This article focuses on a fairly new literary sub-genre — urban nature poetry. The assumption we make here is that urban nature poetry is poetry that maintains a dialogue between the fruit of human creation and the fruit of Nature itself, and attempts to decipher Humanity’s place between the two. As such, we present the readings of six poems by contemporary Israeli poets, that represent the different aspects of the human/environment relationship and propose a new model that enables us to place urban nature poems along a spectrum, somewhere between an ‘urban poem’ with some natural elements and a poem dealing especially with an ‘Urban-Nature’ theme. Reading the poems and their characterization can serve as inspiration and as a conceptual and emotional basis for intelligent urban planning, and constitute a new participatory tool for urban planning based on the personal experience of the citizens.

This article presents empirical research on public confidence in Israel’s planning system. Based on these findings, it proposes new regulatory tools and approaches for an original public participation mechanism: a Trust-Based Planning Model. On a practical level, this proposal can contribute to improving the planning discourse in Israel. Today, a lack of public trust in the planning system impedes many planning and construction initiatives. This leads to delays and slowdowns in essential development projects, as well as social and economic losses. The proposed planning model, based on authentic public trust, seeks to create sustainable collaboration between officials and the public. It has the potential to ameliorate the tensions in Israel’s planning system by creating a culture of healthier dialogue that benefits all.

Studies show that promoting walking as a mode of transport can significantly contribute to the urban environment as well as to its residents and users. Planning walkable environments requires knowledge about factors influencing walking. Although many factors that affect walking behavior have been identified, studies indicate that the primary considerations underpinning pedestrian movement are the duration and length between trip origin and the destination. One of the key questions in this respect is what is the walking duration that may be considered as accessible for pedestrians in Israel? Although many walkable environment projects are being promoted today, there seems to be a lack of an empirical base to rely on. The current study aims to bridge this gap and establish reliable empirical knowledge about the walking duration in the Israeli context. The study is based on an extensive travel survey that documented about 70,000 pedestrian routes in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. We found differences in walking duration frequency distribution between age groups and destination types. However, no differences were found between gender distinctions. The shape of walking duration frequency distribution, corresponding to the beta (β) distribution, reveals important trends related to pedestrian sensitivity to walking duration that should be considered for pedestrian planning guidelines.