All over the world, people are migrating from the rural areas towards the cities. Economic reasons are often the base for this migration, but the city also attracts people for its social and cultural life.

Also in Palestine people move out from the rural areas towards the bigger cities, leaving the often historic valuable centers abandoned.  Most residents still living in the historic centers are poor. They are often tenants, perceived by the general public as those who don’t have the means to move to modern cities or urban extensions, reinforcing the idea that historic centers and people living in them are backward.

The Regeneration of Historic Centers (RHC) program aims to change this perception and to bring life back to these historic centers by focusing on their social, cultural and economic development. Four key aspects distinguish the approach of the RHC program from other rehabilitation programs.

The regeneration program goes beyond rehabilitation. Reviving, revitalizing, regenerating the historic centers needs more than stones and mortar. It is not by rehabilitating the historic buildings that people will be attracted to live or visit the historic center. When looking for a place to live, people are looking for affordable housing, job opportunities, social interaction, good public services, etc. A regeneration project takes into account all of those dimensions.

Regeneration needs people. The presence of people (inhabitants) is crucial for an effective regeneration. Without people to use the rehabilitated spaces (buildings and open spaces), each and every regeneration project is doomed to fail. A good balance between the rehabilitation of historic buildings for socio-cultural or socio-economic use and the rehabilitation for housing purposes is as such fundamental.

Regeneration projects don’t follow a linear trace, but are rather a multi-actor and multi-dimensional process that are characterized by having different linked processes running in parallel. While processes at the national level initiate policy making processes and encourage the development of laws and by-laws, processes at the local level focus on capacity building of the municipal staff to strengthen their heritage management skills. At the same time, participation from the community is ensured through community envisioning, memory mapping, community activation initiatives, etc. at different stages of the program. Meanwhile, socio-economic, spatial, and architectural analysis, pre-feasibility studies and business models are prepared to serve as a base for the rehabilitation designs. In a final stage, rehabilitation projects are designed and implemented.

And finally, the program goes beyond the regeneration itself. Even after the functions are in place, the RHC program continues. The operators of the newly rehabilitated buildings are supported through on-job training, IT support and capacity training on marketing while local and national staff are continuously supported to fulfill their role and responsibilities.