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All about Majal

Background : 

MAJAL is an Academic Urban Observatory, promoting sustainable planning strategies in Lebanon.

Part of Urban Planning Institute of ALBA - Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, Balamand University, MAJAL was established in the wake of the highly destructive July 2006 war, in order to provide a scientific monitoring of the reconstruction process management. Since then, it expanded its mission and is conducting projects related to urban planning and sustainability in general.

We have achieved 3 reports on reconstruction and carried out many expertise missions for municipalities and various local and international organisations.

Our Mission : 

MAJAL’s work nowadays consists in three types of activities:

  1. Monitoring set of indicators on construction process and sustainable planning
  2. Technical support to decision makers in the form of expert missions, consulting services, training, or other specific tasks in urban planning and development projects.
  3. Advocacy, lobbying and awareness raising in the fields of good governance, and sustainable planning.

Our Team : 

MAJAL is a dynamic team constituted of mainly:

  • Serge Yazigi :

Founder and head of MAJAL since 2006, Serge studied architecture and planning in ALBA, university of Balamand, as well as in Politecnico di Torino.
He teaches planning courses in several universities and gives lectures related to planning in Lebanon and abroad.
He's also head of Yazigi Atelier, design firm in planning, architecture and interior.
Serge is as well preparing his PhD in the field of urban renewal.
He believes in combining academic and profesionnal experience.
MAJAL, in that sense, offers an interesting opportunity to widden one's vision as well as knowledge. And it is challenging due to the generated dynamic and synergy because of the involvement of many actors in the field of sustainable development.

  • Rita Chedid :

Rita has been working for MAJAL as a Project Officer since February 2007.
She holds a Master degree in Economic Sciences at the Université St-Joseph de Beyrouth. She extended her skills with a D.E.S.S, in Depth Studies in Urban Planning in 1995 at ALBA University.
She participated to many seminars, workshops, conferences.
She is particularly involved in matters of Cities strategic planning on social, economic, environmental and governance levels towards sustainable planning.

  • Claudine Abdelmassih :

Claudine graduated in Architecture from the Ecole d’Architecture Paris-la-Seine in Paris in 1997. After a few years of practice as an architect, she attends the ALBA Urban Degree (DESS) and works as a free-lance journalist for an architecture and design magazine. She joined MAJAL in October 2007 to assess the post-2006 conflict reconstruction of houses policy.
She is involved in the promotion of sustainable architecture and urban planning through awareness raising campaigns.

  • Sami Ibrahim :

Sami Ibrahim obtained an urban planning master after he graduated from Saint-Joseph University with a bachelor in Economics.
He also has particular skills in mapping using GIS.

In a perspective of sustainable development, he’s a militant of heritage conservation and attached to develop green solutions in city planning.

  • Sébastien Lamy :
Sébastien has worked in MAJAL as a Project Officer since March 2007.
From his educational legal background in Paris, he extended his skills with a graduate master in Urban Planning Institute at ALBA University.
He’s particularly involved in matters of urban governance and legislative reforms towards sustainable planning.

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