The landscape of Route 854 in Israel's Galilee: Integrating nature, construction, and art in the service of a national project

Abstract

The article unfolds a micro-narrative historical case study that explores the process of building Route 854 and the intricate relations between landscape architecture and highway design. Employing a critical-historical inquiry based on a qualitative discourse and extensive archival research, it examines a process of planning, design, and construction over two decades, from 1976 to 1996. In the context of national development and the state's roads network, the emergence of environmental awareness, and the expansion of landscape architecture's disciplinary boundaries, the article addresses four themes: statutory and preliminary planning; landscape architecture and hardscapes; softscapes and vegetation design; the joint work of environmental artists and landscape architects in quarries rehabilitation. Revealing Route 854 as a milestone in Israeli highway-landscape planning, the article articulates the key role of landscape architects in landscape rehabilitation, their mediating position between planning agencies and the environmentalists, and between associated disciplines, including planning, engineering, design, art, and environmental activism.