Historic cities are essential to the continuity of community values, livelihoods and urban harmony. The MEDINA Initiative addresses their protection with the goal of supporting the enhancement of urban heritage management within sustainable development.
MEDINA highlights the need to make heritage more accessible and meaningful to its associated communities, and to work closely with youth.
In this context, ICCROM-Sharjah organized a short series of webinars targeting international, regional and national actors working in urban heritage conservation, as well as regional and international organizations, in order to draw on their expertise to devise an effective framework for the future MEDINA initiative.
Five webinars took place between 8 June and 6 July 2020. The webinars addressed five main themes to help identify the needs and priorities of this initiative and formulate an effective action plan.
- Urban Transformation of Historic Cities and Post-conflict Recovery Plans
- Institutional Capacity in Managing Urban Heritage
- Traditional Knowledge and the Economics of Historic Cities
- Managing Urban Heritage in its Natural Environment and Climate Change
- General Framework of the MEDINA Programme, an Integration of Initiatives.
The webinar themes were developed to invoke brainstorming and discussion on the MEDINA initiative’s broad aims that include: addressing challenges that historic cities in the Arab region are facing through capacity building of local institutions and communities; documenting traditional knowledge and geo-referencing such knowledge using GIS to provide partners with needed tools to further research in relevant fields; and building partnerships with local stakeholders whose mandates are in line with the project goals. MEDINA also aims to encourage urban artistic initiatives to support the creativity and wellbeing of local communities.