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Cairo, 24 January 2024: The inception workshop of the UNESCO-MoTA University Heritage Forum (UHF) project was held at the National Research Institute for Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) in Helwan, Egypt. Some 150 PhD students/young researchers, and professors/experts from nine higher education institutes (Ain-Shams University, Cairo University, E-JUST, Fayoum University, Helwan University, Menoufia University, NRIAG) and officials from MOTA-Supreme Council of Antiquities (MoTA) attended the workshop. The UHF Project prepared in close cooperation with MoTA’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) aims to build the capacity of current and future young professionals for the sustainable urban heritage management and regeneration with Historic Cairo as a case study. Historic Cairo is a World Heritage Site/ Creative City and a Learning City of UNESCO under rapid and significant transformation.

The objectives of this workshop were to present to mentors and students the outline of the UNESCO-MoTA UHF project - background, objectives, and implementation strategy, to start discussions and knowledge sharing among the participating entities to out to set up the scene for a 1-year programme.

Dr Sanz, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Egypt and Sudan/ Liaison Office for the League of Arab States, extended her warm welcome to the participants, underlining the significance of the project with strong dimension of regional and UN agency cooperation.

Representing MoTA, H.E. Ambassador Khaled Sarwat, Advisor to the Minister and Director General of the General Administration of International Relations and Agreement congratulated the organization of the first workshop, presenting its commitment to this important project. Representative of NARIAG offered its full support to the project through its newly established Heritage Unit with support of its core expertise in geophysics and astronomy.

This was followed by the presentation of the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on Historic Urban Landscape (HUL),

the key methodology that will be applied to the UHF Project. The emphasis on importance of understanding the multiple layers of urban heritage, knowledge sharing and capacity building and inclusive governance mechanism with the participation of local communities made the HUL Recommendation as effective guidelines and tools for policy development and interventions.

The seven thematic areas identified through consultative process were presented, namely, Energy efficiency, Greening/Urban agriculture, Creative industries and intangible culture, Urban finance and adaptive re-use of historical buildings, Documentation of built heritage, Natural and climatic hazards and its mitigation, and Living heritage and local community.  The participants then engaged in group discussions to undertake scoping and presented the outcomes at a plenary session. The MoTA representatives also presented ongoing heritage preservation/enhancement projects and locations within Historic Cairo and the surrounding areas, which allowed the participants to better align the UHF themes with government priorities.

The lively discussions were centered around the importance of putting the UHF project within the metropolitan area of Cairo, updating data through focused research, forming a multi-disciplinary team of inter-university cooperation.  The new ideas on research areas were shared, including, among others, the effect of the Nile River on urban development, Km 0 market, urban forest, social status of craftspeople, horizontal (special) and vertical (chronological) documentation of historic urban landscape, multi-hazards analysis, priority on vulnerable communities.

The workshop concluded by creating a community of interest for Cairo Historic Urban Landscape involving the academic community, MoTA and Cairo Government. A follow up survey on mapping technical expertise and skills as well as training needs of nominated students/researchers will be conducted to prepare for the next meeting planned for Cairo in March 2024.