Michael Sofer

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• Professor
• Professor Emeritus at Bar Ilan University

Global changes and trends have been greatly influencing the way cultural tourism is defined, operated, and developed. These changes require the creation of new measurement and management tools. Given the diverse nature of cultural tourism, one of the most pertaining obstacles hindering its sustainable development is that the required relevant infor...

Due to mounting social and environmental pressures, the demand for efficient and secure urban and rural land uses has noticeably increased. Thus, planners and policymakers are called upon to work with diverse policy and management structures, as well as NGOs, private business actors, issue-oriented interest groups, locally based citizen groups and...

This article examines the way citizen science can be harnessed to assimilate sources of knowledge and increase the involvement of local minority populations in planning. The ability of a digital collaborative planning process to bring together diverse sources of knowledge for holistic planning of minority neighborhoods has so far received only part...

The purpose of this study is to explore the patterns and reasons for land use changes in three moshav-type settlements located in the rural-urban fringe of the Tel-Aviv metropolitan area. The study extends over six decades and investigates several possible explanatory factors: the period of establishment of the moshav; its physical planning; househ...

Under the Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in Israel, almost every taken-for-granted feature of the day-to-day life was affected. This phenomenon and its derived socio-economic effects on cultural tourism have been investigated in a northern peripheral area, Beit She’an Valley, which includes a small urban municipality, Beit She’an town, and a region...

עמדות של בעלי תפקיד ברשויות המקומיות בהקשר לתמורות ולצרכי התכנון ביישוב הערבי: אזור המשולש כחקר מקרה נועמאן גנאים ומיכאל סופר המחלקה לגאוגרפיה וסביבה, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן תקציר מאמר זה מציג עמדות בעלי התפקידים בשלטון המקומי ותפישותיהם בקשר לקיימות השטחים החקלאיים ומצבם כיום, בנוגע לשטחים הלא-חקלאיים ויתרת הקרקע החקלאית עקב הריבוי הטבעי של האוכלוסיי...

הממשק בין עיור לחקלאות ביישוב הערבי המתעייר: תפישת החקלאים נועמאן גנאיים ומיכאל סופר המחלקה לגאוגרפיה וסביבה, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן תקציר תהליך העיור המתפשט בקרב היישובים הערביים שנעשה בדרך כלל על בסיס בנייה עצמית ותוך גלישה של השטח הבנוי המתרחב אל תוך השטחים החקלאיים, משנה את צורת היישוב מבחינה דמוגרפית, פיסית וכלכלית, ומשנה את הבסיס הכלכלי מחקלאות...

This volume focuses on today's kibbutz and the metamorphosis which it has undergone. Starting with theoretical considerations and clari cations, it discusses the far-reaching changes recently experienced by this setting. It investigates how those changes reshaped it from a setting widely viewed as synonymous to utopia, but which has gone in recent...

Business entrepreneurship among rural households in Israel is a relatively new phenomenon, which is spreading rapidly and is a key component of the economic and social development of rural areas. Nevertheless, the government of Israel has no consistent policy on this issue, in part because of the unique legal frameworks that apply to most of the ru...

This paper examines what veteran Moshav members and officials perceive to be the causes of the weakening of cooperation in Moshavim (pl. of Moshav). Veteran Moshavim are those established before the founding of the state of Israel. The findings are based on a sample of 192 Moshav households in eight veteran Moshavim in different parts of Israel as...

1996-1921 :ììäð áùåî ìù éñéôä äðáîá úåøåîú íåáìôà äàéáìå øôåñ ìàëéî ïìéà-øá úèéñøáéðåà ,äéôøâåàâì ä÷ìçîä àåáî áùåî ìàòøaeé ÷îòá ò÷ø÷ä ìò äìò 1921 úðùá éðá ,åéãñééî .õøàá íéáùåîä øåëáë áùçðä ,ììäð éô-ìò íáåùéé úà åáöéò ,úéùéìùäå äééðùä äééìòä íéòéðî åãîò äãåñéáù úùáåâî íìåò úñéôú äøáç íé÷äì äôéàùä íäáå ,íééúøáçå íééîåàì äååù úåðîãaeä ïúî ìò øàùä ïéá...

Integrated rural heritage landscapes: the case of agricultural cooperative settlements and open space in Israel Irit Amit Cohen and Michael Sofer amitcoi@biu.ac.il; soferm1@biu.ac.il Abstract Progressing development trends threaten the continued existence of open space, natural resources and cultural heritage sites in rural areas. These trends are...

The rural area of Israel in general and the rural-urban fringe in particular have undergone significant transformations which are expressed in the physical sphere as well as in the socio-economic pattern of the rural settlements. These processes are the result of anthropogenic pressures affected by external forces (market demand, urban development)...

A prominent component in the process of restructuring the rural areas in Israel is the phenomenon of opening non-agricultural entrepreneurial initiatives on family farms in moshavim. This new development expresses a change in the structure of employment in the moshav households, and women have played a central role in it, in supporting survival str...

This article examines 100 women and their enterprises in moshav-type cooperative rural settlements in the rural-urban fringe of Tel-Aviv metropolitan area, Israel, and analyses the catalysts and obstacles to development and expansion of such enterprises. Most of the businesses are small, in the personal and service sector, and based on experience i...

The study considers the roles of management and ideology in shaping the sustainability of communal systems. We approached this issue by discussing the major forces that shaped the kibbutz and the recent processes that have brought about its current transformation. The first part of the paper introduces the main causes of the drastic changes that fo...

The outer island of Kadavu is representative of the Fijian periphery. This paper deals with its physical characteristics, infrastructural conditions, and village economic activities with the aim of understanding the changes it has gone through in recent years. A combination of micro-geographic studies in two villages and a meso-geographical analysi...

מרכיב בולט בתהליך ההבניה מחדש של המרחב הכפרי בישראל הוא התופעה של פתיחת יזמויות לא חקלאיות במשקי בית במושבים. תמורה זו מבטאת שינוי במבנה התעסוקה של משקי הבית החקלאיים ולנשים תפקיד מרכזי בה. המאמר בוחן את מאפייני היזמיות והיזמויות, ואת הזרזים המקדמים והחסמים המגבילים את התפתחות היזמויות בבעלות נשים (100 במספר) במועצה האזורית לב השרון. הממצאים המרכזי...

The paper analyses the changing pattern of land uses in rural settlements located in the rural–urban fringe and makes a link between the results to socio-economic developments and to changes in the rural policy at the national level. Using historical sequences of land use maps and using geostatistical analysis, we observe changing land use patterns...

The rural space, and particularly the rural-urban fringe (RUF), in developed market economies have undergone a major process of restructuring in recent times. The RUF is a zone in transition, where urban and rural uses mix and often clash as a result of different forces that affect farmers, homeowners, and institutions. The result is the evolution...

a b s t r a c t The random development of small-scale industrial and workshop activities in residential areas of Arab municipalities in Israel is causing environmental nuisances such as noise, air, water and soil pollution, and heat emissions. These nuisances are both harmful to the environment and local populations. The aim of this research is to...

Romania is one of the eastern European countries to face a tumultuous history during the second half of the last century. The results of this experience are expressed in the current transformation processes at the macro and micro levels of the economic space. By 1989 with the change in regime, the new political and economic transformation of the co...

This paper explores some recent manifestations of regional inequalities in the rural space of Israel. The Israeli rural space is largely made up of planned settlements, which were originally based on a principle of equal opportunity to all settlers to attain an average predetermined level of income. This principle was applied through an even alloca...

The moshav is a planned smallholders' settlement, based on unique structural principles, including equal-sized indivisible family farms and a legal cooperative organization. A review of the moshav restructuring process reveals a number of trends which together have contributed to the weakening of these principles. While agriculture still dominates...

Coopération coopération histoire Israël Mochav Base documentaire Durant la période ottomane, ont eu lieu des tentatives d'établissement de villages coopératifs, tels que les Mochavim des Poalim (ouvriers). Bien qu'elles se soient soldées par des échecs, ces expérimentations ont inspiré Eliézer Wilkansky et Eliézer Yaffé, les deux initiateurs du Moc...

This paper explores the attitudes of members of three moshavim located in different parts of Israel regarding the reasons for the weakening of the cooperation within their cooperative association and settlement. Major reasons include government policy and the inability of the moshav cooperative association to enforce the rules of cooperation. Major...

This paper reviews changes in the development and peripheralized status of the Fijian island of Kadavu from a 20-year perspective. A combination of microgeographic studies in three villages and a mesogeographical analysis show that the conditions of internal dependency found in Kadavu in the early 1980s had not changed much: the pattern of cash cro...

Abstract. The rural space in Israel has been undergoing a process of economic, social and physical restructuring for a number of years, resulting in the appearance of a multifunctional space, characterized by a growing number of pluriactive households. A major aspect of this process is the emergence of farmer-entrepreneurs, who, besides their farmi...

In the last two decades the rural space in Israel has changed in economic, social and environmental terms. The changes are attributed to trends and processes common to many developed economies: an increase in the intensity of production, worsening of terms of trade and decline in the importance of agriculture, decreased government support to agricu...

מטרת מאמר זה לבדוק האם אחת הסיבות להיחלשות המערכת השיתופית במושבים ובעקבות כך לשינויים בשימושי הקרקע נבעה בעיקרה מכללי שיתוף אחידים שהתקבלו בתקופת המשק הרב ענפי לפני משבר החקלאות ושלא התאימו את עצמם למאפייני הייצור והשיווק בתקופת המשק המתמחה. ממצאי המחקר מתבססים על מדגם של 73 משקים בשלושה מושבים ממרכז הארץ, מהעמקים הצפוניים ומהפריפריה הצפונית. הנתו...

This paper deals with some major economic issues concerning the Pacific plant kava, known in Fiji as yaqona. The plant is the source of the cerebral depressant beverage found throughout many of the Pacific Islands, which besides its daily use plays an important ceremonial and social role in the indigenous culture. This paper deals with yaqona culti...

The Kibbutz in Search of a New Identity. The paper deals with the changes in the kibbutz type cooperative settlement in Israel. It is done in the context of the ongoing transformation in the rural space in Israel and other developed economies. The paper introduces the main causes of the drastic changes that followed a mid 1980s economic crisis and...

The Integration of Arab Entrepreneurs in the Israeli Economy This paper analyzes the embeddedness of Israeli Arab entrepreneurs in the national economy, by looking primarily at the socio-spatial structural aspects, concerning tangible networks that are directly associated with the operation of their firms, and by considering the awareness of oppor...

מאמר זה מציג את התמורות המתרחשות במושבי המועצה האזורית חוף הכרמל הנמצאת בשוליו הדרומיים של מטרופולין חיפה ולפיכך הוא חושף את התמורות במגזר המושבי באופן כללי, אך במיוחד באזור הנמצא בתחומי השובל העירוני-כפרי והנתפש ככזה שלחצי הביקוש למשאבי הקרקע שלו גוברים עם הזמן. המאמר בוחן את מבנה התעסוקה וההכנסה של משקי הבית החקלאיים בחמישה מושבים במועצה האזורית,...

שיזור היזמות הערבית במשק הישראלי תקציר המאמר מציע הבנה של יזמות ערבית במסגרת תיאוריית הסטרוקטורציה תוך התמקדות בצורות השיזור של היזם הערבי במשק הישראלי. הניתוח מפותח בשני שלבים. בשלב הראשון מנותחים הקשרים הישירים של היזמים תוך הדגשת דגמי המכירות של העסקים. בשלב השני נבונים מבנה המודעות של היזמים ונגישותם לרשתות תומכות ביזמות; נגישות למקורות מידע על...

This paper aims to describe and explain the changes which have taken place in the rural areas of Israel by focussing on a particular type of community—the moshav, which is a planned smallholders’ settlement, based on family farms and legally organized as a cooperative society. An analysis of the changes that have taken place in the moshav in the pa...

The author examines circular labor migration in Fiji. "This paper is organized into five sections. The first section provides a brief discussion of two major perspectives of labour circulation in developing countries. The second section presents the state of the Fijian village in the context of the current pattern of uneven development in Fiji. The...

This study presents the results of a preliminary research that was conducted in the city of Eilat, located in an extreme hot and arid zone on the northern coast of the Red Sea. The purpose was to analyse the characteristics of the local urban heat island (UHI). Diurnal pre-dawn and early-afternoon measurements were taken in winter and summer weathe...

דיון בחסמים לפיתוח כלכלי במשק הערבי מתחלק לשתי שאלות משנה. ראשית מהם החסמים להשתלבות עובדים ערבים בשוק העבודה הישראלי הכללי ושנית, מהם החסמים לפיתוח יזמות כלכלית ערבית. עיקר העניין שלנו התמקד בשאלה השניה אך לא ניתן להימנע מציון מספר חסמים בולטים גם בשוק העבודה. נקודת המוצא שלנו היא שחסמים אלה הם מבניים, כלומר הם מוסדו בכלכלה הפוליטית של ישראל בתהלי...

The Moshav, a family farm-based settlement, has been a prime example of the major changes in the rural space in Israel. The aim of this paper is to present and understand these changes by studying the economic characteristics of second-generation – that is relatively younger – households in the Moshav. This group has shown a higher tendency to eith...

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the growing efforts to assess small businesses’ mode of embeddedness. To this end, it analyses the case of Arab entrepreneurs in a peripheral region of Israel, namely, the central Lower Galilee, of which Nazareth is the main urban centre. It is a heterogeneous multi-ethnic region, containing a majority of A...

This book, the result of a collaborative study carried out by researchers from Tanzania, Israel and the Netherlands, assesses the sustainability of urban agriculture in two medium-sized towns in Tanzania: Morogoro and Mbeya. It first gives an overview of urban agriculture in Tanzania and a description of the two towns. Then it analyses the ways in...

The article contains an analysis of changes which have taken place in land use patterns, both private and public, in Nahalal - a Moshav established over eighty years ago in the Jezreel Valley. The changes revealed in this analysis reflect the restructuring of agriculture in general, and family farming in particular, over this period, but mainly dur...

The article offers a structurationalist analysis of the embeddedness of Arab entrepreneurs in the political economy of Israel in two stages. Firstly, we consider entrepreneurs' agency in the context of socio-spatial structural aspects concerning tangible networks that are directly associated with business operation. Secondly, we consider agents' ho...

Inter-ethnic as well as intra-ethnic dynamics have been shown to be barriers to local economic development. It has been suggested that local economy could benefit the social as well as the business communities by the integration of the various ethnic groups living in a region. The multi-ethnic composition of the Nazareth area in the Israeli Lower G...

The purpose of the paper is to study the form and degree of ethnic firms’ (small and medium businesses and enterprises) local embeddedness in peripheral regions in Israel. Three theoretical propositions are at the base of our model. First, it is possible to study regions by studying firms’ networks and links, and the communities in which they are e...

Ethnic entrepreneurs' networks are analysed on the basis of three complementary dimensions: intensity and complexity of networks; power relations; and entrepreneurs' horizons of awareness. The analysis is based on two theoretical propositions. First, firms located in the periphery are weakly embedded in national markets due to their external depend...

The aim of this chapter is to offer a conceptual framework for the analysis of the degree and form of embeddedness in the state economy of marginal minority group. Based on the experience of Israeli Arab entrepreneurs, we analyse some of the difficulties that minority entrepreneurs encounter in their attempts to break barriers of marginality and et...

In the past several years, pluriactivity has become quite widespread among moshav farming households, especially those located within Metropolitan Tel Aviv's rural fringe. Agricultural income has been on the decline and other sources of income have appeared. This paper has a threefold aim: To identify major patterns of income sources among Moshav's...

In the past several years, pluriactivity has become quite widespread among moshav farming households, especially those located within Metropolitan Tel Aviv's rural fringe. Agricultural income has been on the decline and other sources of income have appeared. This paper has a threefold aim: To identify major patterns of income sources among Moshav's...

The current pattern of industrial development in Arab settlements in Israel represents, above all, adaptation to restructuring processes operating throughout the Israeli economy. The result may be viewed as a form of peripheral industrialization of small plants specializing in less-advanced industrial production. The peripheralization process and t...

This paper examines the structure of industrial linkages of Israeli-Arab entrepreneurs, members of an ethnic community at the periphery of contemporary Israel. This case study delineates some of the challenges that ethnic peripheral minorities have to face in their attempts to integrate into late capitalist economies. It begins with the simultaneou...

This paper presents some initial implications of the changes brought about by recent economic transformations within the Romanian rural sector during the current transition period. As a case study of those trends, within the context of pluriactivity and constraints to rural development, it looks at some characteristics of agricultural production in...

This paper offers a simple methodology for the analysis of socio-economic networks, aimed at improving the understanding of wider industrialization processes and the potential of lower-ranked enterprises to advance to higher levels of development. It emphasizes the role of GIS as a visualization tool, the human ability to interpret complex network...

This paper offers a simple methodology for the analysis of socio-economic networks, aimed at improving the understanding of wider industrialization processes and the potential of lower-ranked enterprises to advance to higher levels of development. It emphasizes the role of GIS as a visualization tool, the human ability to interpret complex network...

מטרת מאמר זה לבחון מספר מאפיינים מרכזיים וגורמים העומדים בבסיס תופעת ריבוי התעסוקות במושבים הנמצאים בשולי מטרופולין תל-אביב. ההתמקדות היא במושבים הנמצאים בטבעת היישובית המזרחית של שולי המטרופולין והשוכנת בתחומי המועצות האזוריות דרום-השרון ומודיעין. המחקר לא שם לו ליעד דיון בסך כל הגורמים העומדים בתשתית השינויים בפעילות הכלכלית במושבים, ואשר נובעים...

Since the 1970s there has been increased integration of the Arab sector into the Israeli economy. This integration has been characterized by the increase in industrial entrepreneurship in the Arab settlements. Critical to the industrialization process are factors related to the availability of industrial zones and the infrastructure which supports...

For a number of years, the moshav, a typical form of Israeli smallholders' settlement, has been undergoing a series of transformations, evidenced by the growth in non-agricultural activities, whether by local initiatives or in response to external entrepreneurs, carried on within their confines. The introduction of these enterprises into the moshav...

For a number of years, the moshav, a typical form of Israeli smallholders' settlement, has been undergoing a series of transformations, evidenced by the growth in non-agricultural activities, whether by local initiatives or in response to external entrepreneurs, carried on within their confines. The introduction of these enterprises into the moshav...

Previous studies of industrial activity in Arab settlements in Israel have been less than comprehensive. We believe that the lack of interest and data on Arab industry stems from the fact that no real effort has ever been made to further the economic development of these settlements in general and their industrial development in particular. For the...

Abstract: Since the 1970s there has been increased integration of the Arab labour force into the Israeli economy. Among other things this integration has been characterized by the emerging industrial entrepreneurship in the Arab settlements. Critical to the industrialization process are factors related to land availability for industry as well as t...

The phenomenon of labor mobility in Fiji is encouraged by the existing pattern of uneven regional development which creates and contributes to limited economic opportunities. This is manifested by a disparity in the average annual growth rate of the provincial population, which implies migration from the lower income provinces to the higher income...

The author examines circular labor migration in Fiji. "This paper is organized into five sections. The first section provides a brief discussion of two major perspectives of labour circulation in developing countries. The second section presents the state of the Fijian village in the context of the current pattern of uneven development in Fiji. The...

Land settlement schemes are compared for two developing island states -- Jamaica & Fiji. The Jamaican case shows the transformation process of a cooperative settlement scheme, based on a shift from collectivism to a group-farming form of production. In the Fijian case, the shift was to individualism, which occurred in the production system of a com...

In the late 1970s tourism was promoted as a sector which could generate employment and increase greatly needed foreign earnings for the evolving South Pacific island states. In a situation where links with the global economy faced obstacles of small size, distance from markets and isolation from technological development, income derived from touris...

The central theme of this paper is that a core-periphery structure which was established in Fiji in colonial times has been maintained in the current independent state. The basic structure has not changed and the nature of the relationships between the capitalist mode of production (as the main component of the core) and the village-based mode of p...

The issue of transformation of a subsistence village into one comprising market-oriented farmers is the issue considered in this paper, with institutional change in the village of particular interest. The transformation process in villages in Fiji is described specifically in relation to Narata village in the Sigatoka Valley. A comparison is drawn...

Kava (yaqona)is becoming an increasingly important cash crop besides its prominent role in all rituals and ceremonial events as well as social gatherings for native Fijian communities in peripheral areas. Three less developed regions as represented by Kadavu Island are increasing their engagement in cultivation and commercialisation of kava. This i...