Within the Mediterranean region, historical studies as well as realities on the ground testify to the presence of a substantial 19th and 20th centuries’ heritage, which is the product of inter-cultural exchanges and the sharing of technical know-how during that period. The modernisation of the urban fabrics of the south Mediterranean was the outcome of local processes compounded by external inputs from Ottoman and European colonisation.

The protection of this heritage is an essential prerequisite for the valorisation of this heritage and its integration to development planning at both the global and local levels.

This project aims at implementing activities that would help train various professionals and heighten awareness among the populations; these include training, workshops, targeted activities, and info days. The actors within this project will be responsible for the preparation of technical documents for the authorities of Casablanca which would be used in their application to UNESCO for the title of « Deco » for the city centre. It also aims to produce a series of publications to heighten awareness of this heritage which is generally unknown. Also, five exhibitions will be organized around the core of the project, its objectives and activities, and these will contribute to make this heritage better known to the larger public.

The project consortium, which includes Citeres (France), Casamémoire and ENA (Morocco), ASM Tunis (Tunisia), Riwaq (Palestinian Authority) and Oikos (Italie), aim to integrate this recent heritage in the day-to-day reality of life in partner cities through processes that are respectful of their heritage value, both tangible and intangible.

• To sustain the development of a network of well trained professionals able to mobilise and optimise skills and resources in each country, to share them inside the country itself and abroad
• To improve competences and skills of heritage preservation operators (private and public) by permanent training and dissemination of the most appropriate methodologies and “best practices”
• To support the share of competences and knowledge among multi national civil society, professionals and administrations with the aim to improve the management capacities of this mutual cultural heritage
• To improve and diffuse an appropriate image of recent architectural and urban heritage among national and international tourists, by an appropriate set of products and training actions addressed to the operators
• To support educational instances in integrating architectural and urban heritage inside their learning activities. Improve heritage knowledge among the youth; proposing some appropriate educational tools and initiatives
• To promote visibility, awareness and appropriation of mutual cultural heritage, spreading knowledge with appropriate tools and public activities as conferences and interventions in the media

• CASAMEMOIRE (Morocco)
  http://www.casamemoire.org
• ENA - École Nationale d'Architecture (Morocco)
  http://www.archi.ac.ma
• ASM - Association de Sauvegarde de la Médina de Tunis (Tunisia)
  http://www.asmtunis.com
• Riwaq- Center for Architectural Conservation (Palestinian Authority)
  http://www.riwaq.org/index3.htm
• OIKOS Centro Studi dell’Abitare (Italy)
  http://www.oikoscentrostudi.com

• Conservation & Rehabilitation
• Cultural Tourism
• Landscape, Planning & Infrastructures
• Research/Education & Training

• 9 international training sessions and heritage dossier for Casablanca
• 2 handbooks, 2 focus books, 4 Heritage guides, 5 Heritage maps and 5 exhibitions
• A series of public conferences pointing out the Recent Mutual Heritage
• Spot activities as guided visits, heritage days, specific training and activity days
• A documented and operational website

		Interview with Emilie Destaing, Mutual Heritage project Within the Mediterranean region, historical studies as well as realities on the ground testify to the presence of a substantial 19th and 20th centuries’ heritage, which is the product of inter-cultural exchanges and the sharing of technical know-how during that period. The modernisation of the urban fabrics of the south Mediterranean was the outcome of local processes compounded by external inputs from Ottoman and European colonisation. The protection of this heritage is an essential prerequisite for the valorisation of this heritage and its integration to development planning at both the global and local levels.