Hargeysa: Exploring social cohesion in a segmented city
A SummerLab training for Urban Planners
Redsea Cultural Foundation is pleased to announce Hargeysa DPU-SummerLab workshop to be held from 1st -6th of September 2019. Students and professionals coming from the UK, Ecuador, USA, Uganda, Djibouti, Egypt, and Austria will be joined by 10 students and established professions from Somaliland, for an intensive week-long workshop, to explore the city.
This summerLab will focus on understanding local cultural forms in an urban context substantially altered by past conflict and climate crisis. It will encourage participants (who will, as far as possible, include an equal proportion of local and international delegates) to explore ways that pastoralist and contemporary customs can be retained in a manner that contributes to a positive urban identity in the current period. This will extend to an examination of the ways urban space can be used to encourage social cohesion even where local custom tends to favor the compound dwelling secured behind walls or other barriers. The summerLab will encourage this exploration using a co-working approach, that seeks to bring local and international urbanists together in a dialogue that culminates with the presentation of innovative and exploratory ideas on how Hargeysa might best serve its residents.
The workshop, which is geared towards students and emerging professionals with backgrounds and/or keen interest in the urban environment, will offer a vital testing ground for the proposing of contextual, hybridized spatial interventions deeply embedded into socio-political agendas.
If you are interested, please fill the application form and provide a concise (not more than one-page) motivation letter expressing why it is important for you to join the course along with your updated CV at courses@redsea-online.org or bring it in person at Hargeysa Cultural Center.
For more info, please visit www.redsea-online.org/SummerLab
application form