KassMENA - SFCH - Sustainable Future for Cultural Heritage

As part of the DAAD Higher Education Dialogue with the Islamic world, the Department of Urban Regeneration and Planning Theory - University of Kassel - Germany in cooperation with the Department of Architecture (Ecole Nationale d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme de Tunis) - Tunisia and the Architectural Design & Digital Architecture Program - Galala University - Egypt has started the project “KassMENA - SFCH - Sustainable Future for Cultural Heritage”. The project runs from January 2025 to the end of 2026 and aims to deepen cooperation with the partner universities by organizing and implementing various forms of academic and student exchanges.

The project aims to address the critical challenge of balancing modern urban development with the preservation of historical urban heritage in Germany and North Africa. Its objectives are to transform threatened heritage sites into catalysts for socioeconomic development and biodiversity, in line with UNESCO’s mission and SDG 11.4. Through a comparative analysis of four cities—Djerba, Port Said, the Galala region, and Stadtallendorf—the project seeks to understand the unique challenges each location faces in preserving its cultural and natural heritage amid socioeconomic and climatic changes. Key project objectives include promoting integrated regeneration approaches to prevent collateral damage from disorganized interventions and harnessing emerging technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence to revitalize and simulate the impacts of environmental risks on heritage sites. By facilitating thematic workshops, short-term fellowships, and training-of-trainers programs at partner universities, the project also aims to foster scientific, cultural, and knowledge exchange among stakeholders. This collaborative approach is designed to engage local communities and decision-makers, raise awareness about the potential of heritage assets, and explore innovative economic exploitation strategies that integrate heritage conservation with urban regeneration. Ultimately, the project seeks to redefine heritage preservation as a dynamic, economically viable process that contributes to urban resilience and sustainable development.