Reaching New Heights: Post-Politicizing High-Rise Planning in Jerusalem

Introduced by British planners, height restrictions were a key planning principle that shaped modern Jerusalem in the last century, making tall buildings largely uncommon and exceptional in the city. However, since the turn of the century, and similar to other European cities, a new municipal entrepreneurial agenda has fervently promoted a more permissive planning policy. Using numerous planning documents, media coverage, and interviews, we argue that the hegemony of a recent growth-dominant agenda has intentionally toned down fierce polemics and disputation that characterized previous rounds of high-rise planning in Jerusalem. As a result, the legitimacy of the public to influence decision-making and their capacity to participate meaningfully in the planning arena has been significantly curtailed. By tampering with transparency and impairing public accountability, the development of tall buildings thus epitomizes the lack of a true democratic debate.