Deconcentration in a context of population growth and ideological change: The Tel-Aviv and Beer-Sheva metropolitan areas

Employment deconcentration in Israel’s Tel Aviv and Beer Sheva metropolitan areas is assessed in the context of rapid demographic growth, land scarcity, an ideological shift from welfare state to neoliberal values, and an erosion of policies to protect agricultural land. The study reveals rapid employment deconcentration, including retail and increasingly office activities, in the economically-prominent Tel Aviv metropolis. Deconcentration has been much weaker in Beer Sheva, where the major issue is to promote economic growth. The Israeli case is far from a laissez-faire regime, but parallels can be drawn between the transformations in Israeli and post-Communist European metropolitan areas.