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Abstract
This study analyzes metropolitan dynamics in a small country with an “island state” context of closed boundaries, using commuting data and mobile phone tracking data. We examine whether the Israeli context encourages the formation of a monocentric “metropolitan state,” characterized by increasing links between localities throughout the country and its principal metropolitan node (Tel Aviv)—rather than with secondary metropolitan areas—and by fuzzy, overlapping metropolitan boundaries. Commuting data from the 1995 and 2008 censuses show that metropolitan expansion processes in Israel are gradual. Mobile phone tracking data for 2013 reveal similar patterns, confirming the urban structure’s stability and the reliability of tracking data as a means of assessing metropolitan processes. The “island state” context supports growing monocentricity, but, when it comes to commuting and travel for other purposes, Israel is not yet a metropolitan state; metropolitan boundaries are not as fuzzy and rapidly changing as expected.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Dr Eyal Ashbel, Ortal Keren, and Maya Tapiero for their research assistance.
Notes
1. Among the employees residing in the large Mate Yehuda regional council, 39.5% commuted to Jerusalem and 10.9% commuted to the Tel Aviv node. However, whereas most of Mate Yehuda’s 61 localities are adjacent to Jerusalem and closely linked with it, those in its west are closer to the Tel Aviv node; hence, these data do not indicate split commuting directions among particular localities, but the large spatial extent of the council.