New Neighborhood for Ramallah

The Palestine Investment Fund, which is the sovereign wealth fund for the Palestinian people, has for several years been investing in new affordable housing projects and other urban developments in the West Bank. One of special relevance to the Arc is the new neighborhood being built north of Ramallah, near the town of Birzeit, home of Birzeit University. It's called Al Reehan, and will have 2,000 housing units along with shops, schools, day care and parks. It accords nicely with the principles of the Arc. It extends an existing city, rather than creating an isolated new town, which makes it easier to develop public transit to serve it. It leverages public infrastructure to encourage private development. It has a mix of housing for different incomes, and a mix of different uses to encourage walking and reduce automobile trips. It has generous provisions for public space. And it has been attractively designed by well known regional architects. Check out the very cool website here, in English or Arabic: http://www.alreehan.ps

Rendering of new neighborhood of Al Reehan (www.alreehan.ps)