News | Town & Gown
Duhok, Kurdistan, Iraq & Gainesville, FL, USA Extend Sister City Agreement
Bahar Armaghani, SBE Director, has long been a leader in promoting a more sustainable and equitable built environment. But did you know that she’s also a local community member who helped to inspire and facilitate the unique connection between Gainesvile, FL, USA and Duhok, the capital city of the Duhok Governorate in Iraq’s Kurdistan region? As members of the Sister Cities International program, the city of Gainesville and the city of Duhok have been mutual friends and collaborators across the public and private sectors since 2006. On Monday, March 8, 2021, these two municipal siblings signed an agreement to extend their union.
Bahar is proud to share her Kurdish heritage in our community and across our campus. By leveraging the connections she brought from her hometown of Amedi, a small community in the Duhok Governorate, Bahar helped to build the relationships within both cities which empowered this sister city communion across 6,000 miles. As the challenges to sustainability grow and the scales of both problems and solutions synchronize from local to global, the need for cross-cultural collaboration and communication becomes imperative. The SBE program celebrates Bahar’s leadership, her heritage, and her ability to walk the talk as she facilitates a more sustainable and equitable world, from here, to Duhok, and back. Thanks Bahar!