Opened by Jeddah Deputy Mayor Khaled Aqel and hosted by Gemran Consul General Michael Zickerick, the session was led by project managers of German-funded and organized restoration projects in some of the Middle East’s most famous cities.

Project managers and academics presented some the transformations that had achieved in Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo and Lebanon and concluded that old Jeddah could be developed in a similar fashion.

The key to starting the process is the involvement of owners of historic buildings. Ralph Bodenstein noted that in Sayda, Lebanon, the Hariri family initiated the process by first cleaning and restoring a street and then moving on to renovate their traditional family home. “This had a trigger effect on other merchant families,” he told the attendees. “Once it started, others joined in and the process began to roll.”

Overcoming a common problem of shared ownership of property, he said that the formation of a trust that owned the property and family members as the trustees effectively resolved ownership disputes. Community involvement in the projects was encouraged through simply keeping the house open during renovation and encouraging the public to visit.

The restored property, now used for art and cultural events sponsored by the family but open to all, “reflect the status of the family and are a sign of people taking responsibility for urban development and for its (the city) history and theirs.”

Hilman Von Lejewski, and urban planner with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), emphasized that in any change, the first stage was, in his experience in Aleppo, a change in mindset in the local population toward its history was essential. “New plans have to take in the needs and character of the old city. Involving the local authorities and their people is vital and understanding that a restoration project is not a matter of two or three years. We have been there 15 years so far and projects in Germany have been running up to 25 years,” he said.

Von Lejewski noted that government facilitation and some seed finance might be necessary but based on experience, for every dollar invested in rehabilitation and restoration, the private sector eventually contributed between five to 20 dollars.

Touching on the area of finance, he compared the price of a shopping mall with a restoration project. The restoration of the old city of Aleppo cost, over the 15 years of the project, some 10 million euros.

“That is about 20 percent of the cost of a mall, which has about the same lifespan, and the restored area will continue to yield profit, if managed properly, for decades to come,” he said.

Balad hopes to achieve the status of a UN world heritage site. Sonja Neible of the German University of Technology said that an integrated approach to rehabilitation was necessary to allow such sites to remain viable.

“Physical, economic and socio-cultural aspects have to be brought together,” she commented. “It is a cross-sectoral and multi dimensional challenge and no single administrative body can handle all of it, so it must be a coordinated approach.”

Hisham Mortada, principal of the Alternative, an expertise house at King Abdulaziz University, said that just prior to the conference, he had contacted owners of some of the historical buildings in the old city to suggest involvement in the discussions of the workshop; they declined. He felt that this was because of a disconnection between the Jeddah Municipality and the owners, and this needed rectification.

Sami Nawar, general director for culture and tourism at the Jeddah Municipality, said that various programmes to involve owners of historic buildings in renovation had been tried. He reported that currently, there was a programme in place that was being used by the municipality and he awaited results.