Malicious Siting or Unrecognised Processes? A Spatio-temporal Analysis of Environmental Conflicts in Tel-Aviv

Abstract

Environmental inequities discerned on the basis of cross-sectional analysis are often portrayed as an outcome of inconsiderate or outright malicious facility-siting. However, a discussion of the evolution of spatial proximity between noxious facilities and residential areas suggests such proximity is an outcome of more complex processes—though often unrecognised in time. By analysing the pattern of environmental conflicts in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan region and following the evolution of five of them, it is shown that many conflicts arise from encroachment of residential development upon facilities originally sited in remote areas. In the past, this has led to the exit of some of the more noxious facilities. However, this option is becoming obsolete as a result of changes in social and political arrays. Thus, the real concerns are over future siting decisions rather than past practices.