The Palestinian neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem are marked by a state of "under-planning", which is characterized by prohibition of construction in wide areas. Though most of these neighborhoods have an approved Outline Plan, the plans do not fit residents’ needs and are not implemented. Consequently, and also as a result of other difficulties in obtaining building permits, the residents turn to improvised solutions of informal construction, in spite of the constant threat of demolition. In an attempt to address this trap, Bimkom carried out over the last years a comprehensive planning survey of East Jerusalem neighborhoods, as a tool for providing planning assistance. The information in the survey was collected over several years through meetings with residents, independent research, and analysis of hundreds of plans. The aim of the survey is to offer a base for more responsive and flexible statutory planning in these neighborhoods that includes ways of integrating and including the existing situation in the area. The survey provides a platform for an approach that combines the local logic of the built environment with the institutional logic that directs the planning agencies.

The formal approach to planning frequently conflicts with the planning texture that has developed over generations and years, as shown in the case of Highway 4 South through Beit Tsafafa. This case illustrates how infrastructure planning, with the objective of realizing "national goals" of the State of Israel applying criteria of efficiency and economic feasibility, can be destructive and damage the lives of residents in whose area it is implemented. The highway in this case is the product of an establishment view that is blind to the existing social and physical fabric in the area. Such mega-planning of one dominant element is in stark contrast to the other elements in the neighborhood that suffer from "under-planning". The conflict arising on this background also displays the problematic in the destruction/construction dichotomy, and the failures of rigid planning that is divorced from the public and leaves no room for the flexibility needed to address the needs of diverse population groups.

This article deals with the social aspects of urban renewal, a concept that includes different and varying possibilities for improving the built environment, but which today’s planning institutions in Israel almost automatically interpret as the platform for clearance-construction projects. Here we present the considerable complexity that characterizes clearance-construction plans: when paper computations show all parties profiting, in reality this planning is characterized by rigidity that is imposed primarily by economic viability. The drastic intervention and destruction of the existing built environment that characterize clearanceconstruction plans open the door to many questions: what are the physical and social qualities that will be destroyed, what qualities are offered instead, and who will enjoy them? Our objective is to put on the agenda for those neighborhoods’ urban renewal, more flexible and diverse planning solutions that also take the social element into account.

While the direct physical effects of an urban catastrophe are relatively straightforward to assess, indirect and long-term impact on the urban system are more circumspect. A large scale shock such as an earthquake derails the complex urban system from its equilibrium path onto an unknown trajectory. Consequently, assessing the effect of policy intervention that aims to mitigate this shock and increase urban resilience, is fraught with complexity. This paper presents the implementation of dynamic agent-based simulation to test long run effects of a hypothetical earthquake in Jerusalem, Israel. We focus on investigating the effectiveness of policy choices aimed at restoring the urban equilibrium. Cities are found to have a self-organizing marketbased mechanism which strives to attain a new equilibrium. They therefore may not always bounce back- they may also bounce forward. Decision makers, engineers, emergency and urban planners need to be cognizant of this tendency when designing policy interventions. Otherwise, well-intentioned efforts may inhibit urban rejuvenation and delay the onset of city recovery.