Field Visits on Traditional Building Skills in the Southern Mediterranean
Transport & Urban Development
13–15 May 2025, Berlin, Germany. Field visits focusing on Traditional Building Skills in the Southern Mediterranean will take place in Berlin from 13–15 May 2025. Participants will explore innovative approaches to teaching traditional construction techniques, enabling them to reflect on national initiatives within their own countries with a view to establishing nationally certified education programmes for traditional construction trades. This initiative will also help to strengthen vernacular architecture that can respond effectively to current climate challenges in the region.
The objective of the Traditional Building Skills in the Southern Mediterranean programme is to identify and promote good practices in raising awareness of, preserving, and enhancing vernacular architecture and traditional building techniques. The programme seeks to reinforce the cultural foundations of traditional methods and their climate adaptability, while also promoting a sustainable local economy and creating meaningful, skilled employment linked to traditional materials, techniques, and heritage protection.
The inaugural meeting of the programme took place on 6 July 2023 in Barcelona, at the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean. It was attended by representatives from the national governments of the participating countries (Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Tunisia), alongside experts from various national and international organisations. Following this initial meeting, workshops were held in each of the participating countries. A Final Meeting was convened in Córdoba (Spain) on 5 and 6 June 2024.
As a tangible outcome of this initial phase, field visits on Traditional Building Skills in the Southern Mediterranean – targeted at public officials and experts – were held in Marseille (France) from 25 to 28 November 2024, and again on 13 and 14 March 2025. These visits showcased examples of certified training programmes in the teaching of traditional construction techniques.
