Beit Sahour Municipality, in cooperation with the Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation holds the first workshop for the Urban Requalification of the Old Market Square (Al Souq) Project.

In order to strengthen the relationship with and participation from the local community, Beit Sahour Municipality in cooperation with the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation (CCHP) organized and held on Thursday 29th July at Ush Ghurab "Workshop 1-Mobilization: Presentation & Discussion for the 1st Draft of Designs" for the Urban Requalification of the Old Market Square Project in the historic centre. The project intends on replacing the existing market area with an open public square to accommodate locals and tourists. This project is funded by the Italian Government through the Palestinian Municipalities Support Program (PMSP) in partnership with four Italian partner municipalities (Anghiari, Rufina, Pelago, and Mira).

Mr. Hani Al-Hayek, mayor of Beit Sahour declared the importance of this project to the town and its inhabitants and the activities and services included within. In addition, he emphasized the need to protect our cultural heritage and use it correctly to revive the area of the Old Market, which is centrally located in the historic city.

Eng. Hannan Manoli, Project Development & Public Relations Department manager from Beit Sahour Municipality, provided an overview of the Old Market Project and its main activities.

Director of CCHP, Arch. Issam Juha, pointed out the need for cooperation and community involvement in all phases of the project to ensure its sustainability and revitalization. The Centre will intensify its efforts with the municipality to achieve the desires and needs of the community.

A brief description of the project components, its services and phases was presented by the three engineers at CCHP, Arch. Dima Ateeq, Arch. Salam Bannourah, and Arch. Athar Mufarreh. The project includes three stages of implementation:
* the rehabilitation of area of the Old Market qualifying it to a public space;
* Rehabilitation and expansion of the Well of the Lady Chapel;
* The rehabilitation of two traditional buildings in the area adapting them to serve as a museum.

Furthermore, the three engineers displayed three preliminary designs for the Old Market renovation, and put them into discussion with the audience in order to collect their feedback, desires and needs which shall be taken into consideration at the implementation phase. The discussion included various community stakeholders and committees closely linked to the historic city and Well of the Lady Chapel.

In addition, Mrs. Mays Salsa', Head of Public Awareness and Public Relations presented a simplified view of the desired objectives of the project and the awareness programs and activities that will be implemented in parallel with the various project's phases targeting women, students, youth, locals, decision makers, tour agencies and guides to ensure the reviving, revitalization and sustainability of the targeted area.

Overall, the workshop generated a large amount of essential feedback from the community that will help shape the Requalification Project and assure its long-term success.

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