Supervisors: Prof. Saija Hollmén (Aalto) and Prof. John Fien, Prof. Esther Charlesworth (RMIT) and Industry Mentor Mohammed Habib, Director, Department of Urban and Rural Planning, Zanzibar
Option 1 Mediating Cultural Heritage and Urban Development
Project: The conservation of cultural heritage is essential in maintaining the environment and identities of local communities. However, many sites of cultural heritage are fragile and endangered. For example, the World Heritage listed City of Zanzibar is low-lying and rapidly expanding and, therefore, in urgent need of new approaches to urban planning and design. The project will identify ways of mediating between historical cultural heritage conservation and sustainable urban development.
Option 2 Capacity building in cultural heritage sites
Project: Working in partnership with the World bank project “Boosting Inclusive Growth for Zanzibar”, this project focuses on ways of building local capacity to conserve the historical cultural heritage of the city in the face of rapid urbanisation. It will investigate the kinds of urban planning and community participation tools and methodologies that can build capacity for heritage conservation through the transfer of knowledge and embedding the emerging expertise in local practices.
Option 3: Disaster risk management of cultural heritage
Project: Cultural heritage is often vulnerable to impacts of climate change. The project investigates how architectural design and urban planning can mitigate disaster risk and improve resilience of endangered cultural heritage in the City of Zanzibar. It seeks to identify how community engagement and raising awareness can strengthen this resilience. It aims at identifying localized methods for building resilience and reducing the impact of climate change in the context of Zanzibar.
