Times of crisis: New planning policies and their impact on inequalities and the environment in Israel

In the last decades, crisis discourse became more dominant, leading to changes in Israeli planning discourse. The planning system assumes neoliberal features, which changed the power-relations within planning, enabled a rescaling of planning powers and determined the adoption of specific urban development patterns. The paper reveals how a governing coalition, using crisis discourse, promoted policy change that can deepen social inequalities and environmental unbalance. We focus on Israeli VATMAL law, enacted to ‘solve’ the housing crisis, through a shortened and centralized procedure that undermined lower planning levels. We show that the plans processed through VATMAL have serious impacts on natural areas and future housing. The article concludes that the space, shaped by current ‘housing crisis’ through the VATMAL, is increasing spatial and social inequalities in Israel.