This collection of research from Dr Yazid Khemri develops El Houma as an original socio-spatial framework for understanding neighbourhoods as dynamic systems of everyday practices, social relations, and spatial form. Challenging deterministic and universalised models of neighbourhood planning, the work advances a relational approach that explains how community resilience, identity, and urban life emerge through the interaction between morphology, culture, and lived experience. Empirically grounded in studies of Algiers, the research combines urban morphology, assemblage theory, and ethnographic observation to articulate a new conceptual model of neighbourhoods as adaptive socio-spatial assemblages.
The research has generated a number of peer-reviewed journal articles, alongside chapters in leading scholarly books published by Routledge and Springer. The research has also achieved international visibility through keynote presentations and invited lectures at global platforms including the Venice Architecture Biennale, the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum, and events organised by the British Council and New York Institute of Technology. A forthcoming monograph with Routledge (2026) consolidates this research into a new theoretical framework for relational neighbourhoods, contributing to contemporary debates on public space, urban life, and community resilience. This sustained body of work positions El Houma as a significant conceptual contribution to contemporary debates on neighbourhood theory, public space, and community resilience.
If you wish to know more about the project or discuss about potential collaboration, please contact Dr Yazid Khemri Yazid.Khemri@bcu.ac.uk.
Publications and Media:
Khemri, M, Y. (2025). Public Art for a Better Aura in Urban Spaces. In: Melis, A., Pelle, M. (eds) Design for Performative Arts Spaces. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-98215-6_20
Khemri, M.Y. (2025). The Interplay Between Exaptation and Urban Life: Redundancy and Informality in El Houma. In: Lara-Hernandez, J.A., Melis, A., Boarin, P., Besen, P. (eds) The Dusk of Design. Integrated Science, vol 34. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76867-5_8
Khemri, M, Y. (2023). Urban Oasis; the arena of urban life Students as researchers: Creative Practice and University Education. Venice Biennale Catalogue
Khemri, M, Y., & Melis, A. (2022). Algiers as a Paradigmatic Mediterranean City: El Houma as a Measure of Urban Life. disP - The Planning Review, 58:2, 16-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/02513625.2022.2123162
Khemri, M, Y., and Melis, A. (2021). Achieving community resilience through informal urban practices: the case of El Houma in Algiers. In A. Di Raimo, S. Lehmann, & A. Melis (Eds.), Informality through sustainability: urban Informality now. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429331701- 23/achieving-community-resilience-informal-urban-practices- mohamed-yazidkhemri-alessandro-melis
Forester, B., Lara Hernandez, J. A., Khemri, M. Y., & Melis, A. (2021). Shifting the threshold of public space in UK and Algeria during Covid 19 Pandemic. The Journal of Public Space. https://doi.org/10.32891/jps.v5i3.1387
Khemri, M, Y. (2021). Solidarity and sense of belonging to sustain resilient communities in Algiers. Resilient Communities. Italian Pavilion Venice Biennale. D Editore.
Khemri, M. Y., Melis, A., & Caputo, S. (2020). Sustaining the liveliness of public spaces in El Houma through placemaking: the case of Algiers. The Journal of Public Space, 5(1), 129-152. https://doi.org/10.32891/jps.v5i1.1254