Spatial inequalities and international cooperation projects: a bottom-up wellbeing model for inclusion

In international cooperation projects it is possible to recognise many of the challenges regarding spatial inequalities visible in the rest of Europe. Certainly, the scale changes, because these are often conditions far below the European minimum subsistence levels, confronting a different idea of wellbeing, on which to intervene with transformation proposals. In any case, these are significant challenges because while cultivating ‘a south-west gaze’, it is important not to shy away from a commitment to what can be done in favour of the most fragile areas. In this context, the chapter gives an account of the international cooperation project ‘Re-generation Al Zaytoun’ developed for the hybrid neighbourhood of Cairo in which the youngest (children and young people) and religious minorities were involved. The project opportunity was propitious to define guidelines to ensure a higher level of wellbeing within a bottom-up and inclusive process. What is claimed overall is that the case outlined a practice of intervention that can also be replicated in other contexts of international cooperation, useful to hold together the physical regeneration of a semiinformal area with the enhancement of wellbeing and the contextual fight against spatial inequalities.