Jerusalem as a "green" city:
As a place of political and ecological balance,
Of social adn environmental justice,
An example for the planet of equilibrium amongst all life forms.
Jerusalem - a city . . .
with clean air and no noise pollution;
with shady public places and cool, humidifying water fountains;
Where rooftops are given over to low maintenance plantations and rainfall retention;
Where alternative energy technoldogy is researched, developed and shared;
Where garbage is sorted, recycled and reused;
With the first tramway fueled by sun and wind-generated electricity;
With a comprehensive natural sewage treatment system;
With the lowest levels of CO2 emissions world-wide;
Where the planet, its resources and human kind are seen and treated as endangered speacies . . .
The seminal means for this vision:
Two separate but inherently linked projects:
One is low-lying horizontal, following the topography, almost invisible;
The Second is vertical, highly visible.
The first is a network, a lacing together of the labyrinth in time that makes a city;
The Second is made up of solitary points, individual places, markers.
The first is about documenting the past, tracing our historical itineraries;
The Second is about working in the immediate present, about creating community and a stable, more wholesome future.
Both are about reminding us of the fragility of a humane human presence of earth.
The first is a reminder of the traces we have left behind us. All traces: those written in history books, those embalmed in geological formations, those etched onto the membory of the human heart.
The second is about the traces we will leave in the future; it is about building a city as a symbol of ecological and human sustainability; it is about renaissance and vision, about creating a haven where conflicting parties may look thogether with pride towards a common goal and ultimately a common achievement.
One is small scale and low-cost. It can be put in place literally step by step within the public domain of any pedestrian pathway;
The second is much larger scale. With multiple sites and the complexity of managing built forms and the institutions they house.
With time and the rubbings of human life, the first may slowly erode;
The second may permeate the entire infrastructure of the city, as well as each inhabitant's perception of his or her role on our planet earth.
Both will be organized around the following themes:
Water quality
Rainfall and natural water retention
Air quality
Pollution control
Wind based energy
Shade and natural cooling processes
Solar and alternative energy sources
recycling
CO2 emissions
Habitat and species protection
