In Partnership with DAAD and TU Berlin, and sponsored by VNG International Organization, UOD Leads a Model of Participatory Planning and Community Empowerment

Duhok, Iraq – 17 April 2025 | University Press Office (UNPO); In a landmark demonstration of international cooperation and applied urban innovation, the University of Duhok (UOD), through its College of City and Regional Planning, hosted the fifth edition of the “Power Relations in Urban Governance: Participation in Arab Public Space (PR-GPS)” initiative, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) under the Ta’ziz Netzwerke program.

Held from April 8 to 15, 2025, this intensive urban planning workshop culminated in the full redesign and physical transformation of a public park in the Summel District of Duhok, carried out through collaborative design between students, experts, and the local community. The event concluded with an official opening ceremony for the new community park on April 15, 2025, celebrating a week of innovation, dialogue, and shared creativity. The event was attended by College of City and Regional Planning leaders at UOD, public figures from the area and community. 

🧭 Co-Designing Public Space: A Participatory Approach in Two Phases

What made this initiative exceptional was its community-centered methodology, developed through a structured, two-phase participatory design process:

🔹 Phase One – Community Listening:
Students and experts conducted on-site interviews, focus groups, and direct observations with diverse segments of Summel’s population—youth, women, elders, and children—to understand their needs and daily interactions with the space.

🔹 Phase Two – Collaborative Proposal & Refinement:
Based on collected feedback, the interdisciplinary teams drafted design proposals and presented them back to the community. Residents offered insights, critiques, and aspirations, leading to a co-created and culturally responsive final design that was immediately implemented.

🌱 A Week of Urban Transformation: Learning Through Action

This eight-day workshop brought together over 60 participants from across disciplines and countries, including:

• 24 UOD undergraduate and postgraduate students
   
• 15 Master's students from TU Berlin University (Germany)
   
• 20 urban experts and academics from UOD’s College of City and Regional Planning, and College of Agricultural Engineering sciences, Iraq, Germany, Jordan, Tunisia, and Egypt
   

Throughout the program, participants engaged in:

✅ Expert lectures on participatory urbanism and inclusive governance
✅ Field research and macro-to-micro urban analysis of Summel
✅ Stakeholder mapping and community outreach
✅ Co-design studios and implementation sessions
✅ Physical transformation of the park using eco-friendly and local materials

The workshop was led by Dr. Hassan Elmouelhi (TU Berlin) and Dr. Layla Mohammed Raswol (Dean, UOD College of City and Regional Planning) and was supported by institutions such as Anlaufstelle für Bürgerbeteiligung (ZAB) and BENN Marzahn Süd.

🎯 Strategic Alignment with UOD’s Vision 2023–2038

This international initiative supports key pillars of the University of Duhok’s strategic priorities, particularly in areas related to community development, internationalization, and sustainable urban innovation:

•  Promoting community-responsive urban planning in post-conflict regions
•  Encouraging youth leadership in public space transformation
•  Expanding cross-cultural academic partnerships
•  Integrating experiential learning into higher education
•  Enhancing UOD’s role as a regional hub for research, planning, and policy

🌍 What’s Next?

This edition follows previous PR-GPS workshops in Tunisia and Jordan. The final phase will be held in Egypt in September 2025. While Lebanon and Sudan are also partners in the network, logistical conditions have currently postponed implementation there.

The success of the Duhok edition reinforces the power of participatory design and international academic cooperation in driving impactful change at the local level—making the University of Duhok a model for urban innovation and community engagement in Iraq and the MENA region.

Watch photo and video highlights, here

📌 University of Duhok Media | April 2025
📝 Reported by: Fatima Mahmood Ali, Shahad Badeea SalahAldeen
📸 Photography by: UOD Media Team

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