The Jerusalem Pioneers

Come and be the Pioneers of our time! We invite you to be a part of it and join a sustainable movement of artists, entrepreneurs, and social activists who believe that we must act to create a better future for all of us in the city. Jerusalem is where the overarching Israeli identity is shaped and created, a city where the ideas that sprout resonate with and influence the rest of the world. It can be viewed as the oldest human laboratory. And the constant friction requires us all to be creative! Jerusalem is also one of the most crowded cities in Israel with growing disparities among various sectors as well as many residents who experience food insecurity. Our city suffers from a severe lack of green areas which will only get worse in the coming years. Global warming is already here and requires us to change the way in which public space is planned and built. It requires us to plant trees and add vegetation in every possible way, to develop new ways to deal with the many challenges of the 21st century. This is exactly why we founded Muslala in 2009 – as a creative laboratory for new ideas that will improve life in the city and change the world along the way. Twelve years have passed since then and we can say that we have been successful – we established five laboratories in the city and created a vibrant community that redefines the connection between community, environment, and art. A community that holds hundreds of events a year, is a point of pilgrimage for visitors from Israel and abroad, people who are interested in learning from us. Most importantly, ours is a space of hope and the possibility of a different urbanism, one that’s soft and connecting. Over the years we have initiated and led projects that brought about a significant change in the city. These include turning the roof of a Clal building into a green space that promotes community, sustainability, and a culture of collaboration. We promoted a cooperative of honey women on the rooftops of East Jerusalem, as well as a food rescue project led by "food rescuers" targeting the wholesale market to reduce food waste. Our workshop on carpentry won the Social Business of Jerusalem Award and was modeled ten times throughout Israel. And this is only a partial list. And now we are preparing to step up even further, to lead a pioneering and ground-breaking movement that will replicate the models we have worked on in recent years all over Jerusalem and take them to Israel and other parts of the world. The city currently has about 3,000,000 square meters of “rooftop desert,” a figure that will increase in the coming decades by 30% (!). We intend to make this urban wasteland flourish! What will we do together? We will double the green spaces in the city! In the next ten year, together we will build another 1,000,000 square meters (a million!) of green and useful spaces on the basis of the city's rooftops. We will take care of the nutritional security of all the residents in the city! We will establish a system of shaded food markets in every neighborhood in a community partnership that will ensure food security for all. We will set up community workshops for carpentry and crafts in every neighborhood/district so that everyone can dream of a better future and making these dreams come true will be simpler. We believe that revolutions start from the grassroots - through the women of the city. We invite you to be a part of it and join a sustainable movement of artists, entrepreneurs, and social activists who believe that we must act to create a better future for all of us in the city. Through a symbolic payment plus recruiting members to the movement, we can act to fulfill this vision - because if we want to, it's not a fairy tale!