Abdelrahman Tamimi (EuroMedMig Steering Committee member and Managing Director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group for Water and Environmental Resources Development, Ramallah, The Palestinian Authority)

Date: Thursday May 7th, 2020

Time: 18:30 - 20:30

Title: The Impact of Refugees on Urban Planning in Local Palestinian Communities.

Abstract: Urban planning is known as long term planning for cities to cope with the expansion of cities and population growth, however, urban planning in major Palestinian cities is facing an obstacle since some of them are suffering from the absence of a political solution to the displacement of the Palestinian refugees and to the refugee camps.
The lecture´s objective is to highlight the measurement of indicators regarding the impact of migration on local urban planning such as infrastructure, land use, architecture of the cities, long term planning, land ownership etc.  The lecture will use the time series methodology to explain the relationship between each planning indicator and the growth of migration community. The real examples will be presented from different Palestinian Cities such as Nablus, Ramallah and their respective refugee camps. The lecture will highlight the conclusion and evaluation of multidimensional impact of refugees on the future of growing cities under uncertain socioeconomic and political conditions in Palestine. 

Bio: Since graduation, Dr. Tamimi has worked in the field of NGOs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  During the last 25 years, activities focused on water resources and integrated rural development comunity development. Before the establishment of the Palestinian Authority he had been a member of the group of Palestinian counterparts to the EU and the World Bank.  He contributed in the initiation of priorities in planning for strategic projects.  He also worked as consultant for institutions working in developing water and environmental projects in the Occupied Territories (UNDP.GTZ, EU, AFD,World Bank. etc.). He acted as Board Member of several local and regional NGOs and was Member of the Steering Committee for Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO).
Dr. Tamimi is Part Time Lecturer at Alquds University in the feild of Sustainable Development and at Arab American University in the field  of Strategic Planning and Fundraising.
He is Co-author of the report prepared for the EU entitled “Meditereanean challenges 2030” and has several publications of his own related to institutional building, empowerment,  stakeholders dialogue and transboundary water conflicts.

Recommended Readings:

• Biermann, F. and I. Boas. 2010. “Preparing for a Warmer World: Towards a Global Governance System to Protect Climate Refugees.” Global Environmental Politics 10 (1): 60-88.
• Bocco, R. 2009. “UNRWA and the Palestinian Refugees: A History within History.” Refugee Survey Quarterly 28 (2-3): 229-52.
• Farishta, A. 2014. “The Impact of Syrian Refugees on Jordan’s Water Resources and Water Management Planning.” A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Architecture and Planning and Preservation, Columbia University.
• Fabos, A. and G. Kibread. 2007. “Urban Refugees: Introduction.” Canada´s Journal on Refugees 24 (1): 3-10.

This session will also reflect on the impact of the crisis caused by COVID-19 on the Palestinian Authority.

This Webinar is co-organized by the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) and GRITIM-UPF, in the framework of the IEMed Series of lectures Aula Mediterrània 2019-2020. This Seminar is also part of EuroMedMig´s activities within a three-year (2019-2022) Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Network Program (Ref. 611260-EPP-1-2019-1-ES-EPPJMO-NETWORK) entitled “Mapping European Mediterranean Migration Studies” (Acronym: #EUMedMi).

This session will be live-streamed on the IEMed streaming video channel.