Outreach
In the framework of URHC project, the outreach activities were launched to address several intangible aspects of the heritage with the Institutions and the community of residents.
The purpose was to develop and coordinate a community involvement and particularly to:
- explain the purpose of the URHC project and raise awareness on alternative views, perspectives and perceptions of the city;
- promote citizen participation in planning policies;
- collect information on point of views, cultural and social meanings of spaces and unwritten urban dynamics;
- outline some of the community’s needs in relation to their neighbourhood and the city;
- draft possible recommendations concerning future outreach initiatives.
These objectives were realized through:
- Organising an information campaign for the local residents with informative materials;
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Organising different workshops with representative stakeholders to introduce the activity of the survey and explain its objectives and meaning in a wider perspective. In particular, organise:
- An inaugural event to inform the citizens of the project and invite their cooperation and possible participation
- Different workshops to address priority issues according to the different stakeholders (i.e. housing stock, residential and commercial uses, tourism impact, perceptions, etc.),
- A final symposium to present the results of the work done, obtain feedback on it and connect the stakeholders in a joint dialogue.
- Retrieve shared stories and perceptions of the neighbourhoods and transmit them through a storytelling event.
While the main purpose of these activities was not to collect information, many of them were designed to catch people’s attention and make them think about heritage issues nonetheless they allowed gaining insight on issues such as:
- Residents’ perception of the historic VS modern housing stock;
- Residents’ perception of the neighbourhood monuments and landmarks;
- Produce cognitive maps of the neighbourhood.
Children were also a major target audience, with activities specifically designed to stimulate thinking about the meaning of heritage through a mix of stories, discussions and art. Activities with children are particularly useful on the longer term: no long-term change in attitude is possible without addressing first children today. Children’s activities were also a good way to access the community, gain their trust and cooperation.
All the activities were documented with photos and/or video.
Community Outreach Component - May Al-Ibrachy
This study reports on a series of activities launched in the framework of the awareness campaign of the project. The various activities were set in accordance to the URHC team initiative of field survey in the action project area, and implemented in parallel in the same area. Thus, to raise awareness on the project scopes and activities, as well as on the heritage value of Historic Cairo World Heritage city. Different stakeholders were the target of the community events: Government technical staff, residents of the area, citizens and governmental manager and decision makers.
