Supporting the Tunisian authorities in the design and implementation of a rehabilitation programme for historic centres, a form of popular neighbourhood with a strong cultural and socio-economic potential
The UPFI initiative supports the Tunisian Ministry of Equipment, Housing, Territorial Development and Sustainable Development in identifying and designing a multidimensional programme for historic centres’ regeneration in Tunisia. This programme will enable national and local authorities, as well as the donors, to develop a specific strategy of intervention and revitalization of the informal neighbourhoods of the Tunisian “old city”: medinas and historic European neighbourhoods of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The donor partners of the UPFI initiative, the AFD and EIB, have for several years integrated the regeneration of historic centres into their strategy for supporting sustainable cities in the Mediterranean. The EIB in particular published a prospective study, ‘Medinas 2030: Scenarios and Strategies’ (2010). In Tunisia, the AFD supported four pilot projects for the rehabilitation of touristic routes in the medinas of Tunis, Sousse, Sfax and Kairouan, delivered in 2016–2017. Capitalising on these past experiences, the UPFI initiative supports the design of a rehabilitation programme for historic centres.
Tunis Medina
There are various types of historic centre in the cities of the southern Mediterranean, of which two of the most significant are medinas, the traditional centre of old Arab towns, and the historic European neighbourhoods of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Old centres are a type of popular neighbourhood marked by urban and socio-economic exclusion and degradation of heritage buildings.
Tunis Medina
This programme will rehabilitate several urban centres in Tunisia. The intervention framework will be specifically tailored to regenerate the old cities of Tunisia and promote their economic, social and cultural adaptation. In the long term, the programme will improve living conditions for residents, reintegrate the old city into its urban area, safeguard and enhance urban and cultural heritage, and boost the economy, tourism, job creation and income generation. It will also enable the public and private sectors to return to these popular neighbourhoods. In the framework of the UPFI, the design of the programme was completed between January and June 2019 with a high level of engagement from the various public entities.
Tunis Medina
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The suspended call for interest announced in June 2019 should be reopened in the coming weeks. Municipalities interested in taking part in the programme are encouraged to apply. The UPFI has been providing technical assistance for the preparation of the cross-sectoral programme. The design of the programme was completed between January and June 2019 with a high level of engagement from the various public entities.”
The UPFI partners and Tunisian authorities have worked together to draw up a programme to regenerate historic centres in Tunisia (medinas, old European neighbourhoods, etc.). By rehabilitating several historic centres, this programme is intended to build a specific intervention framework for the regeneration of Tunisian old cities and to encourage the adaptation of these urban areas to local economic, social and cultural changes. In September 2018, AFD started a consultation for launching technical assistance for the preparation, implementation and monitoring of the historic centres regeneration programme (PRCA) in Tunisia.
