As part of the Saida Urban Sustainable Development Strategy (USDS) project that was launched in partnership with MedCities to promote Urban Sustainable Development Strategy Municipality of Saida and Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development held a working group meeting at Saida municipality on 17 & 18 April, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

The local experts discussed the following transversal issues through six meetings where each meeting included acting individuals from different specialized sectors in Saida.

The points discussed are:

• Urban Infrastructure

• Green/ Open Space Networks

• Natural Heritage

• Employment in Traditional Industries and Trades

• Institutional and Legal Frameworks

• Local Economic Development

After the phase of descriptive memory ended, the discussions focused on the diagnosis results and the proposed vision of the city to take into consideration the opinions of the working groups. The attendance was provided with the preliminary descriptive memory report in addition to the guidelines of the USUDS project to help them assess the previous descriptive memory phase of the project.

The strategic diagnosis phase, that included the six meetings being held, focuses on resolving the main issues that were identified in the descriptive memory. Each case is being studied separately in a deep approach to understand the interrelationships of different urban variables. In addition, the diagnosis includes an analysis of different trends to facilitate approaching every problem and comparing it to other similar facts in the city.