ABSTRACT
Similarly, and complementary to the previous chapter, this chapter works vertically and is site related. It explores the multifaceted informal and semi-formal toponymy of an extra-formal neighbourhood, Givat Amal, in the context of Tel Aviv as a world city and its official toponymy. It expands on the historical, political, sociocultural and economic circumstances that have contributed to the creation of Givat Amal’s extra-formality and points to the variety of agencies and interests that have been involved in its planning-cum-non-planning policies over the years. This background is crucial in understanding the neighbourhood’s changing names and its alternate, kinetic, top-down and bottom-up toponymy, its accompanying address systems and navigational channels. It is also crucial in capturing the emotive value behind naming processes and place attachment and the symbolic, performative and activist aspects behind (informal) signage. Givat Amal’s ‘toponymic otherwise’ constitutes an antithesis to the ‘perfect’ rationale of the naming system of the city’s recognised streets, and its reasoning is rooted in the neighbourhood’s land-rights problematic. Using a rich variety of primary and secondary sources, including fieldwork and visual evidence, the chapter points to the connection between unofficial toponymy and the right to the city in the Lefebvrian sense. This is in terms of changing land-rights regimes amid an urban renewal project that is currently underway.
