Palestinian youth are full of creative ideas, which usually doesn’t see the light due to circumstances and lack of opportunity. This studio is part of a bigger project, supported by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), with the general drive of supporting youth to become proactive in their communities and to take responsibility for their living environment focusing on the public space.
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Palestinian youth are full of creative ideas, which usually doesn’t see the light due to circumstances and lack of opportunity. This studio is part of a bigger project, supported by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), with the general drive of supporting youth to become proactive in their communities and to take responsibility for their living environment focusing on the public space.
The one year project "THINK, PLAN and ACT; Building Capacity of Palestinian Youth to Support Planning" aimed to increase the involvement and participation of youth in urban planning efforts in West Bank and Area C, and to develop their skills and knowledge on actual urban planning projects. The project was designed to train more than 70 young leaders; from urban planning, architecture, engineering, law, and other social sciences, about urban planning issues that face the Palestinian cities and villages. The youth afterwards worked in 7 groups on small community initiatives aiming on enhancing the public spaces in their communities all over the West Bank. A further 12 youth were selected to participate in an intensive 15 day urban design studio between the 24th of August and the 08th of September 2016. The studio aimed to develop participants’ skills and knowledge on real projects in areas where IPCC initiated planning work.
This is the seventh Design Studio completed by IPCC, which focused on two villages in Area C; Izbit Tabib in Qalqilia, and Battir in Bethlehem. Both villages were chosen for the environmental, cultural and natural resources they have. Both have the potential to become a destination for local and international cultural-tourism, but at the same time both lack the means and the attraction elements to encourage people to come and visit, an action which will develop the cultural economy in these villages.
