Conservation ethics in architecture

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Dr. Samia Rab, Assoc. Prof. of Architecture and Heritage Management, American University of Sharjah.

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Dubai’s Bastakiya clinging to traditional Arabian architecture despite rapid modernization.

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Abandoned and derelict historic quarter in Ras al Khaimah, UAE. (Dr. Samia Rab).

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Dr. Samia Rab.

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Rapidly modernising cities grow at the expense of the past, which makes conservation an afterthought as opposed to an integral component in the development process.

The World Bank Urban Development Report of 2000 states that cities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) face four challenges: 1) Improved capacity to deliver and finance services at the local level; 2) Development of efficient land and housing markets; 3) Revitalisation of cultural heritage sites; 4) Responsiveness to emergency needs.

While the third challenge is specific to safeguarding existing sites, the other three indicate need for effective services necessary for engaging in the processes of ‘modernisation'.

MENA is collectively recognised as the cradle of human civilisation; the region enjoys a rich history and its cultural heritage encompasses approximately 60% of the world's ancestry.

That said, less than 50 of the 851 sites on the World Heritage List designated by UNESCO are located in this region. Four countries, including the UAE, have, thus far, listed no sites. The World Bank Report and the UNESCO List collectively present an ironic reality about the region: Neither has MENA safeguarded its cultural heritage, nor has it adequately prepared for modernisation.

This article explores current restoration practice in the UAE and addresses the fundamental question on the minds of development authorities in the region and throughout the modern world: Can cultural heritage be appropriately revitalised while pursuing modernisation?

The answer is, yes, provided we decompress our notion of 'time' and insert conservation ethics into development processes.

Modernisation

Today, our biggest challenge is time. In our efforts to work as hard as we can, there is a general consensus that we could all use longer days. This is mainly due to the fact that we all share a desire to complete what we start, both in our careers and in our lives.

This attitude is reflected in architectural practice. Current lifespan for buildings is estimated at 20-30 years. The fact that we erase our buildings within one generation reinforces the assumption that 'time', as a concept, is compressed. We have lost our ability to think beyond our existence on this planet.

This self-referential notion of 'time' is our inheritance from a particular kind of modernity pursued after the 18th century European Enlightenment, and implemented around the world with distinct zeal.

This kind of modernity celebrates the present, both its opportunities and its problems. The main, albeit highly relative, idea behind this modernity is that only we can best understand and critically engage our situation.

By that rationale, the past is largely incomprehensible to us as we are not the living members of that past and, likewise, the generation to come will fend for themselves. Bottom line: We are neither the custodians of things inherited nor are we responsible to the future; we are forced to think, act and build in the present.

For example, supporting Napoléon III's vision, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann reconfigured the city of Paris from 1852 to 1870. In doing so, Haussmann erased much of the historical urban fabric to create the long, straight, wide boulevards that include the cafés and shops we associate with Paris today.

Haussmann developed a new type of urbanism that facilitated the movement of military troops, and eventually, automobiles. By cutting through the dense and irregular medieval alleyways of the old Paris, and establishing a rational city with wide avenues and open spaces, he spread the city of Paris far beyond the confines of its medieval core.

One could argue that if not for ‘Haussmannisation' of Paris, the city would not have embarked on the journey toward modernisation. In other words, to modernise one must erase the past. This assertion is both inappropriate and reckless.

For more than a century, people have begun to understand the inherent problems with an attitude that encourages rapid modernisation and ignores the dilapidation of both cultural and natural resources.

This narrow and disconnected focus on the present will only lead to periodic destruction, not accumulated growth.

Conservation ethics in architecture

Garcia Lorca, the famous Spanish poet, warned us that, "Time, not man, builds architecture" (Lewcock, 1994). There is much wisdom in this short line as we can read in it a continued notion of ‘time' that goes beyond a single ‘man'.

We can also recognise in it the potential significance of the environment (of which architecture is just one part) as encapsulating simultaneously the past, the present, and a future. The eagerness to serve and exploit the present disregards the pursuit of continuity in the built environment.

But architects, who, like Lorca, appreciate the seamlessness of time, carry into the future valuable aspects of their present environment. Their architecture is not about themselves, but about the environment they inherited and its effective transference to future generations.

Memory is our contemporary connection with specific moments of past societies and cultures. People relate to their past in different ways. The word 'memory' is rooted in the Latin verb memoria, which means ‘to be mindful' or ‘to think'.

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