Boundary making in the formative years of Tel Aviv Township, 1920–1923

Abstract

Boundaries are defined and maintained to establish and preserve cultural, societal and political integrity. Boundaries change as territorial structures and their related meanings change over time, reflecting the transformation of economic, political, administrative and cultural practices and discourses, and inherent relations of power. The Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv is no different in this context. The end of World War I and establishment of a British Mandate regime in Palestine resulted in the transformation of political, economic, social and cultural structures. The British Mandate afforded the rise of and development of Tel Aviv from Jaffa's Jewish garden suburb into a separate urban entity. Different internal and external factors affected the delineation of the urban bounds of Tel Aviv following its declaration by the British Mandate government as an autonomous township.