define mixed uses would therefore accelerate the revival of abandoned buildings and neighborhoods that become “dead” during parts of the day. Integrating business into community life need not come at the expense of homes; it can improve the balance between urban, social and economic needs. Israel’s attitude remains conservative and suspicious, and many refuse to live near businesses. Yet we should not shy away from a proven solution that succeeds around the world, including in highly desirable cities such as Paris, London and New York.