June – December 2012; funded by the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute.

Athar Lina started with a series of workshops, debates and meetings between stakeholders to discuss the relationship between the monument and the surrounding neighbourhood of al-Khalifa, the entities responsible for it and those with a vested interest in it or even those inconvenienced by it. Over six months, more than 60 participants discussed who owns heritage, who protects it and improves it and who puts it at risk.

Stakeholder workshops, meetings and exhibitions resulted in intervention recommendations based on four principles:

• Conservation and rehabilitation of heritage sites for the benefit of the community.
• Fostering ownership of heritage in future generations through heritage education.
• Heritage industries as a process for linking the community to its heritage through socio-economic and cultural benefit.
• Improving the quality of the built environment for the benefit of both heritage sites and the community through urban regeneration activities.

Athar Lina’s work continues to follow these four main lines.

Report – PARTICIPATORY WORKSHOP ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MONUMENTS AND THEIR SURROUNDINGS – June-December 2012