It Is 700 Years Old and Run Down – but Now Citizens Want to Turn Their Town Around

The Tunis medina in Tunisia has been suffering from neglect, its historic buildings falling apart and population decreasing since the 1960s push to modernize the city. But citizens are stepping in to breathe new life to the ancient town.

The medina – or old town – is a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in the seventh century. In an effort to revive the rundown area, locals are opening small businesses to clean neighborhoods, improve the lives of the residents and attract tourism.

“We wanted to change this place – the rubbish bins and mess everywhere,” says Aziz Romdhani, an 18-year-old from the Hafsia neighborhood in charge of a project working on helping neighbors live better. “We wanted to change that with an installation that would let people sit.”

Part of a medina arts festival, the group, a local collaborative design studio called El Warcha, cleaned up the neighborhood that was once filled with trash and polluted water and installed a network of pipes holding potted spinach plants.

Leila Ben Gacem is another entrepreneur who tries to bring visitors to the medina. She restored an old house and opened it as a guest house in 2013, along with another boutique hotel in the area. She also works with artisans to offer her guests a better experience through workshops.