Palestinian youth are full of creative ideas, which usually doesn’t see the light due to circumstances and lack of opportunity. This studio is part of a bigger project, supported by the Middle East Partnership...
Palestinian youth are full of creative ideas, which usually doesn’t see the light due to circumstances and lack of opportunity. This studio is part of a bigger project, supported by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), with the general drive of supporting youth to become proactive in their communities and to take responsibility for their living environment focusing on the public space.
The one year project "THINK, PLAN and ACT; Building Capacity of Palestinian Youth to Support Planning" aimed to increase the involvement and participation of youth in urban planning efforts in West Bank and Area C, and to develop their skills and knowledge on actual urban planning projects. The project was designed to train more than 70 young leaders; from urban planning, architecture, engineering, law, and other social sciences, about urban planning issues that face the Palestinian cities and villages. The youth afterwards worked in 7 groups on small community initiatives aiming on enhancing the public spaces in their communities all over the West Bank. A further 12 youth were selected to participate in an intensive 15 day urban design studio between the 24th of August and the 08th of September 2016. The studio aimed to develop participants’ skills and knowledge on real projects in areas where IPCC initiated planning work.
This is the seventh Design Studio completed by IPCC, which focused on two villages in Area C; Izbit Tabib in Qalqilia, and Battir in Bethlehem. Both villages were chosen for the environmental, cultural and natural resources they have. Both have the potential to become a destination for local and international cultural-tourism, but at the same time both lack the means and the attraction elements to encourage people to come and visit, an action which will develop the cultural economy in these villages.
Izbit Tabib is a small village adjacent to a rich forest, suitable for an eco-park with outdoor and recreational activities. While Battir is a village rich in its landscape and old cultural heritage.
Design Themes:
a) ECO TOURISM
Area C is full of places which are diverse in natural and cultural landscape; varying from the deserts to the forests, mountains and plains, springs and streams, in addition to the cultural variety from Bedouin to rural to urban, and the cultural uniqueness of each. The political situation on one hand has restricted many families from traveling and enjoying these areas, but on the other hand neglect and unfamiliarity with the existence of such places has limited many other Palestinian families and tourists from reaching these places.
This Studio highlighted two potential areas suitable for Eco tourism, the forest near Izbit Tabib and the touristic path in Battir. Through which the participants were able to work in teams to design these two space with activities and stations which are suitable for all age groups and family members, in both designs maintaining the natural landscape was very important.
b) CULTURAL HERITAGE
Many Palestinian villages have “old village cores” with buildings of long history and great cultural value, many of the old buildings are in bad shape and have been neglected for a long time. Furthermore, new buildings or parts are built on top of the old or adjacent to them without taking into consideration the identity and importance of the old buildings.
In this studio, participants worked on the old village core of Battir, in cooperation with Hasan Mustafa cultural center, where they surveyed –architectural measurement- three cultural buildings or parts of buildingsand redrew them, and then participants suggested new uses of the buildings that will serve the touristic path as well, and proposed the proper designs.
This booklet presents the ideas and designs of the participants and their teams’ work, these designs will be presented to the communities of the two villages and anyone who is interested. IPCC will continue working on similar projects as well as finding ways to support the implementation of the designs created in this studio.
