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Plans To Conserve The Old City

Conserving Hebron’s Old City and developing the surrounding regions are a top priority for institutions operating in the city. HRC endeavoured to restore complete neighbourhoods in preparation of returning them to normal day-to-day life. Hebron’s municipality worked on developing the infrastructure in the city, while government and community institutions strove to provide the necessary services to the Old City and its inhabitants, within the limits of available resources.

The Old City conservation project aims to present an integrated plan to safeguard the historic centre of the City of Hebron and create the means to guarantee its economic and social revival and to integrate it with the rest of the city’s fabric. It especially seeks to present a planning framework entitled “detailed project to conserve and develop the Old City”, based on protecting the traditional architectural fabric. It also seeks to generate friendly conditions to attract new residents and investors interested in developing this historic region.

HRC collaborated with Riwaq – Centre for the Conservation of Architectural Heritage in the Old City – in an experience which may be considered an achievement for both of them, with HRC obtaining a concept for conserving the Old City, which details the general trends of its present and future action, while Riwaq contributed to explaining the historic preservation of a very important Palestinian region.

Planners and project workers acquired new experience in the practical implementation of theoretical concepts. This represents a great enrichment of Palestine’s modern experience in this regard. The plan included the development of important sectors in and around the Old City.

Since the Old City lies in the middle of town, not all aspects of development could be discussed, and some were postponed to a later phase. The conservation plan produced a sequence of projects covering the development plan over the next ten years. This plan will be reviewed every five years and a rolling plan will be devised to guarantee continued development over a period of 25 years.