Reviving Aleppo: Urban, Legal and Digital Approaches for Post-War Recovery

Fabian Thiel studied Law at the University of Regensburg and Geography at the University of Hamburg, Ph.D. 2001 at the University of Hamburg, Habilitation 2017 at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen on the topic of Legal Geography. Professional stations among others: Environmental Research Center Leipzig-Halle and Integrated Expert for land management in Phnom Penh/Cambodia. Since 2018, he has acted as a full professor for Property Valuation and Land Law at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. Professor Thiel researches and teaches national and international property law, real estate valuation, land readjustment, planning law, land policy and legal geography.

Rahaf Orabi obtained her degree in Architecture from Damascus University in 2012. Following her graduation, she began working at the directorate general of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) in Syria. Her specialization involved 3D documentation of endangered archeological sites, historical urban centers, and artifacts. In 2016, she obtained a master’s degree in Architectural Design from Damascus University and later pursued a master’s degree in Digital Cultural Heritage at the Cyprus Institute in 2021. She joined the Cyprus Institute as a research technical specialist in 2022. During her career, Rahaf was a member of Project Anqa, a collaborative effort between ICOMOS, CyArk, and the Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS), aimed to digitally document monuments in Damascus. Additionally, she initiated a large-scale laser scanning project in the Old City of Aleppo as part of her Ph.D. dissertation, where she focused on the digital reconstruction of the Old City’s historic urban fabric.