Homs and Collective Mapping

So far, millions of Syrians have been displaced. Some are still in their journey while others have already settled. Throughout these journeys, each one of them carried a story of a place and a city in which they lived. In Homs, for instance, more than 70% of the city has been destroyed, or completely transformed. Thus, a pre-2011 Homs only exists in the memories of those who witnessed it. How displaced Syrians from Homs perceive their city? In how much, the new places of settlement affect this perception? How these forms of spatial memory and knowledge can be mapped and disseminated?

The collective mapping workshop was organized in the framework of the project “Tracing and Assessing Syrian Urban Heritage in Exile”. It gathered over 15 Syrian refugees from Homs, to collectively draw a map of their city from their memory, and to register all their thoughts and reflections of a city from which they have become distanced.