This is (and was) pretty common practice in Israel. There was a lot of trial-and-error involved - lots of the early towns were planned with lots of housing to h

This is (and was) pretty common practice in Israel. There was a lot of trial-and-error involved - lots of the early towns were planned with lots of housing to handle the big waves of Middle Eastern Jewish immigration and no employment opportunities - but they've gotten pretty good at it since then.