029 Progress Report

Sep 11

Tel Aviv has officially joined more than 400 cities worldwide in presenting its urban development efforts to the United Nations. City officials participated in the UN's Global High-Level Political Forum in New York mid summer and presented Tel Aviv’s first-ever Voluntary Local Review - a comprehensive report surveying the municipality's work on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. This historic presentation marks the first time Tel Aviv has showcased its sustainability efforts from the UN podium, positioning the city as part of a global network working toward sustainable, equitable and resilient urban development.

The UN's Sustainable Development Goals are 17 goals developed as a framework for all those shaping public policy - on the national level and the local level. Ending poverty and hunger, universal healthcare and education, decent and equitable living conditions - these are some of the most ambitious targets humanity has committed itself to, and Tel Aviv isn’t afraid of shooting to the stars. The report places the city at the forefront of Israeli urban governance, committed to values of sustainability, equality, innovation and resilience.

The report focused on five SDGs, selected based on their connection to the city's strategic plan, including SDG3 Good Health and Well Being, SDG5 Gender Equality, SDG8 Decent Work and Economic Development, SDG11 Sustainable Cities and SDG13 Climate Action. Each goal received its own dedicated chapter, including policy analysis, performance data, prominent projects and ongoing challenges.

I was especially drawn to the chapter devoted to gender equality. The report mentioned that Tel Aviv's comprehensive "Equal City" municipal program consolidates mechanisms for addressing gender-based violence, promoting women in business and decision-making positions, ensuring equitable representation in arts and culture, and integrating gender-sensitive infrastructure into public spaces.

The municipality has launched innovative programs across multiple sectors: the "She-fting" program helps women transition into high-tech careers through workshops and career counseling, while the "It's Your Business" initiative supports female entrepreneurs and freelancers with practical business management tools. The city has also established mandatory 50-50 equal representation of women and men in municipally-sponsored cultural events, theaters, and museums by 2027, recognizing the arts as critical for challenging gender stereotypes and societal perceptions.

The concrete results are impressive. Women's participation in the workforce steadily increased in recent years to 58% in 2023 and so has the rate of self-employed women, which grew from 32% to 36%. Perhaps most striking is the progress within municipal leadership itself - women in computing and science positions at city hall jumped from 28% to 40% between 2020 and 2024. These numbers reflect how policy changes can fundamentally change society.

I was thinking about this progress report as I walked through Atarim Square, where the city's last officially licensed strip club once operated. As detailed in the SDG report, Tel Aviv has taken a firm stance against establishments that objectify women, with the Planning and Construction Subcommittee adopting a policy in 2020 to deny permits for new strip clubs while working to close existing ones. The building that once housed this outdated form of entertainment now stands as a reminder of practices the city considers as archaic as gladiator combats - a space being converted into a community center focused on women's entrepreneurship and empowerment. Transforming a space in Tel Aviv that once objectified women into a place that now empowers them is truly inspiring.

My name is Tomer Chelouche and I've been guiding tours in Tel Aviv since 2008. I started out of fascination with my family history - the Chelouche family was one of the founding families of Tel Aviv. My ancestors built this city - and I'm telling its story.

The best way to get to know Tel Aviv better is by purchasing one of my audio tours. Here's one way to experience that -

The Theodor Hotel stands as a striking testament to contemporary Bauhaus design, perfectly positioned at the intersection of Herzl Street and Rothschild Boulevard - arguably Tel Aviv's most prestigious corner. This beautifully restored building now houses a 34-room boutique hotel that pays homage to the International Style while offering modern luxury. Located at the epicenter of Tel Aviv's urban and nightlife scene, you're literally steps away from the city's best restaurants and clubs.

The place is also perfectly positioned to begin my Trail of Independence audio tour. Just a short stroll along Rothschild Boulevard brings you to the starting point at Gutman's mosaic fountain, where this fascinating journey through Tel Aviv's origins begins. This self-guided walking experience traces the footsteps of founding figures like David Ben-Gurion and Meir Dizengoff as we follow the historic route that connects the birth of the first Hebrew city to the establishment of the Jewish state.

The tour reveals the incredible story of how Tel Aviv emerged from sand dunes in 1909 to become the heart of the Startup Nation today. You'll discover secrets behind preserved buildings including Independence Hall - originally Dizengoff's home where Israel's Declaration of Independence was signed in 1948. The route also takes you past the Haganah Museum, the Great Synagogue, and the monument commemorating Tel Aviv's sixty founding families, including my own, while I share fascinating details about how Tel Aviv was literally "born out of the sea," who served as the city's first sheriff, and why the city's first school vanished. This is where the parallel stories of Tel Aviv and Israel converge - the same boulevard that witnessed the city's founding became the stage for declaring national independence four decades later.

You can make sure you've downloaded my Trail of Independence audio tour before you head out, or you can download it on the go if you're set with a data package allowing for uninterrupted internet access. There's a link in the show notes to purchase my audio tour -

The Trail of Independence: Tracing the origins of modern Tel Aviv

If you have any questions - you’ll find all the ways to contact me on telaviv.tours (telaviv as one word, no space, no hyphen) and there’s a link in the show notes for your digital convenience.

Visitors to Tel Aviv this fall will find the perfect season to explore the city's remarkable architectural evolution. Tel Aviv offers a beautiful journey through building styles that mirror the region's political shifts, technological novelties and cultural trends, all compressed into a walkable urban space.

The story begins in Ottoman-era Jaffa, where thick stone walls and arched doorways showcase Middle Eastern architectural traditions. Jaffa's ancient port area reveals layers of Islamic, Crusader, and mostly Ottoman influences, while Neve Tzedek - established in 1887 as the first Jewish neighborhood outside Jaffa's walls - displays charming small houses with distinctive red-tiled roofs and wooden shutters. The Aboulafia House, on the intersection of Chelouche & Rokach, not far from the Suzanne Dellal Centre, perfectly exemplifies this early style.

The area surrounding the Old Jaffa Train Station, built in the 1890s to connect Jerusalem with the Mediterranean, represents the region's first encounter with industrial-age architecture. The refurbished passenger building at the old train station showcases European influences, evident in the elegant symmetrical façade. Nearby, the German colony introduced stone buildings that seemed like they were copy-pasted from southern Germany, with steep-pitched roofs and ornate wooden balconies. The Sarona complex, now a shopping and dining destination, preserves these distinctly European structures.

As Tel Aviv proper emerged as a city in its own right, distinct from Jaffa, the 1920s saw wealthy residents commissioning "Dream Houses" along Rothschild Boulevard, Nahalat Binyamin, and what is now known as Gan HaHashmal. These eclectic-style buildings combined European-influenced Neoclassical columns with oriental pointed arches. The Lederberg House on Rothschild Boulevard exemplifies this eclectic approach with its decorative ceramic tiles depicting biblical scenes, demonstrating the fact that Tel Aviv newcomers were actually seeing themselves as returning to their ancestral homeland, the Promised Land of the Jewish People.

The 1930s brought the most famous architectural revolution in the city’s history as Jewish architects fled Nazi Germany. These refugees transformed Tel Aviv into the world's largest collection of International Style buildings, earning UNESCO World Heritage designation. Over 4,000 structures showcase clean horizontal lines, flat roofs, and ribbon windows adapted to Mediterranean climate with small recessed openings and curved balconies. All six buildings surrounding Dizengoff Square perfectly demonstrate these principles.

After the establishment of Israel in 1948, new waves of modernist architecture brought in Brutalism, characterized by raw concrete construction and monumental geometric forms. The original building of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art exemplifies this style with its fortress-like appearance, angular concrete surfaces, and small punched windows that create dramatic light and shadow effects. Post-modernist architecture arrived later, rejecting Brutalism's severity for playful, historically-aware designs, with the recent addition to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art a prime example of that architectural style.

Contemporary Tel Aviv continues evolving with glass-and-steel skyscrapers featuring curtain wall systems and LED-lit crowns. The new ToHa towers exemplify this approach with their twisted forms and high-tech façades that house international companies and local startups. It’s a prominent reminder that Israel is now the Startup Nation, but you can seek out its roots by simply going for a walk in Tel Aviv, finding brutalist concrete, Bauhaus aesthetics, eclectic ornaments and stone arches. To put it simply, the city’s past is always present.

Thanks for listening and you’ll hear from me again when the next episode comes out next week.Until then - I am Tel Aviv tour guide Tomer Chelouche, signing off and hoping to see you soon in Tel Aviv.