contextual #dialogues on #community-based #participation for a #sustainable #urban_future

Voices of Alexan­dria: Co-Cre­at­ing Inclu­sive His­toric Urban Spaces — Inter­na­tional Joint Workshop

Illustration Call for participation: Workshop Voices of Alexandria (Credits: Alexandria University)
As part of the DAAD-funded project “Inclusive Cities: Contextual Dialogues on Community-based Participation for a Sustainable Urban Future”, the Architecture Department and CT lab at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University will host an International Joint Workshop bringing together students and academic staff from Germany, Lebanon, Oman, and Egypt in November 2026.

The work­shop explores the role of his­toric urban cen­tres as places of cul­tural iden­tity, col­lec­tive mem­ory, and social inter­ac­tion. Through a place­mak­ing approach, par­tic­i­pants will exam­ine how her­itage, diver­sity, and local iden­tity shape the expe­ri­ence of pub­lic spaces and con­tribute to cre­at­ing inclu­sive and vibrant urban envi­ron­ments. By engag­ing with the his­toric cen­tre of Alexan­dria and col­lab­o­rat­ing with local stake­hold­ers, par­tic­i­pants will develop con­text-sen­si­tive pro­pos­als that cel­e­brate the city’s unique char­ac­ter while respond­ing to the needs of its diverse communities.

The pro­gramme will begin with a pre-arrival online ori­en­ta­tion two weeks before the stu­dents’ arrival, offer­ing par­tic­i­pants insights into the his­tor­i­cal and urban devel­op­ment of the city. The core work­shop ses­sions will then take place in Alexan­dria, Egypt, where par­tic­i­pants will col­lab­o­ra­tively exam­ine the case study of the French Mar­ket through field explo­ration and par­tic­i­pa­tory methods.

Guided by archi­tect Dr. Ammalia Pod­laszewska (Cul­ture Goes Europe), par­tic­i­pants will work with a place­mak­ing toolkit that com­bines obser­va­tion, map­ping, inter­views, and group reflec­tion activ­i­ties. These meth­ods encour­age par­tic­i­pants to crit­i­cally analyse the spa­tial and social dimen­sions of pub­lic spaces and to reflect on how dif­fer­ent iden­ti­ties shape the expe­ri­ence of safety in the urban envi­ron­ment. Activ­i­ties may include guided safety walks, place-based obser­va­tion, and par­tic­i­pa­tory exer­cises explor­ing the iden­tity, his­tory and diver­sity of the urban space.

By inte­grat­ing field-based explo­ration, par­tic­i­pa­tory meth­ods, col­lab­o­ra­tive design, and inter­cul­tural exchange, the work­shop aims to enhance par­tic­i­pants’ under­stand­ing of place­mak­ing as a com­mu­nity-cen­tred approach to the revi­tal­i­sa­tion of his­toric urban spaces. Through inter­na­tional col­lab­o­ra­tion and engage­ment with local stake­hold­ers, the work­shop con­tributes to the broader objec­tives of the Inclu­sive Cities project by pro­mot­ing inclu­sive, con­text-sen­si­tive, and sus­tain­able urban development.