ICCROM-Sharjah has organized a workshop on post -crisis recovery of historic cities in the Arab Region, which took place on 24 – 28 February 2019 in Sharjah, UAE.
The event brought together specialists from international organizations such as the World Bank, UNESCO, ICOMOS, ICCROM, UN HABITAT, as well as practitioners and academics from the fields of cultural heritage, social and economic development, humanitarian assistance, conflict transformation and resilience.
Based on first-hand regional and international experiences, this workshop offered participants an opportunity to examine challenges and opportunities, tools and methodologies for post-crisis recovery of cultural heritage, and the opportunity to develop a framework to address capacity-building needs. The workshop agenda included presentations and discussions on various theoretical and practical matters relating to post-crisis recovery.
During interactive group work, participants reviewed tools for analyzing the general context in several affected historic cities. They also identified a number of steps to be taken in terms of post-crisis recovery implementation. Among the case studies discussed were Mosul in Iraq, Aleppo in Syria and Sana'a in Yemen, as well as other case studies and projects implemented by ICCROM in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt and Sudan.
At the end of the workshop, participants summarized the five-day debate by devising a document that outlines general methodological framework and decision-making process for the post-crisis recovery of cultural heritage.