1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 VENICE CHAPTER OF RECONSTRUCTION, ARTICLE 01 1.1 PHILOSOPHY OF DESTRUCTION
I. Collateral damage II. City damage
III. Anthropologic damage 1.2 GEOGRAPHY
I. the conflict II. Refugee Crisis 1.3 THE CITY NOW, THE CASE OF ALEPPO
I. Historical Background II. Photography
2.0 RATIONALE: CONFLICT
I. Strategic Importance II. Aleppine Conflict
2.1 URBICIDE
2.2 PUBLIC REALM, THE CENTER OF CIVIC LIFE 2.3 CONFLICT URBANISM
2.4 CITY MEMORY 2.5 TRACES OF THE PAST
2.6 BEIURT’S POSTWAR RECONSCTRUCTION CASE STUDY 2.7 BERLIN’S CASE STUDY
3.0 RESTORING THE CITY IMAGE I. HERITAGE
II. MICRO-INTERVENTIONS 3.1 THE CITY NOW, AFTERMATH
III. Concept of public space IV. STRATEGIC RESOURCES
V. WAR
3.4 PUBLIC SPACE PROTOTYPLES
1.0 INTRODUCTION:
The Syrian crisis is dated within what is known as “Arab spring”, a political terminology that appeared since the uprising of protests in many middle eastern countries and lead to major conflicts. The Syrian revolution was the most disastrous in this case, the result in fact was a civil war that lead to hundreds of thousands of causalities, millions of displaced people and a rundown country's infrastructure. Major urban areas have been heavily damaged by heavy weapons and a massive collateral damage was the result. Syria’s second and third cities, Aleppo and Homs , have been especially hard-hit by the war, and their agglomerations were home about million people before the war began (out of a national population 22 million)1 . An urbanized country as such were mainly people live at cities it is vital to study postwar construction in all scales and relate the concepts of urban and city planning to the aftermath of the victim cities. Many international bodies and educational institutes are already studying the situation of proposing future visions and strategies.
Article 01, Role of Architects:
The role of Architects and Planners should extend beyond providing design solutions working in cooperation with all interested professional figures. We call for architects and planners to be included in the decision-circles not only as consultants but as part of the urban and regional planning process. Architecture should take part in “Rational” management of problems, and challenging the dominance of economists and politicians in the global discourse. VENICE CHAPTER OF RECONSTRUCTION
1 Knoema, World Population Prospects: The 2011 Revision – Urban Agglomerations. http://knoema.com/UNWUP2011R/worldurbanization-prospects-the-2011-revision-urban-agglomerations?tsId=1004130
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
1.1 Philosophy of Destruction
Collateral Damage
Destruction is a process that involves the damage of many aspects and scales of human development. From the vast destruction of territories to the destruction of a single human being. The first is easier to recover than the latter in my point of view. A city might be repaired or redeveloped but a human being might not be the same. Kids who have grown up in the war tend to be more likely disposed to chronic psychological issues.
To destruct is usually an evil act, to run down, to destroy, to dismantle, ruin. To target civilian’s shelter is an act of war, it is directly proportional to murder. “Articles 51 and 54 outlaw indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations, and destruction of food, water, and other materials needed for survival. Indiscriminate attacks include directly attacking civilian (non-military) targets, but also using technology such as biological weapons, nuclear weapons and land mines, whose scope of destruction cannot be limited. A total war that does not distinguish between civilian and military targets is considered a war crime.” Protocol I, Geneva Conventions
A process of decay in the territorial scale, (note the night map in the previous page) and of total devastation in the architectonic scale. A dot in the map of scale 1:10K that have changed its colour suggests a severe
unbalance in the zone. A devastation that might have caused thousands of causalities.
Hama was severely affected by the war in the map above a huge block of neighbourhood was turned into rubble, tons of concrete, stone, and memories were deleted from existence in a most unhuman way.
The previous image shows the vast demolition that hit the country! The illustration suggests that 80 percent of the light, (in this case light represents urban realm) has been vanished. The light maps describe the roughly human DE settlement, resettlement and vanquishment. The damage, has been considered the vastest since world war 2. At the larger scale of damage, we see a country that has lost its main cities, lost its people and infrastructure. No longer a functioning tissue, a huge gap in the region that has destabilized the already
unstable zone. The damage assessment tools suggest an unfunctional urban fabric, debris has extended beyond urban block and covered the connection links and road network. The architectonic scale varies widely from functional stable structures to complete destruction, the micro scale has maximum adaptation efforts from internally displaced persons or original inhabitants.
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CITY DAMAGE- The case of Aleppo
Aleppo was one of the most severely affected cities because of the war. The city was the biggest city in Syria with over 3 million inhabitants. The city had a strong economy and was an important trade hub with
neighbouring countries. The city enjoyed an open landscape of green spaces and a solid network that revolves and articulates in respect to the historical centre. “This City Profile concluded that 21 neighbourhoods of the assessed 125 city neighbourhoods have been heavily damaged, are no longer functioning, and will require wide scale reconstruction for future reoccupation by inhabitants. Another 53 neighbourhoods are partially
functioning, despite widespread damages.”2
The city’s heart (The old city) has been hit so hard as well. The red shown in the image shows damage scattered all over to vanquish the Aleppine inhabitant and history. Both densely populated zones were hit as well as highly important historical sites. Note: The graphic illustrates damage without showing levels of damage.
ANTHROPOLOGIC DAMAGE
The effects of the war on the human being is vast and deep. The war-torn country has inhabitants that are not as normal as they were before. War has caused a trauma on all bases especially psychological when it comes to the anthropological scale. A survivor might think “why would I live in without all my family, why would I live in a place that is full of bad memory, blood, hatred and deep conflict. What is home and what is life? Do we have to stay here”. There is a variety of many criteria to classify different psychological situations, from children to adults, people with major problems other with intermediate and a majority with both physical and psychological conditions! Many would think it is a luxury to think or consider psychology in such extreme need for basic life amenities. The destruction of the basic unit of civic life, the citizen, the human is the ultimate form of Urbicide. “The Syrian people are in need of more than aid. We are in need of people who can feel the same as us and understand. We are so happy that you are trying to understand us and feel what we feel.”
Abdallah, 15–17 years, Eastern Ghouta, Rif Damascus 3
“There are lots of examples of children who are trying to live with their problems and overcome them, but they can’t. Everyone needs help. The biggest thing stressing out caregivers is that they are scared for their children. At home I have three children – if there’s an aeroplane above dropping bombs, when you start to hear the barrel [bomb] coming down, what are you going to tell the children? How are you going to make them feel safe? How are you going to reassure them that the bomb won’t hit the roof? And the kids are screaming and maybe after a while you’re screaming, and your wife is screaming. These are not normal circumstances at all.” Sharif, a psychosocial worker in southern Syria 4
1.2 GEOGRAPHY
Syria is located in Southwestern Asia, north of the Arabian Peninsula, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Lebanon and Israel to the west and southwest, Iraq to the east, and Jordan to the south. It consists of mountain ranges in the west and a steep area inland. In the east is the Syrian Desert and in the south is the Jabal al-Druze Range. The former is bisected by the Euphrates valley. A dam built in 1973 on the Euphrates created a reservoir named Lake Assad, the largest lake in Syria. The highest point in Syria is Mount Hermon (2,814 m; 9,232 ft) on the Lebanese border. Between the humid Mediterranean coast and the arid desert regions lies a semiarid steep zone extending across three-quarters of the country, which receives hot, dry winds blowing across the desert. Syria is extensively depleted,[clarification needed] with 28 percent of the land arable, 4 percent dedicated to permanent crops, 46 percent utilized as meadows and pastures, and only 3 percent forest and woodland. Wikipedia
The area includes about 185,180 square kilometres of deserts, plains, and mountains. It is divided into a coastal zone—with a narrow, double mountain belt enclosing a depression in the west—and a much larger
eastern plateau. The climate is predominantly dry; about three-fifths of the country has less than 250
millimetres (9.84 in) of rain a year. Fertile land is the state's most important natural resource, and efforts have been made to increase the amount of arable land through irrigation projects.
CONFLICT
‘’a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.’’ Wikipedia
‘’a prolonged armed struggle.’’ Wikipedia
‘’a state of mind in which a person experiences a clash of opposing feelings or needs.’’ Wikipedia
It is difficult to locate and define the conflict in Syria, geographically the places of conflict changes according the battle circumstances. In between zones are where the battles usually occur between different parties,
coalitions, groups, international forces, regional key players etc. The places of conflict could be anything from the most important cities to arid deserts. From the most densely populated zones to the most important heritage sites. Conflict in the region is vast and more generalized to include international forces and direct intervention. The results are massive both physically, sociologically and psychologically.
Conflict is more of a psychological/sociological issue rather than a physical thing, an attempt to map conflict might lead to political and technical topics to study and analyse. I am trying to understand the basics of conflict to move on with solutions and strategies for the future.
Collations: regime forces, rebels, Isis, YPG had coloured codes in this map, the edit was to wipe out the codes to illustrate conflict wherever there are military activity.
REFUGEE CRISIS
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. 5 Refugees movement in a region is a sign of instability the more the
movement the bigger the cause of people, the more severe the war the more refugees the more affected. An estimated 11 million Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of the civil war in March 2011. Now, in the sixth year of war, 13.5 million are in need of humanitarian assistance within the country. Among those escaping the conflict, the majority have sought refuge in neighbouring countries or within Syria itself. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 4.8 million have fled to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, and 6.6 million are internally displaced within Syria. Meanwhile about one million have requested asylum to Europe. Germany, with more than 300,000 cumulated applications, and Sweden with 100,000, are EU’s top receiving countries. 6
5 https://www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/what-is-a-refugee
1.3 THE CITY NOW, THE CASE OF ALEPPO
Aleppo (/əˈlɛpoʊ/; Arabic: ﺐﻠﺣ / ALA-LC: Ḥalab, IPA: [ˈħalab]) is a city in Syria, serving as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 4.6 million in 2010, Aleppo was the largest Syrian city before the Syrian Civil War; however, now Aleppo is probably the second-largest city in Syria after the capital Damascus.
Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world; it may have been inhabited since the 6th millennium BC. Excavations at Tell as-Sawda and Tell al-Ansari, just south of the old city of Aleppo, show that the area was occupied by Amorites since at least the latter part of the 3rd millennium BC. This is also when Aleppo is first mentioned in cuneiform tablets unearthed in Ebla and Mesopotamia, in which it is a part of the Amorite state of Yamhad, and is noted for its commercial and military proficiency. Such a long history is attributed to its strategic location as a trading center midway between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia (i.e.
modern Iraq).
For centuries, Aleppo was the largest city in the Syrian region, and the Ottoman Empire's third-largest
after Constantinople and Cairo. The city's significance in history has been its location at one end of the Silk Road, which passed through central Asia and Mesopotamia. When the Suez Canal was inaugurated in 1869, trade was diverted to sea and Aleppo began its slow decline. At the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Aleppo ceded its northern hinterland to modern Turkey, as well as the important railway connecting it to Mosul. In the 1940s, it lost its main access to the sea, Antakya and İskenderun, also to Turkey. Finally, the isolation of Syria in the past few decades further exacerbated the situation. This decline may have helped to preserve the old city of Aleppo, its medieval architecture and traditional heritage. It won the title of the "Islamic Capital of Culture 2006", and has had a wave of successful restorations of its historic landmarks. The Battle of Aleppo (2012– 2016) occurred in the city during the Syrian Civil War, and many parts of the city suffered massive destruction. Affected parts of the city are currently undergoing reconstruction. Wikipedia
Aleppo, once home to more than 2 million people, is at a crossroads. Today it sits between war and reconstruction; that moment when time stands still and the future remains uncertain. Life for many in the historic city has been suspended, despite reconstruction promises from the Syrian regime and a vast urban plan proposed by German academics. The problem lies in the fact that there are no concrete plans set; no one knows what exactly will lead to the rebirth of the Syrian northern metropolis. 7
7 news.vice.com, syria-between-ruin-and-reconstruction, nov-2017
A mannequin stands alone on an old shopping street in the neighborhood of al-Jdeideh. Since the beginning of the war in Syria, mannequins have been used to more easily identify snipers. By moving these lures at a street corner, for example, militiamen can discover, based on shots, if there is danger or not. (September 2017)
now
The stones of some historical buildings destroyed in the fighting were gathered and set aside pending possible
reconstruction. Some people have been authorized by the local government to return to the historical districts in order to begin repairing their homes or shops by carefully following the original plans. (Aug 2017)
Map of bombings from the air.
HERITAGE INTO RUINS
“...the ongoing devastation inflicted on the country's stunning archaeological sites—bullet holes lodged in walls of its ancient Roman cities, the debris of Byzantine churches, early mosques and crusader fortresses—rob Syria of its best chance for a post-conflict economic boom based on tourism, which, until the conflict started 18 months ago, contributed 12% to the national income.” 8 Many of Aleppo’s most important masterpieces were
hit hard, the souk, (the ottoman market) was a very exotic and dense commercial zone. The grand mosque is considered as Aleppo’s main mosque was hit and lost its magnificent minaret, damages occurred to the prayer hall and the main gate. The Washington Post wrote that the scale of devastation of Aleppo "evoked
comparisons with cities like Grozny and Dresden". It noted, however, that the destruction was mostly concentrated in the rebel-held part of the city: about 70 to 80 percent of the destruction was in the east. UN satellite images determined more than 33,500 damaged residential buildings in the city, most of them multi-apartment blocks. The costs of reconstruction were estimated at between $35–40 billion. Al-Hakam Shaar and Robert Templer proposed that the deliberate destruction of Aleppo was a form of "urbicide".9
Half of the cities’ heritage landscape was severely damaged, crates were formed near the Aleppine castle that was it self partially affected. Damage assessment to many heritage sites are not clear yet. A history was being deleted from the old city. One that dates to back to 7000 years ago. Heritage/ artefacts were sold stolen or missing or maybe under rubble. Many appear in museums later, the money was probably used to buy weapons and perhaps more damage to the heritage occurs and a vicious cycle of inhumanity and barbarism is ongoing.
8 "Syria's Looted Past: How Ancient Artifacts Are Being Traded for Guns". Time. Retrieved 24 September2015.
9Laub, Karin (23 December 2016). "Aleppo confronts vast destruction left by 4 years of war". Washington Post. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
Map of main oil and gas pipelines in the Syrian territory. The network is related to many regions in the area.
2.0 RATIONALE
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE
The conflict is now more than just a battle between those for or against Mr Assad. It has acquired sectarian
overtones, pitching the country's Sunni majority against the president's Shia Alawite sect, and drawn in regional
and world powers. The rise of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has added a further dimension.10
Without going deep in this topic; the reason of the ongoing conflict is further big than many think, war costs a great deal of money, not one would intervein without ensuring that there is more money the cost of
intervention.
ALEPPINE CONFLICT
As I mentioned before Aleppo is one of the most important and richest Syrian cities. A city that was diverse rich culturally seems to be rich of all rebel groups, regime forces and all war stake holders. Neighbourhood that are re segregated according to war needs and a new city planning based on strategic military parameters.
The crisis has had a major impact on mobility within Aleppo. Crossing between east and west Aleppo is currently prohibited (April 2014) resulting in a serious social and economic disconnection. Movement restrictions within each side of the city further complicates the situation. Such restrictions are usually enforced through physical barriers disconnecting road links, and clearly demarcating clashes frontlines.
The Battle of Aleppo, (Aleppine conflict/war) since the uprising of the revolution in 2011 until July 2016. Was one of the most sever in the Syrian peninsula a war that summarizes the war overall in the Syrian region. One that involves all the war corners in in one region.
The two most significant implications of the city’s divided status are: The collapse of the role of the city centre, commercially and administratively, and the emergence of new centres and markets at the heart of residential areas. The interruption of regular public services provided by the municipality and the Governorate of Aleppo, and the formulation of local neighbourhoods’ committees as a reaction to pressing local management needs.
2.1 URBICIDE
The form of war has changed it is no more the basic collateral destruction as the main aim. As technology takes over the world more forms of destruction take place, diminishing civilizations is one of the most barbaric and severe destruction types. To attack the symbols, the dominant urban features of the city is the ultimate form of urbicide (violence against the city).
To attack the city is to attack the citizen, the financial heart/s of the country. The city might be leading the war either defending itself by military or being attacked. The city has the most density and perhaps the most important civic life features, the best education, lifestyle and entertainment. Though has many forms and, the city is the heart of civic modern life.
“There are, for example, the Spartans and the Romans. The Spartans held Athens and Thebes, establishing there an oligarchy, nevertheless they lost them. The Romans, in order to hold Capua, Carthage, and Numantia, dismantled them, and did not lose them. They wished to hold Greece as the Spartans held it, making it free and permitting its laws, and did not succeed. So to hold it they were compelled to dismantle many cities in the country, for in truth there is no safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them. And he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget.” 11 Aleppo has fallen indeed, not the first time. It has fallen before but it
rises again to become again the great city it has been. Now Aleppo is suffering from the death of civic life even in it’s basic forms. Infrastructure of the city is rundown. Life was plundered from the Aleppine citizens, not just their city and history.
Al Muttanabi a famous old arab poet says “things become clear by their opposites”, from death comes life, after the dark the light comes. “The phoenix must burn to emerge.” Janet Fitch The burn occurred already, the emerged is not life however, more conflict will rise, this time a healthy conflict for a better future perhaps. For a better theoretical understanding the death of the city should clarify criteria and issues that should be tackled and analysed.
A new state requires a massive radical transformation, for a new form, a creation process should occur or a destruction of the old into a new state. By stopping evolution which is the natural process of transformation and initiating revolution the dramatic way of articulation. For Emile Zola the writer of the Germinal he suggests that anything in the path of revolution should be eliminated, the path for radical transformation should be open: “More stupidities! repeated Souvarine. Your Karl Marx now, he still wants to let natural forces take their course, right? No political upheaval, no conspiracies? Every thing done in the light of the day, and the whole point is to get a raise in wages.. To hell with your so called natural evolution! Set fires to all four corners of the cities, mow people down, destroy everything, and when there’s no damn thing left of this rotten world, then maybe a better one can start to grow. Etienne broke into a laugh. He didn’t pay any attention to his comrade’s words, with his theory of wholesale destruction that struck him as a pose.” 12
11 Niccolo Machiavelli, “The Prince, Chapter V”, translated by W.K.Marriot, J.M. Dent, London, 1948, P37
Aleppo now being rebuilt, the most significant image of the city, its ancient citadel. The peripheries functioning as a leisure space.
2.2 PUBLIC REALM, THE CENTER OF CIVIC LIFE
On the surface, it's easy to look at great public places and see them as nothing more than well-designed physical locations. But beneath the surface, these places can be so much more. They are locations where community comes alive, where bonds among neighbours are strengthened and where a sense of belonging is fostered. They are locations that spark economic development and drive environmental sustainability. The future of our communities and cities depend on great public places and more specifically, on Placemaking, a powerful approach to creating and revitalizing public spaces around the specific needs and desires of the community. I like to think of it as crowd-sourcing meets urban and community planning.
www.pps.org/article/why-public-places-are-the-key-to-transforming-our-communities
Public realm of the city refers to all networks, spaces and functions that are related to the citizen or the human being in general. It is one of the bases on which civilizations were built. What is it though? In many countries the concept of public space doesn’t exist. While the theoretical definition of public space is different according to the geography and culture. In many places this concept it is Utopic. According to strict limitations, segregations and policies the public spaces are no longer functional they lack even the most basic functions as connection points between to spaces, in a worst-case scenario the public realm becomes a hindrance to fluidity and main function of the city.
Public Spaces encompass a wide array of spaces, from old historic centers to suburban developments. Their form, uses and maintenance raise a host of important questions regarding urban planning from the local to the metropolitan scale. If they are considered today as assets for urban renewal and new developments – economic incentives, public health and well-being, image of the city, mobility, conviviality – our opinion is that the need and the success of public space is before anything else predetermined by its ability to bring together two main and necessary quality upon which all the rest depends: accessibility and communication.
The sociology of urban public spaces, Stéphane Tunelet Associate Researcher CNRS, CRH-LAVUE Research Center, Paris
The values of public realm are the values that which brings the idea of a city, it is the glue that holds the neighbourhoods, socio groups, economical stakeholders, culture, and the simple citizen all in one entity. The heart of civic life is the city and the heart of the city is the public realm, perhaps not just the heart maybe the circulatory system as a whole could symbolise the public realm with all its networks. Not necessary there is a centre for that network, the idea of public realm might not be centralised, but the mere existence of the network is vital for the city to function well. Without public realm, or with an inadequate network the city is threatened, the consequences of this threat is a civil crack that might lead to a social crisis.
2.3 CONFLICT URBANISM,
Aleppine General Urban Fabric
“Conflict Urbanism is a term that designates not simply the conflicts that take place in cities, but also conflict as a structuring principle of cities, as a way of inhabiting and creating multiple components of urban space, and even conflicting urbanisms. The increasing urbanization of warfare and the policing and surveillance of everyday life are examples, but conflict is not limited to war and violence. Cities are not only destroyed but also built through conflict. They have long been arenas of friction, difference, and dissidence, and their irreducibly conflictual character manifests itself in everything from neighbourhood borders, to language, to differences of opinion and status, and to ordinary encounters on the street.” http://watson.brown.edu/mes/events/2017/lecture-conflict-urbanism
The Landscape of Aleppo now is associated with debris, destruction, blood, injustice and all war related issues. The state of normal fabric that was existing before war doesn’t exist now. The standards and issues of urban fabric, the tangible and intangible issues all are no more applicable as per site conditions. Both micro and Macro scale of the city have been rundown, the image of the city and also the simple pathways and a access routes that are managed and defined by the people on site. The user knows how the city works even after war, the one who is directly involved knows best for “at the moment decisions” and issues. An urban fabric of rubble, mountains or a topography that is made from debris. The texture of the city is the traces of a pre-existing city all collapsed, its concrete and stone in an irregular layout. The pre-existing undamaged parts acts a facilitator of life and a hope for the current inhabitants of the city.
Conflict Urbanism studies the different factors and “new “on ground standards not to consider them much in the reconstruction long term process but acts as a starting point of detailed realistic point of view, this is vital for emergency architecture but less relevant in the post crisis situation in the future. Conflict Urbanism studies the urban fabric physically as per site conditions and theoretically as a vulnerable and intangible issue, of course considering socio-economic factors and also conflict as an active factor.
Aleppo is now divided into war torn zones, instead of neighbourhoods and political segregation now took over the war parameters. (mentioned in the previous page, under the title “Aleppine conflict”). A conflict urbanism of the past and the now and the future maybe. Once very segregated urban realm, according to belief, social status, bureaucracy and many other community-based criteria. A pre war situation that was influencing conflict. Building up segregation not just physically but also
intellectually. Once (far past) the complete opposite now harmony and integration are replaced by conflict and war.
2.4 CITY MEMORY
Walking through the city, we are able to navigate, to understand our surroundings through a series of tacit clues in the environment. We have an almost subconscious understanding (picked up though years of experience) of the roles and relationships of various elements which are present in almost every city in the world. Elements such as high street, town hall, market square and cathedral are readily identifiable as belonging to specific types. We can read, in the language of their architecture the essence of their function. They are the basic building blocks of urbanism around which everything else pivots. The city can be understood as an ever-changing mass of housing, workplaces, roads and districts anchored by a network of these fixed elements. Over time the elements become monuments of a sort. As they adapt and change with the development of the city their function may change, they may be extended or altered but still these built artefacts retain some aspect of their history and of their original role. An old factory, now repurposed as offices or apartments becomes more than simply factory or housing. It tells us something about the character of our city, about its existence and development over time. These monuments are stronger than their function. They are a repository for the collective memory of the city, physically embodying the trials and changes, progress and setbacks that together make up the unique character of a town. It is important to understand this when considering the city because even if a monument is removed completely, its influence may still be felt in the surrounding district. The traditional location of a market will still invoke a sense of gathering, of bustle and of trade in the hearts and memory of locals long after the stalls have disappeared. Franz Kafka observed this phenomenon in his native Prague while walking through the site of an old Jewish ghetto. http://quixotic-rationalism.blogspot.com.tr/2011/02/city-of-memory.html
“Today we walk through the broad streets of the rebuilt city, but our feet and eyes are unsure. Still we tremble inwardly as if we were in the wretched old streets. Our hearts have not yet registered any improvements. The old unhealthy Jewish district within us is more real than the new hygienic city around us.”
If the city is a receptacle of the collective memory, then it will contain the memory of the events that occurred there. Without this, there is only amnesia, and with that the loss paradoxically of the city's claim to the unchanging, to being timeless, of being superior to the everyday which is its bloodstream, whose authentic purpose is to nourish the collective unconscious. The conscious loss or suppression of events is an assault on the identity of the citizenry. This is true for all cities. It has particular poignancy with regard to the capital of Germany. Berlin was largely destroyed by the bombing of the US and British air forces. Following that, the Eastern sector in particular suffered colossal damage during the invasion of the Red Army, and from the bitter resistance that it met. Writing on the rebuilding of the Pariser Platz, inside the Brandenburg Gate, since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Bernhard Schneider comments on the style of the new buildings. It is a complaint against a false historicity imposed on all those involved in the rebuilding by the city authorities, and the resultant new historicity of the platz itself. Fred Scott, “On Altering Architecture”, Routledge ,NY-USA, 2008
When Delvan thinks of what has become of the city he grew up in he says he burns inside. "Nobody can handle this thing," he said. "You see your corner, your memories. It is not about places, it is not about the stones or buildings, it is about memories. Every stone you have a memory, every place you have memories with. When I see how Aleppo is after the bombing I burn inside, I burn inside because I saw my street, my home, my city destroyed, people killed and I can't do anything."
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/memories-aleppo-syrian-refugees-remember-life-city-now-lost-beneath-rubble-1579312
A History of layers, traces, functions and open spaces not just the cognitive user’s point of view but from the planning point of view. Heritage, Infrastructure, Public space, transport networks are all consecutive layers that made the city. The war has brought its memories to the city too. Zones of high
conflict are deadly, zones surround them are the gradient which the danger fades away. They may fade into another type of danger. Worse memories or active routes of militants.
“The city carries within itself its own future paradigms; memory and history are essential for a proper understanding of the city and the definition of its identity. The relationship with memory appears after wars and disasters; through a seemingly contradictory double movement: the loss of the relationship with tradition, and a desperate resurgence of heritage as the only holder of identity. The present of the city, as it is crated today, escapes us and remains the dialectical place that is most revealing and most difficult to grasp at the same time.”
Maria Thala Al-Aswad, Syria: The making of the future, from Urbicide to the architecture of the city, Venezia, Incipt Editore. 2017 pg 208
2.5 TRACES OF THE PAST
Over the past five years, many people have come to know Aleppo for its gruesome violence. But the city is deeply rooted in history. Shakespeare mentions the city in Macbeth and Othello in the context of a far-off exotic place, where Othello killed a Turk in vengeance for a slain Venetian and where a sailor in Macbeth , according to one of the three Witches, vowed to sink his ship, the Tiger. It is one of the most revered cities in the region, and its rich history invokes profound stories about victory and defeat, success and suffering. Traders from Aleppo carried their city’s name far and beyond, to the
extent that it is often said many in Africa recognise the name Aleppo more than Syria.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/18/aleppo-elegy-for-doomed-city-syria-assad
More than a hundred years later the Andalusian traveller Ibn Jubayr visited Aleppo. He provides the following interesting information:
Aleppo was the city of the Hamdanid princes. Sayf al-Dawla made it resembling a bride for beauty and appearance. The citadel stands on the hill, within, in ancient times, Abraham was wont to retire at night with his flocks there to milk them, giving away of the milk in alms. Hence, it is said, is the name Halab. There is a place of pilgrimage much visited by the people. A copious spring of water rises in the citadel, and they have made two cisterns here to store the water. Round these tanks are double walls. On the city-side of the citadel lies a deep ditch, into which the surplus water runs. The citadel has high walls and towers, and the sultan’s habitation is here. In the city are fine and wide markets, the lanes of which are connected in a way that one walks from one trade to the next until one has passed and seen all. All the lanes are covered by wooden roofs which provide shade. The Qaysariya is a garden surrounded by walls, beautiful and fresh, located next to the highly venerated mosque. Most of the shops are located in spacious halls built out of wood with wonderful ornaments. Lanes connect one hall with the next. In these halls costly decorated wooden walls separate the shops from each other. This offers a spectacular sight. The (main) lanes lead up to each of the gates of the Great Mosque. Very fine is this mosque and beautifully paved is its courtyard. On the western side of the Great Mosque is the madrasa of the Hanafits, with a fine garden. In the city are four or five more madrasas, also a hospital. Suburbs lie all round the city, with numberless khans and gardens.
18 Ibn Jubayr, Muhammad b. Ahmad, Rihla [“The Travels of Ibn Jubayr”], W. Wright, Leiden 1907, p. 252; translation taken from Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems cit., p. 363 ff.
2.6 BEIURT’S POSTWAR RECONSCTRUCTION CASE STUDY
The brutal destructions and transformations of the city, particularly in places that had high symbolic and economic value like the city center, made physical reconstruction an imperative. Conceived as a tool for the recovery, the projects aimed at not only recreating the conditions of economic
development of the pre-war time, but at modernizing a historic core that was increasingly seen as decrepit, obsolescent, in need of transformation. This implied that the reconstruction projects would use the opportunities made available by the war to implement some plans and ideas that were previously facing obstruction, such as the modernization projects in the city center or the
metropolitan restructuring plans. The war thus would give more relevance to older agendas, whose memory was not lost.
The Reconstructions of Beirut The City in the Islamic World, Brill, Leiden Joe Nasr, independent researcher, Beirut, Lebanon
It is an attempt to analyze and highlight the unresolved conflicts of the city, on an urban and typological scale, implicit in its new form.
Looking at the proposed urban plan and programmatic structure, it studies the urban conflict that arises from the outset of the project with the erasure of the existing damaged fabric of the site, and the consequences of this ‘tabula rasa’ on issues of scale, social and economic exclusion, and security. At the typological scale, and read through the analysis and comparison of the old typology and structure of the souks with the new open air mall development which is at the heart of the regeneration strategy, the issues that arise emphasize and reiterate the urban enclosure and exclusivity apparent in the structure of the city. These issues are analyzed in context of the historical and political events preceding and following the Lebanese civil war and are understood as the result of the inability of the Solidere masterplan to address both the ambition to open the city centre to global capital and to redefine the role of the centre on a socio-political national level.
The Loss of Individuality, History and Memory
Despite the strategies to recreate contextual architecture and provide a much-needed ‘traditional’ fabric and historic link to the past of the city, there are major flaws in this conceptualization of the Souks, and many questions about their authenticity and their attempt at preserving the city’s rich history and character. They are inherent to the structure of Solidere and its formation, and concern the totality of the BCD project; they question the kind of “âme de la cite” that the new central district projects.
In Rossi’s theory of the city, he identifies important values that become the basis for analyzing the character of the city; which seem to escape Solidere’s model. The study of the city is the study of its form, which is shaped by what he terms Urban Artifacts. The quality of urban artifacts describes the character of a city, and this quality is evaluated on the basis of Individuality, Locus, Memory and Design. Evidently the tabula rasa at the outset of Solidere’s project is only the start of a complete denial of the potential of most of these values to develop.
Aldo Rossi, ‘The Structure of Urban Artifacts’, The Architecture of The City (Oppositions Books, 1984), p.31 http://projectivecities.aaschool.ac.uk/portfolio/yasmina-el-chami-from-multipli-city-to-corporate-city/
2.0 RESTORING THE CITY IMAGE
MICROINTERVENTIONS
“Participatory processes are based on the principle of empowerment, and must include a broad and balanced spectrum of participants of local and small scale initiatives at the level of neighbourhood or building. Architects must facilitate micro interventions that show a cautious attitude and avoid the imposition of radical modernization agendas regarding governance, constructive systems and economics.”
