The Jerusalem Studies were conducted in 1980-84 by teams of faculty, students, consultants and advisors from the Jerusalem planning community and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Stephanie Mills' project in the Muslim quarter of the Old City was undertaken in 1981-82. Her focus was on culturally appropriate, low income housing for the 'Bab-Hutta' neighbourhood of the Old City's Muslim Quarter. The project was published in a book by Moshe Safdie, the initiator and director of the Jerusalem Studio. This extract is from pp127-131 which debates Mills' project:

"A very different approach to the same problem was taken by Stephanie Mills, working with Nader Ardalan. The basic strategy of Mills' proposal was to use the same land for low-technology, self-built, self-help construction that could, within their earning power, accommodate families now living in the Muslim Quarter.....Skeptics argued that the rehabilitation of the Muslim quarter would involve considerable funds....The counter argument is that all this will take time, and a minimalist scheme requiring the least capital expenditure would bring the fastest improvement in the everyday life of the residents. In accordance with this philosophy, Mills' project promises to deliver more housing in a manner compatible with the way it is now constructed. It requires the least outside support and, hence, intervention, and therefore has a greater chance of realisation.”

THE HARVARD JERUSALEM STUDIO:

Urban Designs for the Holy City by Moshe Safdie

MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts 1986