Design strategies for reconstituting damaged urban historic cores : the case study of Aleppo -

Abstract

Modern planning interventions widened the streets of the old city of Aleppo in order to facilitate car movement, causing the destruction of many monumental buildings until the enactment of the World Heritage listing put a limit to further interventions. The boulevard of QadiAskar exemplifies such planning acts. There, the neighborhood was fragmented in two parts, historical facades were brought down, residual spaces were left undefined, artificial facades were created, and street walls were left disconnected. The ongoing Syrian war adds a new layer to the damage. This thesis proposes a strategic approach to urban design that tackles breaks caused by modern planning and by wars. Building on the Integral Urbanism framework, helped bring different nuances of reading the city through the successive periods from before the construction of the boulevard, after its construction, and the current war. The design intervention applies its five core characteristics (hybridity, connectivity, porosity, authenticity, and vulnerability) in three character zones that have different physical and cultural values. The study seeks to shift from a fixed final outcome, and offers strategic interventions inspired from social and historical contexts. The study aims to transform the boulevard into a dynamic urban space that ameliorates social relationships by enhancing built form and urban spaces, seeking to induce other urban planning interventions in the city in the process of future post-war recovery.