Side Activities

Organizers: Department of culture and Tourism

Duration: 7th to 12th April 2026

Daily timing:

Number of sessions: 3 per day

Capacity: 6 to 8 participants per session

This activity offers a hands-on experience in performing traditional annual earthen plaster maintenance on one of Al Jahili Fort exterior walls, guided by the skilled maintenance team from the Department of Culture and Tourism. Participants will learn both heritage-based techniques and modern conservation methods currently adopted as an extension of local heritage values, aiming to preserve cultural identity and material authenticity. The activity emphasizes the value of routine care in sustaining earthen architecture. It also highlights the community’s role in safeguarding heritage, raises awareness of the durability and properties of earthen materials, and promotes sustainable conservation approaches rooted in long-standing local practices.

Organizers: International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes of ICOMOS (ICOMOS - IFLA ISCCL)

Estimated participants: 30

Duration: 2-3 hours

Format:

ISCCL representatives will facilitate a discussion of the parameters for categorizing cultural landscapes within and outside of the World Heritage system with workshop participants` building on their experiences and results of group work.

What to Expect:

Further work is necessary for establishing common grounds among the cultural and natural heritage sectors, as well as among the diverse disciplines involved in the use of these categories within the World Heritage system. The purpose of this workshop is to contribute to this discussion by providing a space for mutual learning, brainstorming and exchange of ideas on how the practice could evolve towards a more inclusive interpretation of cultural landscapes in the World Heritage List.

Cost:

This workshop is offered free of charge to all registered Terra Congress participants; however, availability is limited and subject to capacity.

Organizers: International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ICOMOS - ISCEAH) - Landscapes Group.

Estimated participants: 30-40

Duration: 9:00 am to 5:30 pm (8.5 hours in 4 sessions)

What to Expect:

The concept of landscape has a long trajectory intertwined with the historical narratives of various societies. These narratives have rendered invisible other possible ways of thinking about and inhabiting places. While this concept holds a significant presence in the field of heritage, those colonial legacies—and their persistence in the present—are not always sufficiently examined.

This workshop invites us to rethink those legacies and the ways in which they influence our actions, to build a project of landscape reconceptualization grounded in the recognition of a plurality of voices.

Over the course of a full day, we will create a collective space for discussion through participatory activities that we hope will foster the exchange of diverse experiences, expressed in multiple languages. The aim is to acknowledge how different histories have shaped our landscapes, to recognize the existence of other lived experiences of place, and to explore pathways toward more inclusive approaches.

Format:

The process will alternate between small group work, five to six participants each, yielding six to seven groups, and moments in which insights can be shared with the entire group.

Cost:

This workshop is offered free of charge to all registered Terra Congress participants; however, availability is limited and subject to capacity.

Organizers: ALIPH in partnership with ICCROM and CHN/Preserving Legacies

Estimated participants: 20

Duration: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (8 hours in several sessions)

What to Expect:

The workshop shall address how to study the impact of climate change on earthen structures and explore how earthen heritage can contribute to climate resilience. It should connect all the related disciplines to learn how to build resilience, make disaster preparedness knowledge accessible to everyone, and fight against the different forms of maladaptation for earthen heritage. The outcome that trainees will take back home will be the beginning of a toolkit and a plan for its further development and publication in the near future.

Format:

The workshop will take place in Al Qattara Oasis and Al Qattara Art Center, Site work will be combined with roundtable discussions, where participants will be grouped to observe and document hazards, exposure and vulnerabilities and the interlinkages between them.

Language of the workshop: English

Cost:

This workshop is offered free of charge to all registered Terra Congress participants; however, availability is limited and subject to capacity.

This workshop is open to a limited number of terra congress registered participants.

Register on or before March 8, 2026. To apply for it, please fill the form:

Organizers: Getty Conservation Institute

Estimated participants: 20

Duration: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (8 hours in 2 sessions)

What to Expect:

The workshop will present the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach as a framework for integrating heritage conservation with sustainable urban development in historic earthen settlements.

Historic earthen settlements worldwide are increasingly threatened by rapid, unregulated urban development that often ignores traditional materials and community input, compromising their heritage value. The HUL approach offers an integrated solution by linking heritage conservation with sustainable urban planning and promoting development that honors both the cultural significance and future resilience of these landscapes.

Format:

The workshop will promote targeted peer-to-peer conversations in addition to case study presentations and the use of the HUL approach.

Cost:

This workshop is offered free of charge to all registered Terra Congress participants; however, availability is limited and subject to capacity.

Organizers: Getty Conservation Institute

Estimated participants: 30-40

Duration: 3 hours

What to Expect:

This thematic meeting is proposed as a participatory session to help define priorities and research needs from conservation specialists working across different fields, including archaeological sites, historic architecture, and scientific research focusing on wall paintings and decorated surfaces on earthen architecture. The meeting will be open to conference participants.

Format:

Interactive thematic meeting (intro + facilitated small-group discussions + plenary synthesis)

Cost:

This workshop is offered free of charge to all registered Terra Congress participants; however, availability is limited and subject to capacity.

School students will be invited to participate in a hands‑on activity at one of Al Ain’s cultural sites. More details will be announced soon.