ICH and Regeneration in Qazvin, Iran

Project title

Building Stories

Where

Qazvin, Iran

When

2007

Project aim

Develop a design for an oral history centre, as part of a wider aim to regenerate the abandoned historic core of the city.

Who we worked with

Qazvin municipality and Iranian Cultural Heritage Organisation. Funded by the British Council, the Arts Council and UN-Habitat. We worked in collaboration with architects public works and theatre experts 30 Bird on this project.

What we did

We ran interactive workshops with schoolchildren and conducted follow up interviews with the children and their families. We used the stories, photographs and drawings the children created to gain insight into the ways local residents relate to their city and its heritage, drawing them into the regeneration of the area.

Results

This innovative approach gave policymakers successful tools to contribute to the development and valorisation of sustainable cultural tourism in Qazvin.