The Living City of the Dead - Placemaking Approach for Revitalizing Housing & Public Spaces in Historic & Informal Areas

This capacity-building training explores the relationship between housing and public space as a foundation for resilient, safe, inclusive, and sustainable cities. Using the Mamluk Desert in Cairo, commonly known as the “City of the Dead”, as a case study, the training reframes the area as a living urban system where housing, graveyards, heritage resources, public space, and informal economies are deeply interconnected. The training introduces placemaking as an integrative approach that links housing upgrading with public space activation to strengthen social cohesion, support local livelihoods, promotes resource efficiency, and protect cultural identity in historic and informal contexts. Participants will examine how conventional housing, conservation, or redevelopment approaches often fail when they address physical upgrading without considering social life, economic practices, and community-led processes.
The structure combines short expert inputs with interactive and applied learning methods. Participants will analyze the planning, institutional, legal, and financial frameworks shaping housing and public space interventions, and work in multidisciplinary groups to develop integrated intervention strategies for selected areas within the Mamluk Desert. A central component of the training is a stakeholder role-play simulation, where participants assume the roles of residents, local authorities, heritage institutions, NGOs, and donors. Through facilitated negotiation, participants will explore trade-offs, conflicts, and governance arrangements, and define roles and responsibilities for implementation.
The training concludes with a synthesis session that distills key principles, transferable tools, and lessons for applying placemaking-based housing and public space strategies in other historic or informal urban areas. The overall approach emphasizes practical problem-solving, peer learning, and actionable outcomes aligned with the WUF13 theme of housing as social and economic infrastructure.
SESSION STRUCTURE:
1. WELCOME, INTRODUCTION & FRAMING (10 MINUTES)
Lead Facilitator: Mohammad Abousamra
• Welcome and participant orientation
• Overview of training objectives and structure
• Framing housing and public space as integrated social and economic infrastructure
• Introduction to the case study: The Living City of the Dead (Mamluk Desert, Cairo) 2.
FEATURED INPUT: INTEGRATED HOUSING SYSTEMS & LOCAL ECONOMIES (CHINA PERSPECTIVE) (15 MINUTES)
Lead Contributor: China Energy Research Society
Purpose: Provide a systems-level, policy-oriented foundation for the training
• Housing as an integrated system linking:
- social infrastructure o local economies
- energy and resource efficiency
• Models for scalable, affordable, and productive housing
• Policy tools and implementation frameworks from Chinese cities
• Transferable lessons for historic and informal contexts
Short facilitated Q&A embedded within segment
3. CONCEPTUAL INPUTS: PLACEMAKING & INTEGRATED APPROACHES (5 MINUTES)
Facilitator: Zainab Al-Mansour
• Placemaking as a bridge between housing and public space
• Linking Chinese systems approach with community-led practices
• Key tools for integrated interventions
4. CASE STUDY EXPLORATION: THE LIVING CITY OF THE DEAD (10 MINUTES) Facilitator: Mohammad Abousamra
• Overview of the Mamluk Desert as a living urban system
• Mapping:
o housing
o public space
o heritage
o informal economies
• Identification of key challenges and opportunities
5. GROUP WORK: INTEGRATED STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT (15 MINUTES) Facilitated by all trainers
Participants work in groups to:
• Apply insights from:
o Chinese systems approach
o placemaking methodologies
• Develop integrated strategies combining:
o housing upgrading
o public space activation
o livelihood support
6. ROLE-PLAY SIMULATION: STAKEHOLDER NEGOTIATION (10 MINUTES)
Facilitators: Sara Maassarani
• Participants assume stakeholder roles
• Simulate negotiation, trade-offs, and governance challenges
• Define implementation pathways 7.
GROUP PRESENTATIONS & PEER FEEDBACK (15 MINUTES)
• Rapid sharing of key ideas
• Facilitator feedback highlighting strong approaches
8. SYNTHESIS & CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Lead: Dr. Jing Yu & Mohammad Abousamra
• Consolidation of key takeaways:
o housing as social & economic infrastructure
o integration of systems thinking + placemaking
• Transferability to other contexts
• Closing remarks