Sustainability and Resilience of Buildings, Settlements, and the Natural Environment: Conference at the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde

Description

Recycling Urban Heritage in Globalizing Contexts Cases from Emerging Cities This presentation aims to articulate a discussion on approaches to recycling urban heritage as a form of sustainable practice. It involves four parts; each of which addresses a key topic and contextualizes the next. The first is premised on the fact that the global south has its own peculiarities, variations, and diversities. It argues that architecture and urbanism in the global south have become one of the major research topics in world-leading academic institutions. As part of the global south, the context of the Middle East is introduced in the second part together with the underlying factors that shaped its built environment. These factors were identified in terms of building material, construction technology, governance, and planning approach. Within the context of these factors, two heritage-recycling cases were identified in the third part: Fareej al-Bastakiya in Dubai, UAE and Souq Waqif (the standing market) in Doha, Qatar. As culture/commercial-led regeneration projects, they were discussed in terms of original features, aspects of deterioration, and improvements undertaken as part of urban regeneration and revitalization efforts. The discussion of these aspects demonstrates that this type of regeneration efforts, while commercially successful, may contribute to social polarization since they attract affluent users and tourists. As well, they may lead to spatial polarization as these areas gain attention in terms of facilities, access and connectivity, amenities and infrastructure at the expense of other areas of the city. In response, the presentation concludes with a framework, which adopts the premise that heritage cannot be seen in physical terms only; it is not just a place, but also a cultural process. The framework builds on the notion of lived-perceived-conceived approach to recycling heritage as part of urban resilience that requires key tools and investigation mechanisms.

Period	23 Apr 2015
Event type	Conference
Location	Glasgow, United Kingdom