ABSTRACT
Although Jewish urban settlement began in "The Land of Israel" in the middle of the 19th Century, the actual building of the country started with the beginning of Zionist settlement in 1882. Until World War I, construction was undertaken by the Ottoman Authorities who had no concept of town planning in regular town building. Since the beginning of this century only three town plans were known, none of which were prepared by Jews: the town plan of Beer Sheva from the year 1903, the town plan of Acre from 1906, and the plans for the German Colonies in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Haifa. These plans were quite basic and showed land use by very simple lines. The erection of AhuzatBayit near Jaffa in 1909 and the beginning of the first Jewish town of Tel Aviv were not done with the use of a town plan.
