We're with Jwanah Qudsi for Episode 139 of The Beirut Banyan.

Click to watch:

https://youtu.be/k6nqDg9gWjA

Jwanah is the founder of Aleppo Heritage Fund - an NGO dedicated to preserving the old city of Aleppo - and an urban planner / urbanist.

We discuss Aleppo’s current reconstruction and the need to preserve the old city’s architectural heritage. Our conversation includes Jwanah’s own story of her dedication to saving the old city’s historic charm, her father’s legacy, comparisons between Aleppo and other post-war urban reconstruction efforts, and her recently incorporated NGO - the Aleppo Heritage Fund.

Jwanah’s Masters thesis referred to in this episode can be accessed via the following link:

https://icsd.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Qudsi.pdf

Her two Washington Post articles mentioned in the episode are linked below:

U.S. sanctions are strangling the effort to rebuild Old Aleppo, 2019:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/us-sanctions-are-strangling-the-effort-to-rebuild-old-aleppo/2019/05/10/747d7856-70f2-11e9-8be0-ca575670e91c_story.html

The battle for Aleppo is over. I returned to my hometown to see what’s left, 2017:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-battle-for-aleppo-is-over-i-returned-to-my-hometown-to-see-whats-left/2017/07/07/de0fe164-6203-11e7-84a1-a26b75ad39fe_story.html

Check out her father’s wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adli_Qudsi

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Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.