'עיר ימים' – עלייתו ונפילתו של מיזם הדגל התיירותי־ימי של תל אביב

In the early 1960s the founders of Tel-Aviv decided to develop it as a Mediterranean touristic city. As part of this framework, an urban-touristic initiative was planned at the estuary of the Yarkon river,including a big marina, hotels, business and residential developments, with an emphasis on the sea as a touristic resource. The land chosen for this development included Tel Aviv’s port and Expo areas,the Maccabiah stadium, as well as dried-out sea land. It was one of the biggest building projects in the Mediterranean at the time, and was planned to merge with the development program for Tel Aviv’s beaches. The At arim company, with Uri Bar Ratzon as manager, formed a partnership with the Tel-Aviv municipality, and the ministry of tourism was selected for implementing the project. Pinchas Sapir, the finance minister and political ally of Tel Aviv’s mayor Yehoshua Rabinovich, headed a committee of ministers that approved the plan and its costs. The marina development project was supposed to be a 'First' in Israel, financed by the government and supported by American investors and the Atarim Company. A partnership was set up with American Jewish investors and Atarim company. The ambitious plan ran into difficulties because of objections by the ministry of transportation, claiming that the planned high buildings would endanger the adjunct Sde Dov airport, or make it infeasible.The economic crisis following the Yom Kippur war brought the project to a stand, and only a small marina was built. Since the late 1980’s seven marinas were built in Israel, three of them following the concept of Tel Aviv’s 'Ir Yamim' initial plans. Marinas, as well as leisurely and sportive sailing, became an integral part of Israel’s beaches.