Introduction

Cities across the globe are experiencing unprecedented pressures derived from ongoing processes of urbanization and climate change. Urban poverty, gentrification or outdated infrastructures are just some of the consequences observed, with increased intensity in LMIC. The imminent need for more resilient, sustainable, inclusive and safe cities is recognized by SDG 11 (UN 2015), and echoed in UCL’s Sustainable Cities Grand Challenge. In historic contexts, further pressures arise from globalization and mass tourism, leading in many cases to radical and fast transformations of historic urban quarters that are either abandoned or gentrified and turned into international tourism havens (Hayes 2020). These processes compromise the sustainability of historic cities and their communities at all interconnected levels – social, cultural, environmental and economic. The intrinsic link between culture and sustainable development is well established, with culture and heritage gaining significant weight as agents of change in the last decades (Wiktor-Mach 2019). Understanding this relationship and exploring ways to utilise culture to drive positive and just social change responds to UCL’s Cultural Understanding Grand Challenge....

Team

Alejandra Albuerne

Alejandra was appointed Lecturer in Sustainable Heritage at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage in September 2017, where she is Assistant Course Director of the MSc Sustainable Heritage

Catalina Ortiz

Catalina Ortiz is a Colombian urbanist. She uses critical pedagogies and decolonial methodologies to study the politics of space production in cities of the global south in order to find alternative ways to forge spatial-racial-epistemic justice.

Dina Mneimneh

Dina Mneimneh is an urban designer, architect and researcher, graduate of University College London, UK with a particular focus on cultural heritage, urban storytelling and public placemaking.

Houssem Eddine Chachia

Houssem Eddine Chachia is Assistant Professor at University of Tunis (Tunisia), member of laboratory Regions and Heritage Resources of Tunisia.

Kalliopi Fouseki

Kalliopi Fouseki is a Professor in Sustainable Heritage Management at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage. Kalliopi has been the Course director of the MSc Sustainable from 2011-2020.

Kenneth, Tse Kam Wing

Kenneth Tse has devoted himself to exploring cross-disciplinary projects on community, culture, visual art and historical heritage for more than twenty years.

Leila Ben-Gacem

Leila Ben-Gacem is a social entrepreneur, Ashoka Fellow; founder of Blue Fish, a consultancy that works on improving the socio-economic dynamics of heritage and culture to improve its preservation.

Lorika Hisari

Lorika Hisari is a PhD Researcher at the Bartlett UCL, Institute for Sustainable Heritage, London UK. She holds a degree of a Graduated Engineer of Architecture from the University of Prishtina, Republic of Kosovo.

Mara Cruz

Mara Cruz is a Chilean architect. She has worked at the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage of her country from 2013 to 2020.Her work has included examinations of public and private infrastructure projects in protected cultural and natural sites, as well as heritage impact assessments within the framework of Chilean and international law. Her interest in sustainably protecting assets has led her to develop monitoring systems and standards for significant interventions on heritage sites. She recently graduated from University College London with an MSc in Sustainable Heritage and is currently employed there as a research assistant.

Neila Saadi

Neila Saadi holds a thesis in heritage sciences where she questioned the place of the Amazigh heritage of Tunisia from colonial times until independence

Nihal Hafez

Nihal O. Hafez is a PhD candidate and urban researcher at the Development Planning Unit (DPU), at UCL, London UK.

Xiresangpei

Xiresangpei is a young practitioner in the field of heritage-led urban and rural regeneration. The majority of his work has been done in China By studying under multidisciplinary conditions, he is consistently attempting to advance his understanding of connecting problems between heritage, urban development, and spatial justice in the global south. He is currently a master's candidate in MSc Urban Development Planning program at University College London.

Yasmeen Safaie

Yasmeen Safaie is a researcher and recent MSc graduate from University College London in Urban Economic Development.

Fondok el Henna


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Building 36, Rue Des Andalus


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Building 36, Rue Des Andalus