Current position in the field of urban planning:

Consultant, Israel Planning Administration, Strategic Planning Division

Degree completed at Technion – Year:

M.Sc Urban and Regional Planning - 2014

Current job and how your planning degree prepared you for it

Working in the urban planning field offers the opportunity to practically design the way we live our lives. Throughout my educational journey I learned different methods of urban design and was exposed to best practice examples from all over the world. I was motivated to work in the public sector where a societal change can be made from the heart of the organization. In my planning degrees I developed research skills and critical thinking that serves me in my everyday work assignments and helps me to promote values of social and environmental justice that eventually translates into public policy.

Motivation for studying urban planning

Located in the Israeli desert city of Beersheva, I chose Ben Gurion University to pursue my undergraduate studies. I was confronted by a completely different lifestyle than that of my affluent hometown in the center. During the Gaza war in 2009, Beersheva suffered frequent missile attacks and regular studies were cancelled. I did not evacuate and instead volunteered with local children in bomb shelters. Together with them, we discussed their own anxieties along the suffering of and damage inflicted on Palestinian children at the same time, in an attempt to ameliorate deep-seated feelings of hatred. This commitment to social leadership has guided me on my educational journey to Urban Planning.

Share any advice with someone thinking about a career in urban planning

Expose yourself to new and varied living environments as much as possible. Ask yourself how different people experience the space around them, what is accessible to them, how can well-being of individuals be improved and what you can do to contribute to their everyday experiences. There are many ways of knowing a place - local communities hold invaluable knowledge, remember to acknowledge that.