GeoJoumal 5.3 269-276/1981 © Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft • Wiesbaden 269 Agricultural Settlement Planning in the Specialization Era: New Approaches to the Physical Planning of the Moshav ~ Maos, J .O., Ph. D., Associate Professor of Geography, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel Pelley, D., M.A., Senior Research Associate, Settlement Study Centre, Rehovot, Israel Abstract: A characteristic feature of the cooperative family-farm settlement (Moshav) in Israel is the farm~/ard attached to the farmer's dwelling. With the intensification of pro- duction and resulting crowding of farmyards, there has been a growing tendency to remove farmbuildings from the built-up villag.e area to the periphery. This has led to a new model of physical planning which is presently under review. The relative merits of detaching the farmbuildings from the immediate vicinity of the farmer's dwelling are discussed from the point of view of infrastructure costs, operation efficiency, environmental quality, and social aspects. The comparative analysis of village layouts and subsequent attitude tests indicate considerable advantages that can be gained from the separation between dwelling and production functions. About 800 rural settlements have been established in Israel during the last 80 years - a continuous movement which has not abated in the face of increasing industrialization. The development of about 200 new agricultural settlements is envisaged in the next 15 years, and the lesson gleaned from this process experience has been recognized as an important contribution to rural development planning. The main settlement patterns evolved to date are the collective Kibbutz and the cooperative Moshav. A third intermediate pattern, the collective Moshav - which com- bines joint production with individual domestic living- has exerted considerable influence over other settlement forms in spite of its limited numbers I ). The Moshav is a cooperative of farm families, in which each family works a separate plot of land, lives on its own homestead, and draws its main income from the produce of the farm. These are features common to family farms in most other countries. The governing principles that are unique to the Moshav can be described as (a) national ownership of land held in lease by the settler; (b) the land allotment is not larger than the settler, and his family can This article is based on the findings of a recent study on the physical planning of the Moshav, undertaken by the Settlement Study Centre, Rehovot, Israel. work alone; (c) holdings cannot be divided among several heirs or enlarged by purchasing additional land; (d) hired labour may be employed only with the consent of the Moshav's general essembly; (e) all members are obliged to mutual aid and responsibility, joint marketing of produce and purchasing of inputs. The recent modernization of agriculture and the resulting expansion of production have been making growing demands on the family farm in respect of economic efficiency and higher investments. A corollary development is the increased use of motorized trans- portation which has drastically altered the significance of distances. Last but not least is a greater awareness of the dwelling quality in the village. All these changes warrant a prudent approach to the physical planning of agricultural villages, especially when dealing with the residential area, farmbuilding and services, including such utilities as water supply, electricity and sewage disposal. It should be remem- bered that the physical infrastructure represents a major element in terms of cost and maintenance, and one of the most rigid factors that are difficult to change once future modifications become necessary. The evolutionary stages in the physical layout of the Moshav are characteristic of the modernization process which the family farm is undergoing at present. Until lately