On Wednesday, April 17^th, Dr. Rami Hamdallah welcomed a delegation from the University of Lille 1 to An-Najah University. The delegation, composed of a number of professors and researchers from the University of Lille’s Institute for Urban and Geographical Planning, met with Professor Rami Hamdallah, Professor Ali Abdel Hamid, Director of An-Najah’s Urban and Regional Planning Unit, and Dr. Sam Fuqaha, Director of University Public Relations.

The visit came as part of a cooperation agreement between An-Najah’s Urban and Regional Planning Unit and the University of Lille’s Institute for Urban and Geographical Planning. As part of the visit, the French delegation took input from their Palestinian counterparts for a study that they are preparing on urban renewal and the cultural and architectural environment in Palestine.

The French delegation visited a number of sites and organizations in Nablus as part of its work on the study, including the Nablus Municipality. The visit comes as part of a continued collaboration between Lille and Nablus which enjoy a sister city relationship as part of a twinning agreement.

In addition to site visits, the French delegation also participated in a workshop organized by An-Najah’s Urban and Regional Planning Unit at its university offices in the historical Qasm Palace in Beit Wazan. The workshop, attended by faculty and students from the urban planning department, engineers from the Nablus Municipality and interested parties from the private and public sector, focused on urban renewal work in French and Palestinian cities.