Dear colleagues About 10 months ago you helped Tova and myself in your good advise on how to use OS for the creation of a new Master Plan for a city.
Last week during 3 days (17.00-22.00) it happened, in a small city (Arad) in the northern desert of Israel. This city which had glamorous days, sank in the last 15 years into kind of depression. The youngsters leave, they feel penetrated by the very fast growing of Bedouin population that surrounds them, (creating safety anxieties), lack of leadership, and a traumatic event of death of youngsters in a huge yearly Rock Festival. This Festival which was a life giving event and Symbol died with police investigations and court accusations. Choosing OS was also in order to elevate the energies and hope. The theme was " Arad, what is my dream and how will we fulfill it?". About 500 people participated along the days (250-350 each day), including the planners, governmental planning authorities, the city management, neighbors (including Bedouins) and the newly elected Mayor (1.5 month). A lot of skepticism prevailed among the professionals, the planners were afraid to be confronted with over expectations, For the governmental authorities (who give the money for the Master Plan), they refused at the beginning that the planners will meet the public, in order to prevent pushing of private interests. The new Mayor who got the process as a heritage was for it but hesitantly since he was not sure if it will be a success. As the os evolved more and more young people and diversity showed up, and the discussions deepened. The lost energies of these talented people were exposed as the dreams unfolded and their fulfillment’s seemed plausible. For most of the people it was a great success and they were excited and thankful for bringing back the hope. some anecdotes: An 11 old girl who passed by asked what is going on there inside? "Dreaming your city" was the answer "How much does it cost"? asked "It is free and you are most welcome" . She walked in and soon she was seating with an old guy, helped him to finalize his ideas translate them to Hebrew. She printed his summary, and refused to take credit. This 11 year old girl who continued to come, speaks Hebrew, Russian, English, French and some Arabic …and for us she symbolized the future and direction of Arad for the people (40% Russian new emigrants and surrounded by Arab-Bedouin tribes). Originally the plan was to do the OS on August. Since I traveled for 2.5 months, they chose to postpone it to November. I felt unease, but we remembered the second principle and trusted it. In October they decided to wait (and it was not easy) until after the elections, in order not to trap the new Mayor and let him decide if he wants it. It so happened that it became so obvious now that the postponing was crucial to the success of the OS. At the end, the manger of the planning authorities in the South of Israel told us that now she believes that it is possible to have a real participation of citizens in the preparation of Master Plans and she wants us to present it to all the planners. “If we will continue with what we have started in these 3 days we will have a new Festival in town” said one of the old timers in the closing circle. Summary We invested a lot of energy, more than ever, to encourage the steering committee to choose a committed `project manager`, to invite all the stakeholders including the all spectrum of citizens and neighbors, and we insisted on a leading positioning of the new Mayor. We succeeded somehow to do it without quarreling with the client, even though we felt the urge to do it. We felt that being 2 of us there (with Tova) was needed in order to cope with the tense political and depressing atmosphere that prevailed. Now they are in the process of building the mechanisms to support whatever came up in order to make it happen, in their daily life and in within the Master Plan. Thank you Avner Haramati Jerusalem * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
