THE Paradox OF Preservation In Urban & Architectural Heritage
Dr. Mustapha Ben-Hamouche
| Urban and architectural heritage in the Islamic world is gradually becoming an object of preservation policies due to the ever increasing cultural awareness. Old buildings and cities are believed to be the fortress of culture that helps societies preserve their identities and face the eradicating globalization. However, preservation policies, mostly based on the intervention of the State, protective measures and the freezing of building against any change and alterations, are often in contradiction with the urban dynamics and incremental process that generated such cities and buildings. Considering the emptiness of these cities and buildings from their original content, such policies become, in a sense, like an action of taxidermy that “reproduces a life-like three-dimensional representation of a dead animal for permanent display”. |  |