Entity in Focus

This project examines the urban potential of Tarshiha, focusing on its unique social and spatial characteristics while emphasizing the failures of current urban planning in coping with these potentials and with the residents’ needs.

Since the depopulation following the 1948 war and the 1963 unification with Ma’alot, forming Ma’alot-Tarshiha, uniform planning plans of the municipality have offered generic solutions that disregarded Tarshiha’s local urbanism logic, and its community-oriented lifestyle. Ma’alot-Tarshiha is a mixed city that does not represent the positive meaning of the word. As noted by Erez Tzfadia, it embodies a post-colonial urban model derived from a 1950s geopolitical strategy aimed at ensuring a Jewish presence throughout the country. As a result, Tarshiha, which was formerly referred to as “the bride of Galilee” due to its strategic location and regional significance, has been greatly weakened in terms of industry and economics, administration and services, making it a “swallowed village”.

The project examines Tarshiha’s situation, and presents the repercussions of the current planning. Furthermore, it advocates for a more inclusive, context-sensitive approach that respects the local urban fabric and the community’s needs by analyzing and drawing qualities from Tarshiha’s current and historical fabric. The main question is: “How can we learn from the existing spatial and social fabric of Tarshiha in order to develop a plan for its expansion, strengthen its social cohesion, and restore its metropolitan significance?” The proposed intervention is divided into two main parts: A proposal for urban expansion that connects with the existing fabric, and the introduction of a new planning program for an arts campus, which will connect between the new plan and the existing one, while reinforcing the city’s social character. A planning program that is intended for and desired by the local residents, students and visitors. The focus will be on developing a specific area as an expansion of Tarshiha’s social and economic center by adding construction supporting the existing public buildings and preserving open spaces, and turning them into a series of public squares. The complex that will thus be created will harmoniously blend into the current fabric, strengthen the center’s infrastructure, create new economic opportunities, and restore Tarshiha’s regional status.