Palestinian Architects Revive Earth Architecture in the Jordan Valley

Earth Architecture, the mysterious art of creating buildings out of compressed mud in a sustainable fashion, is making a surprise comeback in one of the places of its origin. In the Jordan Valley, near the ancient city of Jericho where 10,000 year old structures built only of earth still stand, a group of Palestinian architects from Ramallah are busy building new homes using mud brick and other compressed earth materials. For the architects, their obsession with sustainable materials is as much political as it is ecological and they are beginning to turn some heads as Monocle's Joseph Dana found out in the West Bank. Original Air Date: 5 March 2013 on Monocle 24

Earth Architecture, the mysterious art of creating buildings out of compressed mud in a sustainable fashion, is making a surprise comeback in one of the places of its origin. In the Jordan Valley, near the ancient city of Jericho where 10,000 year old structures built only of earth still stand, a group of Palestinian architects from Ramallah are busy building new homes using mud brick and other compressed earth materials. For the architects, their obsession with sustainable materials is as much political as it is ecological and they are beginning to turn some heads as Monocle's Joseph Dana found out in the West Bank. Original Air Date: 5 March 2013 on Monocle 24

The Slow Gentrification of Jaffa

The city of Tel Aviv has grown exponentially in recent years, fueled by a hi-tech boom and consistent tourism industry. The result has been a vibrant, international city and skyrocketing rents on par with Western capitals. For some of the city’s younger residents, high rents have forced them into the ancient city of Jaffa just to the south Tel Aviv. Monocle’s Joseph Dana visited Jaffa to find out how the once mighty Palestinian city is coping with waves of gentrification. Original air date: 7 February 2013

The city of Tel Aviv has grown exponentially in recent years, fueled by a hi-tech boom and consistent tourism industry. The result has been a vibrant, international city and skyrocketing rents on par with Western capitals. For some of the city’s younger residents, high rents have forced them into the ancient city of Jaffa just to the south Tel Aviv. Monocle’s Joseph Dana visited Jaffa to find out how the once mighty Palestinian city is coping with waves of gentrification. Original air date: 7 February 2013