Dizengoff Square is an iconic public square

Public Square

Public Square is the central plaza in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It takes up four city blocks; Superior Avenue and Ontario Street cross through it. Cleveland's three tallest buildings, Key Tower, 200 Public Square and the Terminal Tower, face the square...

 in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

, on the corner of Dizengoff Street

Dizengoff Street

Dizengoff Street is a major street in central Tel Aviv, named after Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff.The street runs from the corner of Ibn Gabirol Street in its southernmost point to the port area of Tel Aviv in its northwestern point...

, Reines Street and Pinsker Street. One of the city's main squares, it was built in 1934 and inaugurated in 1938.

Early history (1930s-70s)

The square, built in 1934, was part of the original urban plan by Sir Patrick Geddes

Patrick Geddes

Sir Patrick Geddes was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning and education....

, and was designed by architect Genia Averbuch. The idea to build a parking lot

Parking lot

A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....

 under the square went unrealized, and instead a roundabout

Roundabout

A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...

 was fashioned around the square, at its center a garden with a fountain and shady seating areas. For decades the square was a popular location and one of the landmarks of Tel Aviv's historic "White City."

The square is a circular plaza and has been a focal point of Tel Aviv since its establishment in the 1930s, its location in the very heart of Tel Aviv being one of the reasons. Dizengoff Square is named for Zina (Tzina), the wife of Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff

Meir Dizengoff

Meir Dizengoff was a Zionist politician and the first mayor of Tel Aviv.-Biography:Meir Dizengoff was born in 1861 in the village of Akimovici near Orgeyev, Bessarabia. In 1878, his family moved to Kishinev, where he graduated from high school and studied at the polytechnic school...

. Its original 1930s design was called "the Étoile

Place de l'Étoile

The Place Charles de Gaulle, , historically known as the Place de l'Étoile , is a large road junction in Paris, France, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues including the Champs-Élysées which continues to the east. It was renamed in 1970 following the death of General and President Charles...

 of Tel Aviv" due to the form of the square - a roundabout at the meeting of six streets.

Redesign (1970s)

In 1978, however, the current split-level configuration was introduced, during Shlomo Lahat

Shlomo Lahat

Maj. Gen. Shlomo "Chich" Lahat is a former Israeli general and politician.Lahat was born in Germany and made Aliyah in 1933. He served in the Haganah and the Israel Defense Forces...

's tenure as mayor, with Dizengoff traffic flowing beneath it. The plan was by architect Tsvi Lissar, of Lissar Architects and City Planners. It was elevated in an effort to ease congestion in the area. The square was rebuilt using an entirely different design: the square was covered with an elevated pedestrian plaza above Dizengoff Street, Pinsker Street and Reines Street. The pedestrian area is elevated, connected by ramps

Inclined plane

The inclined plane is one of the original six simple machines; as the name suggests, it is a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights. By moving an object up an inclined plane rather than completely vertical, the amount of force required is reduced, at the expense of increasing the...

 to the adjacent sidewalks and to the pedestrian areas of Ben Ami and Zamenhoff streets, while traffic uses the lower level.

The changes met with furious reactions, but the city authorities explained at the time that these were necessary to solve traffic problems.

Center and Fountain (1980s)

The square stands 300 meters from Dizengoff Center

Dizengoff Center

Dizengoff Center is a shopping mall at the intersection of Dizengoff Street and King George Street in Tel Aviv. The mall is named for Meir Dizengoff, the first mayor of Tel Aviv.-History:...

, construction of which began in 1972 and was not completed until 1983. A fountain was erected in the middle of the square during its redesign in the 1970s, and was replaced in 1986 with Yaacov Agam

Yaacov Agam

Yaacov Agam is an Israeli sculptor and experimental artist best known for his contributions to optical and kinetic art.-Biography:Yaakov Agam was born Yaakov Gipstein on May 11, 1928, in Rishon LeZion, then Mandate Palestine...

's now landmark kinetic sculpture fountain

Fire and Water Fountain

The "Fire and Water Fountain", also commonly referred to as the "Dizengoff Square Fountain", is a Tel Aviv landmark in the center of the Dizengoff Square. Dedicated in 1986, the fountain is a kinetic sculpture, the work of the Israeli artrist Yaacov Agam.The fountain was developed by Agam for ten...

. The current fountain is located in the center of the elevated plaza.

Redevelopment (2000s)

There are proposals however to return Dizengoff Square to its original state in order to restore its popularity. In 2007, Tel Aviv's municipal engineer, Hezi Berkovich, explained how they wanted to "avoid split-levels, raised or sunken, in the center of town, and currently the square cuts off the line of sight that is so important for pedestrians, who do not walk along the street sidewalks and do not enjoy them. They simply go up and down at the square. Over the years, the square and the houses surrounding it deteriorated together". In addition, they would want to move Agam's sculpture elsewhere in Tel Aviv.

Former Mayor Lahat, who was mayor when the redesigned square was brought in, also favours restoring the square to street level, saying that destroying the original square to solve congestion was the one mayoral decision he regreted. He said that, "I am responsible, and I take the blame," and that "we changed the square, and all the greenery, the beauty and the pleasantness went. Now it is possible to do something really beautiful and impressive," referring to the potential redevelopment of the square.

Activity

Audio guided tours around the square are offered by Bauhaus Center

Bauhaus Center

The Bauhaus Center is an organization dedicated to creating a platform for Bauhaus architecture and design in the city of Tel Aviv, Israel. The buildings designed in the international style, commonly known as Bauhaus, comprise most of the center of Tel Aviv, known as The White City...

. Twice a week used items are offered for sale at the bottom level.

In popular culture

• Matt Harding
  Matt Harding
  Matthew "Matt" Harding , is an American traveler, video game designer, and Internet celebrity known as Dancing Matt for his viral videos that show him dancing in front of landmarks and street scenes in various international locations...
  
   chose Dizengoff Square and Agam's fountain to film his worldwide dance, Where the Hell is Matt?, on June 28, 2007 (the film was released in 2008, and is available here).