Thousands of tourists are familiar with the view of Luxor West Bank. If you are approaching the mighty mountain from the Nile Valley, you recognize first the Colossians of Memnon and then the “grave mounds of the nobles”. At the left side you see the mighty Madinat Habu Temple by Ramses III.
In front of it there is a small village which tourists usually only noticed by visiting the restaurant, directly opposite to the temple. 
In the course of a call for a better protection of the world cultural sites in Luxor and Luxor-Westbank by UNSECO, many illegally built houses on the grave mounds of the nobles have been forcibly evicted in the recent years.
Also the people in the village Habu are frightened of possibly losing their houses.
Now it has been agreed between the governor of Luxor and the German Hanns Seidel Foundation to integrate the German expertise within the proposed master plan for the West Bank.
The Hanns Seidel Foundation operates in Egypt especially in the area of strengthening civil society.
On behalf of that institution Prof. Magel did the inspection of the possibilities for this kind of participation in the German terminology "Regional Development” named strategic concept planning approach.
He also considered with the inhabitants, the possibilities of a village renewal.
That village renewal stands under the sign of a reunion of high-ranking international archaeological and touristic objectives on the one hand and of the normal living requirements of a village population on the other hand.
The first joint workshop with representatives from administration and the village population was promising. The village with about one thousand inhabitants believes in its future opportunities and wants to develop towards sustainable tourism. The TU Munich will continue supporting it on this path, providing methodological and technical know-how. However, the Hanns Seidel Foundation and the Egyptian authorities in Cairo and Luxor have to give first their final blessing.

Presentation by Prof. Dr. Holger Magel

In front of Madinat Habu Tempel (Ramses III)		Impression of Luxor-Westbank
Workshop in the village Habu		At the governor of Luxor