Urban Pockets

Open public spaces provide breathable air for city residents. Places such as parks, gardens and public squares provide people with a respite from the intensity of the city, from the noise and pollution, and allow for meeting places, a walk or a rest.

Population growth, intensive development and an increase in built-up areas constitute an existential danger to the presence of these spaces in the urban fabric, even as they become more necessary than ever for the well-being of the residents.

The Hadar neighborhood in Haifa is fertile ground for examining the relationship between the built environment and the open spaces intertwined with it. The construction of the neighborhood was accompanied by many topographic challenges, for which a variety of creative solutions were found so as to enable a regular urban life. These solutions left a wide range of residual pockets within the urban fabric.

The project focuses on collecting these abandoned and neglected pockets and turning them into unique, accessible, inviting and attractive spaces with the capacity to become a point of strength for the neighborhood.