Mapping Homs

To be displaced means to go through a journey – a trajectory in which one experiences unfamiliar paths, new cities, and different places, reformulating new relationships with the place, the city, and the urban heritage. During this workshop, participants introduced themselves through a composition of personal stories, images, and places to which they relate. Some dwelt on their old memories “back then the clock was newly built, I still remember its beautiful melody…it used to wake us up every night”; some rediscovered themselves in new places, “Istanbul is the dearest city to my heart…I didn’t feel estranged there”; while others found their old cities in new settings “I like where I live in Kreuzberg..Its narrow streets remind me with Al-Hamdieye”, or “The River Spree in Berlin reminds me of our walks along the Asi River”. Then, the participants have projected their life events and experiences on a spatio-temporal grid, to explore the relationships between the events: their numbers, frequency, duration, and the attachment to place.