1-D Writing Skills
Before going through the technical details, it was necessary to raise the group awarness about the importance of the social and cultural aspect of the city. This was done through series of excercises that resulted in observations about soical, cultural, enviornmental and tourism status of the city. The groups presented their views of the city in two stages. In the first stage, the city of El-Mina was presented including its characteristics, its landmarks, its history and its vital facilities. In the second stage, the strengths that must be highlighted and the weaknesses that must be improved were identified. The main objective of these exercises was to build a cultural background for the youth group that would later enable them to develop their vision based on the needs of the city and not on a pure design or architectural basis.
Identifying the city components
Observation networks
A full session was dedicated to explain the 'observation grid' as a scientific tool used to analyse the situation of a neighborhood. Sources and types of information that can be collected were also explained. In a subsequent session, different groups were provided with an observation grid to help assess the status of the neighborhoods selected by the groups. Following the field visit, each group presented an analysis of the visited neighborhoods throughout the filled observation grids, photos, videos, and reports which were thoroughly discussed. The main objective of the observation grid sessions and site visits is to enable the youth to use a scientific tool to help them choose the right neighborhood to implement their project based on objective data.
Project writing
At the end of the project, the youth had to be empowered with the techniques and methodology of project writing. A detailed and interactive explanation of how to build a successful project was presented including: identifying the problematic, general objective, specific objectives, expected outcomes, management, follow-up and evaluation, etc... in addition, smart objectives were described as a tool for measuring successful projects. At the end of this part of the project, different groups were asked to work on the different components of the project, resulting in a unified project representing the youth future vision.