our projects
Academic research
Submitted Research
THINKING PRESERVATION AND RECONSTRUCTION THROUGH THE IDEA OF URBAN LIFE
Book Chapter
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; what are the shortcomings of the classical reconstruction practice in the local Palestinian context and what are the possible horizons to make this more effective, locally-sensitive, fair and inclusive; how to consistently and actually include the intangible, socio-cultural sphere in reconstruction and regeneration projects
URBAN RULES OF AN ARAB KASBAH IN THE OTTOMAN PERIOD
Journal Article
This essay offers 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 through studying original archival documents from the Ottoman period. The research discloses that a significant proportion of the urban landscape’s physical attributes, encompassing labyrinthine characteristics, irregularities, and intertwinements, are rooted in deeply embedded socio-spatial norms, religious endorsements, and hierarchically controlled societal rules
Initiated Research
IMPACTFUL MICRO-REGENERATION STRATEGIES FOR IN-WAR CONTEXTS
Book Chapter
The book chapter highlights the employment of concepts from spatial coding and semiotics of space, enacted through micro-design interventions that seek the creation of spaces that users can perceive as meaningful and relatable, and, still, novel, original and with a strong identity. This approach accommodates and challenges the different interpretations given by the diverse (sub)communities of users attending these public venues. Core to this is the approach to design as a process performed through progressive stages of writing and re-writing led by users’ ways of (mis)using and performing in/with the spaces and the reception of their feedback expressed as practices on-site and remotely off-site through social media -feeds, stories, posts, comments-.
EMERGING FORMS OF URBANISM IN PALESTINE
Research Project
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.