New Governance in an Old City: The Challenges of Being Jerusalem’s Mayor

The historic city of Jerusalem is not an easy place to govern. (Image: Flickr/Paul Arps)

Few political posts are more intensely, well, political, than that of Mayor of Jerusalem. Every few days, an incident arises that would challenge any city’s chief executive – a kidnapping, a retaliatory homicide, a protest over access to a religious site. But in Jerusalem, a historic crossroads of cultures and a crucible of geopolitics, every tussle is magnified, and any political miscalculation could quickly become an international incident.

Given this calculus, it would be easy to tack toward conservatism, hoping to avoid unintended side effects of speeches or executive acts that could lend a spark to an incendiary situation. But Nir Barkat, the second-term mayor of Jerusalem, shrugs off the historical burden of the leadership mantle, embracing new data-driven tools in hopes of improving life for all of his constituents. “Well it’s definitely more complicated,” he says, following a talk at the CityLab, a gathering of urban innovators sponsored by The Atlantic, the Aspen Institute, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. “But I’ve decided to focus on the future of the city.”

Barkat’s penchant for analytics-driven disruption stems in part from his past life as a tech company founder. (The company, BRM, specialized in antivirus software, sold the technology to Symantec, and currently operates as a VC firm. The Barkat family is still deeply involved, though the Mayor is no longer connected in any official capacity.) “Now I see myself as a public entrepreneur,” he explains, “so it’s very methodological. We use data and information, and we scale successful pilot studies, using the same approach that I took with technology in the business world to change things in the city.”

Among the data-dependent programs is a personalized poverty reduction scheme that incorporated data from both ends – the recipient and the provider – to offer targeted interventions with the best chance of success. A team of researchers looked at all types of poverty reduction programs in the country to see who benefited most; by integrating this information with statistics from the National Insurance Institute and other civic sources, they could tailor the program to the neighborhood. For example, they found that employment workshops aimed at Arab constituents should include a Hebrew language component to facilitate basic understanding.

In some ways, the tense regional political situation, which has effectively isolated Israel from neighboring markets, has necessitated self-sufficiency and homegrown innovation. It’s likely no coincidence that, in a dry environment and little access to fresh water transport, Israeli companies can be found at the leading edge of desalination and drip irrigation technologies.

Similarly, the legacy of a security-driven mindset has enabled commercial spin-offs out of national security concerns. “I see in Israel more and more ideas that are developing in the country maybe for security reasons,” Barkat reflects, his entrepreneurial side never far from the surface. “They may be developed locally here, but they are taken globally.” Two decades ago, a cohort of ex-soldiers pitched Barkat on the idea of digital firewalls. Born from a mentality of defensive security, the idea sprouted Checkpoint, an IT security company that brought in $1.4 billion in 2013. Similarly, Mobileye – whose core technology has been used for driver security in Israel for years – is seen as a global leader in driverless car applications. “I think in the future, you’re going to see really interesting solutions that may be starting in Israel by some of the challenges we have living here,” says Barkat, “but a lot of them will go global.”

Despite the boost that Israel’s defense-based applications have provided, science and technology must ultimately serve as a unifying force. After all, many of the issues Israel faces – particularly environmental ones – are shared by its neighbors, and by offering all parties a stake in solving such challenges, unified effort would become a matter more of practicality than aspiration.

This has yet to happen on a broad scale, but Barkat professes a similar vision. “You understand that we share the same problems and challenges,” he explains, “and when the doctor saves somebody’s life, it doesn’t matter if the doctor or the patient is Jewish or Muslim or Christian. And all of a sudden you see, that through investments in technology and health and life sciences, this is a bridge that gets people together.”