National Museum hosts talks organised by Gutech
The National Museum, represented by the Learning Centre, hosted a series of talks, which is part of the event titled ‘Hope 2023: Housing, People and the Environment’, organised by the German University of Technology in Oman (Gutech).
Held in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, the talks were attended by a group of officials, academics, researchers, students, and those interested in transforming cities to a better and healthier future for all, inside and outside the Sultanate of Oman, a release said.
The talks intended to provide an opportunity for prominent national and international speakers and policy makers to discuss practical tools to transform our cities to be sustainable, resilient, healthy and safe.
The event began with an online keynote address by Prof Billie Giles-corti, a researcher and director of the Healthy and Livable Cities Laboratory at (RMIT) the university, during which she revealed how can cities design policies regulating the built environment to make cities more supportive for active living.
The first talk, presented by Erion Veliaj, the mayor of Tirana in Albania, highlighted the governance challenges of implementing urban regeneration and people centred development in urban areas and focused on the main barriers that appear while creating liveable cities.
The talk was moderated by
Joleza Koka from the City Council of Tirana.
The following section of the discussions presented the available methods to improve environmental qualities to transform cities, and monofunctional residential neighbourhoods, in particular, into active and more liveable places. The question this panel addressed was: What are the most effective tools and strategies to upgrade existing monofunctional residential districts and transform them into more liveable and sustainable urban environments?
The panel of this discussion consisted of Prof Stefan Devoldere, Dean of the Architecture Department of Hasselt University in Belgium and Head of the Stadsatelier; Dr Huda Khalfan al Siyabi, Director of Community Initiatives at the Ministry of Health; Maryam al Sharji, Director of the Real Estate Development Department at Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning; and Fathyia Sultan al Azri, a civil engineer representing Muscat Municipality.
The second talk was moderated by Dr Ruth Mabry, an independent health consultant.
HOPE as an initiative supported by Gutech, Oman, National Museum, Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation, the city of Tirana in Albania, and it seeks to nurture a dialogue between scholars, planners and decision-makers with civil society and industry in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda beginning in Oman.