ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the actual population distribution in Israel over time, as a basis for assessing demographic developments in Israel and their economic and political ramifications. It considers residential distribution changes to immigration in order to evaluate the longer-run costs and benefits of population distribution for the integration of ethnic groups. The chapter assesses how residential policies and patterns affect the Arab population of Israel and examines how residential concentration perpetuates ethnic generational continuity among Jews. The causes of increasing urbanization in Israel are likely to be similar to those in other countries, including economic concentration and specialization, industrial production, availability of amenities, technology, and state investments. Jerusalem is undergoing rapid suburbanization, extending into new areas away from the urban core. The out-migration of young, successful, and upwardly mobile second-generation Israelis has left behind the poorly connected, poorly educated, and hence economically poor ethnic origin populations.
