On Tuesday, 04 December 2025, the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the University American College Skopje (UACS) hosted the official presentation of the first two volumes of the ENABLE publishing series:

Vol. 1 — H2O SCAPES. Agro | Urbe | Natura and

Vol. 2 — PALIMPSEST PRILEP.Towers, Houses, and Gardens.

Both publications are the result of a two-year Erasmus+ KA203 collaboration between partner institutions from North Macedonia, Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic. The city of Prilep served as the shared case study and field laboratory where multidisciplinary academic teams explored territorial fragilities, cultural heritage, and future development scenarios through collaborative research, fieldwork, and design experimentation.

ENABLE Vol. 1 — H2O_SCAPES. Agro | Urbe | Natura

Representing UNIRC – Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Prof. Marina Tornatora, PhD, and Ass. Prof. Blagoja Bajkovski, PhD, presented the methodological framework and design outcomes developed in Volume 1.

The research examined Prilep through the interdependent lenses of Agro (agricultural systems), Urbe (urban morphology), and Natura (ecological and geological structures). Key territorial elements such as the Pelagonia plain, the Prilepska River, the marble quarries of Sivec, and the Prilep Lake dam were analysed to reveal how natural systems, production landscapes, and settlement patterns intersect.

The resulting proposals envision a reactivation of water networks, hybrid agricultural infrastructures, renaturalised riverfronts, and the adaptive reuse of post-industrial extraction landscapes as cultural and ecological commons. The outcomes include 20 student projects and a territorial masterplan, positioning Prilep as a horizontal city shaped by water, agriculture, and culture, where identity and ecology guide sustainable transformation.

ENABLE Vol. 2 — PALIMPSEST PRILEP. Towers, Houses, and Gardens

On behalf of UACS, Ass. Prof. Pavel Veljanoski and Ass. Maksim Naumovski presented Volume 2, which continues the research trajectory by shifting scale toward the urban fabric, housing typologies, everyday spaces, and public–private thresholds.

Building upon the concept of the city as a palimpsest, the research traces transformations across cadastral periods, revealing how planning, political change, and informal growth have reshaped spatial hierarchies and erased ecological systems. Central to this investigation is the historic Dabnichka River, whose buried trajectory continues to influence plot structure, street profiles, and neighbourhood identity.

The design outcomes explore future strategies for collective housing, mobility, resilient public space, and community infrastructure through fragment-based interventions and typo-morphological adaptations. Proposals include housing prototypes, productive courtyards, cultural nodes, new pedestrian routes, and green infrastructures that reconnect fragmented urban parts while enhancing the relationship between housing, landscape, and collective life.

Both volumes demonstrate how collaborative design research can act as a catalyst for understanding and reimagining cities, positioning education as a driver of innovation across scales — from territorial systems to the intimacy of domestic space. The ENABLE project confirms the value of international academic cooperation in addressing contemporary spatial and environmental challenges through shared methodologies and multidisciplinary knowledge.

The ENABLE series will soon be available in open-access digital format, with printed editions distributed through the partner institutions.

Printed copies are also available for purchase by clicking on the following text (Vol.) below:

• Vol. 1

• Vol. 2