[Excerpt: “Urban and Housing Conditions,” Design Studio 1990]

Urban and Housing Conditions
“Rapid urbanization has generated a large demand for housing and add to intensive unregulated construction activity. As a result, housing stock has increased at an annual average rate of 4 percent, and conditions improved somewhat during the 80’s. However, throughout the decade, the demand for housing and urban services has outpaced the public sector’s ability to keep up with urban growth. Almost half of all dwellings built since 1975 have bypassed urban development regulations and were instead undertaken by the informal sector in areas lacking adequate utilities and relying on low-cost construction methods. To alleviate this problem, the supply of suitably located serviced land at prices affordable to the poorest segments of the population must be expanded.”
….

The Hafsia Revitalization Project
The objective of the project sponsored by the World Bank is to revitalize and renovate the area, and demonstrate the feasibility of upgrading medinas without dividing populations and by involving the private sector in the development process. The specific objectives are:

1. To revitalize the economic base with a look to the future while promoting employment opportunities for its present residents.

2. To upgrade the urban environment with minimum disruption of social cohesion and community life.

3. To structure a replicable self-financing, revitalization process given the lack of public resources. In other words, components of the proposal whose capital cost are not likely to be fully recovered (eg., housing for poorer households, infrastructure improvements, new community facilities) will have to be cross-subsidized by other revenue producing components.

4. To reverse development trends destructive to the character of the medina.”

• Design Studio 1981: “Housing Design in Islamic Cultures” in Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1981_08_001)
• Design Studio 1984: “The Revitalization of a Traditional Urban Quarter” for the Medieval Darb al Ahmar District, Cairo, Egypt, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1984_01_001)
• Design Studio 1984: “Design, Technology and Logistics for Large Housing Projects,” in Algeria, India, Iraq, Malaysia, Mali, and Singapore, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1984_07_001)
• Design Studio 1987: “Arad New Town,” Land-Fill Development Solutions for Arad New Town, Muharraq Island, Bahrain, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1987_00_001)
• Design Studio 1988: “Urban Infrastructure Planning and Programing in Developing Countries,” Chapters 1-7, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1988_00_004)
• Design Studio 1989: “Rabat’s Urban Fringe,” Urbanization Analysis of Rabat, Morocco, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1989_01_001)
• Design Studio 1990: “The Medina of Tunis,” Urban Regeneration for the Historic Hafsia District, Tunis, Tunisia, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1990_00_002)
• Design Studio 1992: “Cairo and the Medieval City” &”Urban Regeneration in Medieval Cairo,” in Cairo, Egypt, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1992_00_002)
• Design Studio 1993: “Rabat’s Urban Fringe,” Rabat, Morocco, Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1993_00_001)
• Design Studio 1994: “A New Urban Center for Adjamé, Abidjan, Ivory Coast,” Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1994_01_001)
• Design Studio 1995: “Urban Regeneration and Housing in a Transitional Economy: Lublin, Poland,” Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1995_00_001)
• Design Studio 1996: “Strategic Urban Redevelopment in a Transitional Economy in Gdansk, Poland,” Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1996_01_001)
• Design Studio 1997: “Strategic Planning and Local Development,” Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 1997_01_001)
• Design Studio 2003: “Urban Strategies for Economic Recovery: A Revitalization Strategy for New Bedford, Massachusetts,” Seminar Curriculum (Project ID: 2003_09_001)

Gallery 13: Tunisia: Tunis (1978-1990)