Rural Habitation in Syria: The Culture of Traditional Architecture and Its Role in the Reconstruction Process

2016-10-12
Al asali, M. Wesam
Shahin, Iyas
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This paper investigates the positive role traditional architecture can play during reconstruction, particularly in rural Syria, and highlights the effective impact cultural and social participation have on the process. In addition to exploring the possibilities offered by traditional architecture and its implementation within the strategic vision of reconstruction, this research also takes into account the authenticity of rural society and the diversity of urban identity in Syria. This article consists of three major parts: the first section defines reconstruction as a general concept and as post-war practices with reference to its roots in the Syrian-Arab culture; the second section focuses on the urban and social characteristics of Syrian rural areas; the last section offers an attempt to contextualize these themes within post-war reconstruction guidelines offered by previous researches. The research does not propose any practical strategy of post-war reconstruction; instead it articulates the importance of learning from traditional and local architecture in the process. This research suggests that the experiences of the war-torn Syrian society offer a vision for future reconstruction of the country, and expects to motivate other initiatives to seek and devise recovery strategies based on local experiences.
Traditional architecture, Post-war reconstruction, Rural development, Rural housing, Inhabitation
http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/articles/metujfa2016206.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/50671
Department of Architecture, Article

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Citation Formats
M. W. Al asali and I. Shahin, “Rural Habitation in Syria: The Culture of Traditional Architecture and Its Role in the Reconstruction Process,” ODTÜ Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 101–119, 2016, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/articles/metujfa2016206.pdf.
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