We discussed with Design Studio VII, International Urban Design and Landscape Project students from Urban Design Program, Faculty of Engineering and Material Science at German University in Cairo, about their new urban landscapes proposals for Famagusta.

I would like to congratulate all the students for their studies where each considered the ecology and potential peaceful co-existence based on agriculture and production. Special thanks to studio coordinator Assoc. Prof. Silvia Covarino for her kind invitation to take part in this review and for her efforts with her students and course assistant Mohamed Ahmed El-Sharkawy to conduct urban peacebuilding proposals for our city.

Varosha is known as a “ghost town” in international media, and yet, I could never define it as a specter. I am happy to find a chance to remind the students that Varosha is not a ghost town and there is a very important memory landscape and ecology that needs to be preserved in the town.