Ashdod Travelers guide

19 Geographic, Topographical and Architectural structure Their borders are wide roads, planned as a grid, while the city center is located at the junction of the main transportation lines. Ashdod by numbers Public gardens consist of about 1/5 of the open areas in the city • There is 12.3 SqM of nurtured green spaces per resident in the city • In 2015, 350,000 seasonal flowers were planted in the city • In 2015, 150 trees were handled to reduce the nuisance caused by falling Ficus fruit • There are over 300 playgrounds in the city • 280 statues are placed around the city, and an average of 8 more are added each year • The Ashdod Yam Park covers an area of 200 acres • It has an open theatre for big shows, which can hold 6,400 viewers, and a playground with accessible facilities for all kinds of disabilities Ashdod's master plan from 1959, sought to create a spacious city, giving its residents quality of life and, despite its growth, maintaining its pastoral and pleasant character as a coastal city. In addition, in order to prevent religious, economic or ethnic polarization, in each district there are different types of apartments and public institutions which cater for everyone. Indeed, since its establishment the city absorbed Jews fromall over the Jewish Diaspora and established its tolerant and open minded character, as it continues to maintain a harmonious relationship between the communities living within it. For many years the city had the highest population growth rate in the country. In the decade between 1994-2004 Ashdod grew by about 70 percent, thanks to the large waves of immigration from the former Soviet Union. In the years 2001- 2009 the population growth rate declined, but in 2013 it began to increase moderately and the rate of natural growth rate in Ashdod stabilized around the national average (about six percent). The districts were established more or less in a chronological order, as the city developed from the north southward. The newer districts are therefore located in the south of the city. The only district missing from the division of Ashdod