Asma Gharbi

Dr Asma Gharbi is associate lecturer at the Ecole Nationale d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme de Tunis (National School of Architecture and Urbanism), where, since 2018, she has been teaching architecture studios as well as delivering seminars. Since February 2022, she has been a member of Governance and Territorial Development research laboratory .

She is a dedicated researcher specializing in architectural morphological dynamics and their social and cultural interactions. With a keen interest in the built environment, she pursued a fellowship with the University of Liverpool focusing on the preservation and valorization of cultural heritage and architectural form.

Driven by a passion for understanding how architectural structures evolve and interact within societies, she has delved into the intricate relationship between urban morphology and cultural contexts. Her research delves into the nuanced layers of architectural evolution, exploring how built forms shape and are shaped by societal values, historical narratives, and cultural identities.

Her interdisciplinary approach bridges the realms of architecture, sociology, and cultural studies, offering valuable insights into the intricate interplay between form, function, and social meaning in urban landscapes.

Between 2010 and 2017, Asma taught urban studio at Institut supérieur des technologies de l’environnement de l’urbanisme et du bâtiment (ISTEUB) in. After obtaining her PhD in Architecture and Morphology from the Doctoral School in Architectural Sciences and Engineering of Tunis (EdSIA), she has been focusing on morphological regeneration in newly marginalized contexts. In addition to her academic work, Asma is a leading expert in the field of territorial development. Moreover, she serves as a volunteer architect with various Tunisia NGOs (Toit digne, JCI), into which she brings her expertise in heritage enhancement and territories promotion.

Since her appointment as research partner in the Heritage Borders of Engagement Network (ENGAGE) in April 2021, Asma’s research has focused on morphological landscape transformations related to urban and architectural identity, heritage management in Tunisia, and the roles that government and civic stakeholders play in it. Asma’s current research revolves around cultural identities, territories and architectural forms. Her aim is to understand where existing strategies and mechanisms of cultural heritage management fail to take into account the local dynamics of territories that have been abandoned or marginalized.

Asma’s research project for the University of Liverpool Virtual Fellowship Programme is entitled Decision-making and citizens participation in the management of El Kef’s heritage: barriers and opportunities. Asma aims to investigate, at both higher decision-making as well as grassroots level, the factors that currently hinder the exploitation of Kef’s economic and tourism potential. By interrogating current orientations in local development, heritage management and tourism promotion, and exploring El Kef people’s perceptions and aspirations with regard to the medina - the historic centre rich in Islamic, Christian and Jewish heritage - Asma aims to identify issues, requirements and opportunities that should crucially inform future decision-making for the city’s cultural heritage management and sustainable development. The methodologies used include regional-scale SWOT analysis, through which she will define the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for El Kef’s region, policy document review in order to understand planning strategies and decision-making orientations at various levels, and identify any misalignment or lack of alignment, interviews and questionnaires with key stakeholders, with the aim to record requirements and aspirations for the future, and participant observation, to observe and record user activities and life patterns.