our projects
Academic research
Publications
Our team members actively contribute to academically and scientifically rigorous publications in collaboration with fellow scholars. Below are some of the latest publications they have been involved in
Type: visual essay
Date: fall 2025
TURQUOISE BIO FARM: A LIVING TACTIC FOR URBAN RESILIENCE IN NABLUS
This visual essay was published in volume 6 of the journal O B L / Q U E.
It tells the story of our bio-farm at the rooftop of Turquoise Hostel.
To read the essay click here
Type: Book Chapter
Date: Spring 2025
THINKING PRESERVATION AND RECONSTRUCTION THROUGH THE IDEA OF URBAN LIFE
This book chapter investigates how to include the everyday knowledge and informal structures produced by the local community in the conversation led by academically produced knowledge and professional practice. For more info click here.
Type: Book Chapter
Date: Forthcoming 2026
IMPACTFUL MICRO-REGENERATION STRATEGIES FOR IN-WAR CONTEXTS
This book chapter examines how the Yalla Project in Nablus’s Old Town achieved its goals amid ongoing urban violence, using spatial coding and semiotics through small design interventions to create spaces that feel meaningful, relatable, and distinctly original
Type: Journal Article
Date: 2023
URBAN RULES OF AN ARAB KASBAH IN THE OTTOMAN PERIOD
This article studies the old town of Nablus to offer a case-based understanding for the process of making, adapting, and managing of spaces for a city in the Islamic world before the introduction of modern urban systems. It goes through studying original archival documents from the Ottoman period.
Read more.
Research Project
Our team members are involved in a range of research projects, both through their academic roles and as part of Yalla’s research activities. Below are some ongoing and recently completed projects.
Funds: Birzeit University.
Status: Ongoing.
Nablus Architectural Heritage Project
This project focuses on documenting, preserving, and interpreting the architectural heritage of Nablus’s Old Town. The work includes digitizing historical records, organizing archival collections, and analyzing and classifying documents to make this heritage accessible and meaningful.
Funds: No funds
Status: Ongoing
Gaza Architectural heritage Project
This project aims to search for, collect, analyze, and categorize archival materials, publications, and related sources that support the documentation and preservation of the architectural heritage of the Gaza Strip
Funds: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Status: Completed on January 2026
Emerging Forms of Urbanism in Palestine
A new research project titled “emerging forms of urbanism in Palestine” in collaboration with McGill University and Université de Montréal, Canada will start in September 2023. In a duration of 2 years, the research is expected to investigates emerging forms of urban development and new settlements in the Palestinian territories.