Community Involvement in a Housing Renewal Project in the Old City of Jerusalem

Abstract

Housing renewal is a means of preserving buildings of architectural and historic significance as well as a process for returning property to a useful state. This paper documents the experience of the technical office of the Old City of Jerusalem Revitalization Program in rehabilitation and housing renewal taking place within the city. Two historically important residential buildings—Hosh Nseibeh and Hoshjaber—are used as case studies illustrating the challenges and problems faced in the rehabilitation process. The paper concludes that in a project that requires community involvement, one should not only identify goals and objectives, but also analyze the techniques that are available and the resources they require. In order to allow for community involvement in such a project (including survey, design and construction stages), there is constant interaction between technical and social issues, and between professional advisers and building users. The main source of user satisfaction is not so much the degree to which the needs of the clients have been met, but rather their feeling of having influenced the final outcome.