In September 2025, the Urban Housing Practitioners Hub in the MENA region (UHPH-MENA), in collaboration with local and international partners, co-implemented a participatory public space intervention in Khayyala, a public social housing neighbourhood in Cairo, Egypt.
The activity was conducted under the leadership of Habitat Unit at TU Berlin as part of the PR-GPS (Power Relations in Urban Governance: Participation in Public Space of the Arab Cities) project, which explores participatory processes in public space and supports collaboration between academic and non-academic actors across the region.
Watch the short film below to follow the story of the intervention and the people who shaped it. The film captures the process, people, and transformation behind the intervention.
The intervention combined a workshop with hands-on implementation, bringing together residents, practitioners, researchers, and students to co-design and upgrade a public space based on locally identified needs and priorities. The design and implementation of the intervention were supported by the active participation of university students from Germany, Egypt, and other countries in the Arab region, alongside the residents themselves. Through this process, the activity aimed to test practical approaches to participatory placemaking while contributing to broader learning on co-production and public space in urban contexts.
The initiative was implemented in partnership with Habitat Unit at TU-Berlin, Makanuna Placemaking Initiative, 10Tooba Applied Research on the Built Environment, and Egypt’s Urban Development Fund.
