Israelʹs citrus grove landscape — an opportunity to balance urbanization with cultural values

The world-wide familiar process of agricultural lands being urbanized is at present accelerating in the center of Israel. Agricultural landscapes play a significant role in balancing urbanization and one of the conspicuous agricultural landscapes of that area is citrus groves. In Israel, citrus groves bear unique historical and symbolic meanings and the ongoing construction process threatens not only the whole pattern of an agricultural landscape fabric which at present acts as the green lungs in a heavily populated area, but a cultural heritage as well. Israeli citriculture had already suffered economic losses during the 1980s and new governmental land policies are threatening a total disappearance of this landscape from central Israel. This article describes the forces which threaten non-built lands in the core region of Israel, and suggests that viewing the threat to this specific culturally valued landscape — citrus groves, within the context of a pending open space master plan — can lead to maintaining the physical presence of selected groves, as well as strengthening the argument for preserving agricultural lands in the core region.