Urban Heritage and Traditional Building Skills in Southern Mediterranean Countries

The unique historic heritage of cities around the Mediterranean calls for special attention to traditional modes of urbanization and the conservation of unique architectural and urban heritage. The Euro-Mediterranean region is home to a large number of urban sites that testify to the rich, long, and multi-layered history of the region. Nevertheless, Mediterranean traditional settlements and historic centres face deterioration and abandonment by their populations.

At the Third UfM Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Urban Development, which took place in Zagreb (Croatia) on the 4th of May, 2023, ministers called for the valuation and dissemination of urban heritage, vernacular architecture, and traditional building materials as a means to increase the cultural embeddedness and climate adaptiveness of urban and architectural solutions, promote sustainable local economies, and create useful and skilled jobs related to traditional materials, techniques, and heritage protection.

To this end, and with the financial support of GIZ and AECID (German and Spanish Cooperation Agencies), the Union for the Mediterranean joined forces with the UNESCO Regional Office for Maghreb Countries to put in place the initiative “Urban Heritage and Traditional Building Skills is Southern Mediterranean Countries” aiming at highlighting and promoting the values, and potential to trigger local economies, of traditional architecture.

The first part of the program (2023-2024) targeted Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia whereas the second one (2024-2025) will be addressed to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine. The networking event aims to share the results and advancements of the initiative with a wider audience. Panellists will present current projects related to urban heritage and traditional building skills in their countries and discuss initiatives to be taken at a regional level shortly.