“culture of architectural heritage” in our country, and what was a

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© The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, 1436 h

Research & Heritage 4The Saudi Commission for Tourism and AntiquitiesResearch & Heritage 4 / The Saudi Commission for Tourism and AntiquitiesRiyadh, 1436h

464 pages, 20 x 27 cm

isbn: 978_603_8136_27_0

All rights reserved to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, 2014

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means whatsoever, without written permission from the publisher. For any information contact the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities on the following address:The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities P.O. Box 66680Riyadh 11586Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaT: 00 966 11 880 8855F: 00 966 11 880 [email protected]://www.scta.gov.sa

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Typeset in: Nassim Regular, SemiBold, Bold and Extra Bold

Fourth Edition, 2014

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Research Papers for the National Built Heritage ForumAbha, Aseer, 9-12 Safar 1436ah, 1-4 December 2014

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

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Research & HeritagePut together by a specialised scientific jury, this book is a collection of 20 research papers in both the Arabic and English language. The collection—on architectural heritage in general and that of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in particular—stresses on the future of historic sites in the Kingdom from an architectural, social, cultural, economic and technical perspective.

The research within reflects the aims and objectives of the Third National Forum on Built Heritage being held in Al Madinah Al Munawwarah. Aiming to push through a new outlook on the Kingdom’s historic sites and trying to pull together the necessary human resesources that might play a future role in the rehabilitation of the built heritage of the Kingdom, this forum summons up in one place all the key factors and holders for future heritage preservation projects. The forum also aims at pinpointing the obstacles that hinder the process of rehabilitation which are mostly financial and technical in nature.

Moreover, this book acts as an effective documentation tool in stirring social awareness regarding all the obstacles and diffiucties faced including finding appropriate solutions for the rehabilitation of architectural heritage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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My personal interest in the architectural heritage started in the mid 1980s, and when I take a glance back to see what have been achieved since that time, I sense what has been done, thanks God. We had three decades of persistence to build a “culture of architectural heritage” in our country, and what was a dream became reality, due to work and insistence. Since I became the Honorary President of the Saudi Society for Architectural Sciences, in the early 1990s, to the institution of the Charitable Heritage Foundation, in 1996, and until the takeoff of the SCTA at the beginning of the millennium, there have been several important landmarks and significant challenges that we overcame, by drawing attention to the historic site and remaking its sociological and economical story, that has always been the main drive for our country’s unity. I still have to say that what was our sentimental view of the heritage became today a practical and economical view. What was a personal painstaking became nowadays an institutional huge accomplishment, through the SCTA, who created the Architectural Heritage Center as the nucleus of an active institution that preserves and develops our national architectural heritage.

His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al SaudSecretary General of the Supreme Commission for Tourism and Antiquities Chairman of the Higher Committee- National Built Heritage Forum

ForwardWide horizons for our national heritage

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In this Fourth National Built Heritage Forum, we celebrate the great step forward, achieved by the Supreme Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, towards establishing generally the national heritage›s legal and organizational framework. The Antiquities, Museums and Built Heritage Law was officially issued a few weeks before holding this Forum. Before that, the Council of Ministers had approved the King Abdulla Civilizational Heritage Project, a giant project that will change the actual situation of the national heritage and open for it future horizons. But we would like here, however, to highlight an important issue, namely that we want to restore the civilizational influence of the Kingdom, an influence that has been existing and present for ages. I mention here that I have asserted, in my address to the «Green Arab Peninsula conference», held in Oxford, that the fact that Islam appeared in the Arab Peninsula was not a coincidence: this blessed land had been prepared for such a tremendously great civilizational mission since the time of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him). A mission of such magnitude requires a serious institutional work on our part. The Kingdom›s civilizational project derives its importance from this creative historical background of the Arab Peninsula which encompasses all humanity and from the present religious, economic and political influence of the Kingdom

of Saudi Arabia. Not a long time ago, the Supreme Commission for Tourism and Antiquities has succeeded, in cooperation with its partners, in having Historical Jeddah enlisted as a world heritage site. This was the third site so enlisted by the Kingdom, after «Madaen Saleh» and «Dar›iyah». We are now preparing for submitting an application for enlisting the «Jabbah and Shouwaymess» site in the Hael Region, as the most important world site for drawings on rocks. The list is long: the enlistment of 10 new sites in different regions of the kingdom has been initially approved. Our country, thanks God, repletes with sites that are unique worldwide. Enlisting these sites as part of the world heritage is only the beginning of a huge task aimed at preserving such sites and transforming them into lively locations that contribute in the cultural and economic buildup of our nation. Moreover, these sites are an essential part of the Kingdom›s civilizational project that must be made known to the whole world.

The unlimited support extended by the state for this national civilizational project is only expectable. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, may God protect him, has been a keen monitor and supporter of the national heritage for the last three decades, starting with the Janadria Festival. Also, the Crown Prince, (Deputy Prime minister, Chairman of the board of directors of the King Abdul-Aziz Foundation for Research and Archives) as early as when he was the Emir of the Riyadh Region, has been following up all matters pertaining to the national history and heritage. His visit, months ago, to Historical Jeddah, in celebration of its enlistment as a world site and in support of its population, confirms this genuine interest in our national heritage. We are living under the care of a leadership that makes the Kingdom›s civilizational project one of its top priorities. This will have a decisive impact on restoring and preserving the heritage and on transforming it from inert landmarks into viable spaces. What was achieved so far, although a giant step considering the time factor, is however the start of opening future wide horizons for our national heritage.

In my view, the success of the Kingdom›s civilizational project lies in building a Saudi citizen who is aware of the value of his country. It is said that «one can›t be enamored of a place that one don›t know». The place I mean here is the homeland

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with its history, society, locations and all historic achievements. A citizen who does not know his country and interact with its historical accomplishment cannot possibly love his country. It is up to the Saudi citizen to preserve the national accomplishment. It is for this that we take care of the national heritage, so that the Saudi citizens would be aware of such accomplishment and would be proud thereof and consider it as the «reference» that attaches them to this land. This consideration manifests the importance of making the educational dimension compatible with the material and constructional accomplishment. The transformational process must be a comprehensive one that encompasses the cognitive and environmental components. Perhaps, I should underline here that any civilizational project needs people who believe in it, expand its scopes, pursue it and shape its historic buildup. This leads me here to asserting that the King Abdulla Civilizational Heritage Project is not merely about constructing museums and preserving heritage villages and sites in as much as it is about restoring the bond between the Saudi citizen and the great homeland that accommodates us with all of its achievements.

When I try to review all what was achieved during the last three years, from holding the first Forum in Jeddah in November 2011 till our present day when we are celebrating the fourth Forum in Aseer, we see that the valuable fruit yielded by this endeavor was involving the Saudi citizens in preserving the built heritage sites to which they belong and in which the memories of their fathers and forefathers were shaped. The culture of belonging to the place, as motivated by the build heritage, assumes an integral character that forms the sense of belonging to a nation. The build heritage, as an essential component and a material support of the national identity, would avail to all members of the Saudi society the full opportunity to interact lively and directly therewith. I consider that what was done is the formation of a new national culture that restores the national sense of belonging through discovering the «roots» and the «origins» as a result of coexisting with the place and remembering its stories and those who lived therein. This makes me confident that we are on the right track for building the national civilizational project.

I would however confirm that our civilizational project is not a sentimental one, but a project based on sustainable economic supports, something that we, in the Supreme Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, are trying to accomplish. Heritage, in as much as it is a historic accomplishment, has also its contributions in building the national identity, and is also an under- invested economic asset. This correlation between «history» and «economy» makes people more attached to their places, achieves balanced growth and shapes anew the local communities with making them more stable. National identity is not slogans and words, but a practical scheme that deals with the realities and requirements of the society and strives at achieving its stability. We will announce in this forum the launching of the Heritage Hotels Company and the building of a close relationship between the ) for the development of artisanal professions and handmade products connected to construction. This leads us to remind of the work towards the construction of a professional market for restoration works that relies mainly on national expertise. For us, the heritage economic dimension is not achieved only by making use of heritage and its locations but also by building diverse industries that are related to heritage.

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The Built Heritage Forum refers always to the educational aspect and inaugurates its sessions with a workshop headed by His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Higher Education with the participation of the deans of the architecture, tourism and antiquities colleges, with the aim of enshrining heritage in the education curriculums. In addition to expanding the knowledge, discovery and reinvestment of heritage in our modern life, the aim here is to develop a national expertise specialized in the different areas of the build heritage. One of the projects which will soon see light is establishing the National Center for Heritage Building Materials, in cooperation with the King Saud University and the Ministry of Higher Education. This Center will include a national lab for examining and developing the traditional building materials. We also firmly believe in the importance of using technology in heritage development and preservation, something that requires an advanced education and the building of a generation that is aware, equipped with knowledge and conversant in modern technology means. Accordingly, we are working, in parallel with the General Education and Training Establishment, on developing training programs for a generation of technicians in the different technical and artistic aspects of the built heritage. We have moved from ideas to implementation and I am sure that these projects will soon come to maturity and that we will see their fruits in real life.

Any civilizational project would require institutions that support it, structure it and permit it to last. This was achieved through the institutional and regulatory framework which protects the national heritage and regulates the manner of dealing with it, and through the Government›s political and economic support in the form of King Abdulla Civilizational Heritage project. It also requires the kind of social and economic sustainability which we are experiencing today through the growing societal interest in the build heritage, the issuance of decisions allowing the heritage economic development through the Heritage Hotels Company, the loans supporting restoration and development that are extended by the Bank of Credit, and the great work undertaken by Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs through local municipalities towards developing the infrastructure of heritage sites and reintegrating them in the constructional tissue of cities and villages. Last, it is the educational and technical sustainability that will build the national expertise, restore local knowledge of the heritage to its previous state and open new untapped horizons for our heritage.

I would like, in concluding this presentation of the discussions agenda of the Fourth National Built Heritage Forum, to praise the substantial development of scientific research in the field of the built heritage. This was and will remain an important goal contemplated by the Forum. Scientific research is the vehicle that will lead the build heritage to the horizons we hope it will attain with God›s help.

Abha, December 1, 2014

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Since a long time, I used to hear an expression that had me thinking: “Heritage is a historical silent being”. I always asked myself what would heritage tell us in the future, and what was behind its silence. We talk about the architectural heritage beyond its physical presence, and we try to find it into our social memory, but however we read about this heritage, we never reach in whatever we read, the depth attained by this simple and intimate heritage in our souls. Nostalgia, which is a state of mind where we long for something “lost”, is slipping into a whole generation that has lived ounce this simple and intimate life, and knew at least its social value. This generation knows that it became impossible to regain the “lost” quarters and dwellings, so rich with memories and human feelings.The Architectural Heritage Forum revives every year “hope” to connect back the past with the present and future, in a way that enhances development. We try to initiate this process in our yearly gathering, where we discuss many issues through which we work to transform our feelings into a workable program of action in the near future. Last year a number of resolutions, programs and projects have been issued, in order to transform the architectural heritage in the Kingdom, and to confirm that our country is seriously determined to rebuild its huge civilizational project that matches its presence and role in the area and the world.

Prof. Mashary bin Abdullah al NaimChairman of the Organizing Committee of the National Architectural Heritage Forum

The National Heritage and the Kingdom’s Civilizational Project

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King Abdullah Project to Take Care of the National Heritage… a New Start

Who could have thought of these tremendous steps that occurred to preserve the archeological heritage? I am certain that the most optimistic people (10 years ago) never imagined even a small part of what has been done, would become a reality, regarding supporting heritage, namely with the launching of King Abdullah Project to take care of the civilizational heritage in the Kingdom. (We never imagined this amount of support from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, God bless Him, and His personal interest in this matter. But if one looks closely to the King’s initiative more than three decades ago, to support heritage through the Janadriyyah Festival, one would never be surprised at this peculiar step in the way of supporting. This time we have a quantitative project, bound to a time, to achieve several achievements all related to the national memory. The aim here, is not a mere physical restoration of our country’s heritage, which suffered great losses in the near past, but also a “revival” of the soul lost in these places, thus taking care of people, their social history, and their relation with these places, professions they were practicing, and deeply exploring their internal relation with the place). The project restores the Saudi unique and richly diverse “personality”.

In a meeting with HRH the Crown Prince, God bless Him, concerning King Abdullah Project for the preservation of Heritage, His Royal Highness assured that the Kingdom “has a lot to offer to the world”, and that King Abdullah Project is one channel to present our picture to the world. His Highness further said that archeology truly represents its people, “writes history”, and supports it with physical evidence. This leads me to a basic matter widely discussed by sociological scholars, that is: “How the world sees us”, or what is our external identity, which is the picture we make of ourselves for the others to see and value us. What seems to me is that making an external picture, needs a lot to do to change the previously given “stereotype”. This is not at all easy, and it requires to go back to the roots and pure origins that form our identity. This should be presented to the world. It is the basic element that traces limits between us and the others, and forms the traits of our personality that should remain long in their minds.

HRH the Crown Prince says that King Abdullah Project shall contribute greatly in showing the true picture of the Kingdom, because it is one way to show the state and citizens’ achievements, and what they have done to take care of the Kingdom’s civilizational heritage. This is a project that shall be implemented, and people will be able to see its outcome, in three years time, but it will be one link of a chain to build the national identity that shall be presented to the world. The aim is great, because it is not trying to draw an identity on a “white paper”, but trying to correct a paper full with stereotypes, in order to rewrite it in another spirit, to present it in a new way. Here is the difficult task, but our country has really a lot to show to the world.

HRH the Crown Prince remark, lead me to think of “how we regard ourselves”, and what is our identity within, a question many times asked by HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman who says that “many citizens do not know their country”, and this by itself is a big problem, for if a citizen ignores his country’s history, and how it emerged and was united, and if he never visited places where the story of the country happened, then this proves that there is a gap in our view of ourselves, and in our ability to deal with others, while firmly standing on our belonging to a country that we all similarly identify. This is a true problem that we did not

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solve on the educational level. We surely need to elaborate this identity that we all agree upon, with clear and understood terms. And my view is that King Abdullah Project to take care of the civilizational heritage aims first at putting down a clear definition of the country and citizenship that is supported by most of us citizens, and is to be presented to the world the way we hope. I think that we need to clearly rewrite our national epopee, and determine the “stage” where it happened, for the citizens to look at. This epopee and its stage must quit the people’s memory to reenter in their minds through places they know well.

As to the content, King Abdullah Project comprises in fact several projects involving building of new museums, maintaining and reusing of state palaces, reviving several historic villages and their stories, and creating a data base as a national heritage register. But mostly important is the “impact” of these actions as to the relation between the citizen and his heritage and history. This will redefine the relationship and strengthen it and binds it to the country’s special and physical memory. It transforms the non-material culture into a “tangible” one. It is a project that will have a profound educational impact, and I am certain that many “concepts” related to the country, its history, geography and society, shall be clearer to the citizens.

Three years ago, when the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) started organizing the 1st National Architectural Heritage Forum in Jeddah, following the great success of the 1st Congress of the Islamic Architectural Heritage, one year before (May 2010 CE) in Riyadh, under the auspices of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, God bless Him, the bet on the success of the Forum was especially centered on the “benefit hoped for” that might come of such a great event. In fact, HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman used to say: “I want this forum to be a platform between people and their national architectural heritage, and a channel that gathers citizens from all over the Kingdom, to celebrate their heritage”. After three forums, the Government decree has been issued, to start with King Abdullah Project to take care of the Kingdom civilizational heritage. This initiative that has been planned many years ago, proves that the hard work of Prince Sultan, and His full support for the preservation of the national heritage, more than a quarter of a century long, was stemming from a comprehensive and clear view, since the beginning, and has been crowned with King Abdullah Project, that shall rearrange several priorities of action in the field of national heritage in general. The Prince used to say and repeat that the Kingdom, with its great roles religiously and economically, does not present itself civilizationnally on the same level, although it is one of the sources of human civilization, and the place of birth of the Mohammedan Message. Therefore it was necessary that the Kingdom improves its cultural dimension, as a pillar of our national memory, and an element to “identify our citizenship”.

It must be said that SCTA was preparing itself since long for such a historic decision. And if it greatly succeeded in stirring a popular momentum for preserving heritage in general, and was able to create what is called “the culture of heritage”, not only on the social level, but also on the academic and intellectual levels, it is thanks to the fact that SCTA clearly paved the road to expect significant projects such as King Abdullah Project. The Commission has established about three years ago a center for the national architectural heritage (a professional center, and a house of expertise in the different aspects of the architectural heritage). It also widened the specter of antiquities organization

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to comprise museums and the architectural heritage. Lately, the Government approved this organization. It was a major transformation in the organizational and legal structure related to the heritage. Nevertheless I must here say, that the organizational transformation (I mean the issuance by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs of a decision creating a general directorate of architectural heritage), is a great organizational step, that proves the state determination to increase its role of preserving the Kingdom’s civilizational heritage in general. All these transformations meet in one project, to take care of the civilizational heritage. And the project in return shall improve those initiatives and make them more active and effective.

It should be stressed here, that the Project is not an “edifice building” project, but it will touch the very “national identity” and stress on “culture building”, and on the “reference” and the “title”. It is a project for the country to “regain the hearts of citizens”, as the Prince Sultan says. It is also a project with an architectural and security aspect. It will reclaim centers of cities and regions that have been abandoned, to restore life there and transform these places into economically valuable ones. The Project invests into the “national culture”, but it is at the same time economically profitable. This aspect is not apparent, but one of the results of the Project is to transform businessmen views regarding the architectural heritage sites as to make them see possible profits especially with this large governmental involvement. Let me tell you, this Project opens many doors that were closed, for the benefit of people interested in the heritage in general, and makes possible, the “revival” of our historic cities and villages centers.

But I must stress that taking care of the civilization dimension is not a project that only involves antiquities and heritage, it is a “project to redefine identity”. I used to tell especially our colleagues the architects that this Project is a real opportunity to converse about “the modern Saudi architectural identity”, after this conversation seems to be lost in the many complicated problems facing our society. I used to ask them about the possibility of using this transformation sought by the Project, in order to make a modern national architectural identity. This was, and still is, certainly one of my academic dreams. I remember that I tried to determine what was meant by “a local architectural identity”, and here is the opportunity again, maybe from outside the university campus, but is still part of the academic intellectual culture, that could, to my view, be updated and revived again by the Project. I think the architectural academic society did not yet seize the opportunities offered by King Abdullah Project, which could turn “dreams” into reality. I always think that their contribution in enlarging the specter of this Project, into the intellectual realm, is a national duty.

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Jeddah on the World Heritage List

I remember, less than a year ago, that Jeddah file for applying to the World Heritage List, was facing many problems, to be accepted, and we thought of postponing the application another year, but Prince Sultan bin Salman said: “This is a national task, and we must bear the responsibility, we will not postpone”. In fact, the file has been presented, and the SCTA team, the Emirate of Mekkah, and the Municipality of Jeddah endeavored for the success. Today, we enjoy the fruit of the Prince’s confidence. Jeddah lovers are many, but whoever did not know historic Jeddah, here is the opportunity to do it. I urge everyone to discover this amazing city, and try for once to get free to walk in Jeddah old streets, to have the pleasure to contemplate its beautiful houses with wooden oriels. Did anyone of you imagine the internal world behind these oriels, and the cultural and social dimensions in these streets? Historical Jeddah is not a usual case of civilization. It has resisted all the modernization attractions, and still remains very attractive and appealing. You will not believe in the real value of this city, until you pray in one of its old mosques, there you will feel the beautiful tranquility, and be attracted to remain in jeddah,

The firmness of Jeddah in preserving its identity until it was entered into the World Heritage List is a lesson we should all learn, because this city has taught us that patience, hard work and solidarity give us success in what we do. Let me here thank the Jeddah staff, for supporting their city, their faith in its value, and their persevering in preserving its memory. They gave an example that I hope will be followed, in all sites of the Kingdom’s architectural heritage. I also thank all those who loved and love this city and its heritage. It deserves this love for preserving its heritage in the face of tremendous pressure.

Jeddah’s file was entitled: “Mekkah Gate”, and this title was the main reason for support. Some have even said that “for the sole fact that Jeddah is the Gate to Mekkah, it deserves to enter the list of world heritage”. In fact this symbolic title entitles Jeddah, according to the sixth criterion, to enter the list, but Jeddah also represents the unique architectural fabric that remains, of the Red Sea architecture, in addition to the fact that the city itself is unique in its location, social composition and cultural presence. All this in fact reinforces Jeddah in its being “Mekkah’s Gate”, and this symbolic role leads our minds into history, to recall events witnessed by this ancient city. It was thanks to this that Jeddah, “the bride of the Red Sea”, as it is called, has always had the elixir to keep all its vitality.

Registering Jeddah adds to our responsibilities, and the kingdom is full of sites that deserve to be on the UNESCO list, so we are not through yet. We still have a lot of sites waiting for their turn. This is what has been said by the Heritage Prince, stating that after Ha’il (the sites of rock inscriptions in Jubbah and Shweimes), it will be al-Hufuf turn, and the list is long, therefore work will not stop. Our country deserves a lot, because it is a producer in the human civilization, not only a consumer, as some tend to pretend. I might here recall what the Prince once told, that “we must keep initiatives alive, lest they will die”. We must not be content with initiatives, but we have to translate these initiatives into institutional effective work. Likewise, it is not enough to dream of registering Kingdom sites on the UNESCO list, but we have to form teams and mechanisms that guarantee success, and staying on the path of success. Mada’in Salih have been listed in 2008, Dar’iyyah in 2010, and Jeddah was scheduled for 2011, but the team was convinced that it was not yet the right time, so the file was withdrawn “tactically” for a strong return in 2014, with success.

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Prince Sultan bin Salman does not only dream, but he endeavors to materialize His dreams, with a great understanding of resources, and how to use them the right way. He never gives up, and since a quarter of a century long, He made every effort to change the “heritage culture” in the Kingdom. When He was chosen as an Honorary Chairman of the Society of Architectural Sciences, in the early 1990’s, He worked to confirm the architectural character of the Saudi city. All the Society presidents who worked with Him since then, were amazed of how He followed every single detail, as if He was entirely devoted to the Society’s business. But He was not satisfied with this, and created the Charitable Heritage Institution, in 1996 CE, in order to help founding a new concept of national heritage. When He took SCTA in charge, a new reality emerged, and here we are enjoying the fruits, although the road is long, because we are working with a man with limitless aspirations, who bears in his heart the national concerns, a man with a mind that turns the end of a task into a beginning of a new one.

The Future of Local Architecture… the Heritage Future

The move I hope for, in the national architectural identity, takes me back to what was said by HRH the Crown Prince, that we need “an architecture that represents us” not a fake intrusive architecture. What is to remain of our work to the next generations, shall express our identity and our “civilizational view”. In fact, the King’s Project is a large “vessel” that is supposed to bring about many postponed intellectual issues, and stir a national dialogue about these issues. This is the major profit I hope to obtain. No matter what buildings we construct, and whatever historic sites we rehabilitate, these shall not produce the desired civilization awareness, if we do not have a real dialogue about “who we are” and “what we want”. This is the “essence” of what we own, and what we can offer to the world.

The problem with many architects is that they deal with heritage in a stiff “material” manner, and do not see of the architectural heritage except forms, they directly deal with, and some try to copy. The view that we adopt at the Heritage Center stresses on the “location memory”, tries to find out what is “behind” physical forms, and defines the meanings of locations thought to have been left to the oblivion. As we reclaim those locations, where we lived and learned, to which we still are nostalgic, we connect our young generation to our heritage after a breakoff. We try in fact to stress on the relation between the “method” and the “product”, which is an important relation, because the same method does not mean the same product, due to change that occurs in material circumstances, and causes a change in the product. This fact characterizes architecture and its heritage: it uses invariable method, but changes its image and techniques.

The problem arising from our relation with heritage is wide. Some adhere to it strictly, and try to remain in the past, through an “ideological” nostalgia, but some others refuse it and try to forget all about the past to make a new start. This problem applies to the archeological heritage which experienced previously a great “ordeal”, so that Dr. Salih al Hadhlul (an academician who was director general at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs for town planning, almost a quarter of a century) says that “bulldozers” used to destroy whole quarters hundreds of years old, without anyone to object. What if one destroys a manuscript 500 years old in front of people, would this act bee reasonable? What applies to manuscripts and other historic antiquities, applies equally to the archeological heritage, that

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has been suffering a lot of damage in the past period of time, without anybody objecting. The problem is that “heritage” is subject to disputes, that deforms the question.

What for is Heritage… Perpetual Questions

One often asks, why should we take care of heritage. Some claim that our preservation of parts of the heritage has a negative aspect. So, is there a positive and a negative side of the heritage. Let us read what the intellect Abdul Ilah Balqaziz says about this: “Heritage in itself is neutral, laying in books, and may still exist in the collective memory. People might live it, or live some of its aspects and symbols, as they live their present without feeling any contradiction”. We stress on this cohabitation and this neutrality of the heritage, but people make it depart from this neutrality. Balqaziz says: “Demand for heritage in our present thought, has its explanation in our historical present, not in the strength and authority in our minds and souls as some think”. The problem is: do we care for heritage because our reality refers us to it, or because we long for it and wish its presence among us. Is this running away from our modern reality or an expression of our regret to have long neglected our heritage?

Are we, thereby, trying to recall the past in order to consecrate it in our modern thought, or trying to hang on to what is left of the past due to the poor reality that surrounds us. Our real view regarding heritage is that it is not a problem of the past thought, but the present one. This should be stressed on, because “heritage is indivisible”, and those who say we should what is positive of our heritage and abandon what is negative, in fact cuts off part of the heritage, whereas “contrast produces beauty”, as the Arab proverb says. The fact that heritage is neutral requires that our view be comprehensive and total, for we cannot value the positive aspects if we ignore the negative ones.

Another point draws my attention, that is “projection”. According to Balqaziz: “projection is a “cognitive” action, not a historic reality, because it does not recognize the temporality of thought, and its relation to its historic time. Projection often reads heritage with today’s eyes, and present terminology, ignoring the lapse of time and difference of knowledge, between the past and the presence”. We all look to the heritage according to present criteria and values, but do not try to look at the heritage in its historic time to understand it according to the environment where it emerged. This problem is clearly obvious in architecture, because of its ever-renewed heritage. That makes it difficult to measure any other period, in our time. Every epoch has its means and instruments that make architecture and its forms. But I am certain that the national architectural heritage center is building a though that produces new ideas that reinforce our identity and modern culture, and uses to read the heritage neutral equipment.

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The Civilizational Project… Back to the Roots

We are certainly seeking to build a civilizational project for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This project reveals the hidden and undisclosed resources of the Kingdom. King Abdullah Project can contribute in what I call “change within”. This has to do with the citizen who should be ready to accept this “civilization discovery” and be a contributor to it, for mere building museums and restoring palaces and historic villages, do not trigger the steps we wish for, even if he contributes “materially” in this effort. The intellectual dialogue that I wish academics and the concerned people will, shall make the change within, that could grow up to form the national civilizational identity. Prince Sultan had a word in Oxford University, who organized a congress to review a series of researches on the Arab Peninsula, its history, culture and archeology. His word was a kind of comparison between Arabia in its ancient and modern history. This land was not hazardously chosen to be the cradle of Islam and the place of Allah’s House (the Ka’aba) built by Abraham (Peace be upon Him) 2400 years before Islam. This land was ready to play its great role and still is. Abraham prayer to Allah, so that the hearts shall be leaning to this house, and that it be given of all fruits, was the start of a “civilzational act” and of life in that place. Islam did not emerge here without any historic preludes, that had the Arabian Peninsula reach an advanced civilizational state, ready to receive this great religion. Reading this heritage, as seen by Prince Sultan requires this deep understanding of the important historic contexts. The Arab Peninsula has always been a rich center of civilization, whether culturally or economically. Through it, caravan routes and economic stations where always shining places during the whole history.

This approach by Prince Sultan urged me to think differently of our history and heritage. It seems that “history repeats itself”. As the Arab Peninsula was ready some time in history to receive Islam, likewise it was ready in the modern history for this blessed unity of the Kingdom in our time. Abraham call for this land to attract love of people and have means of living from Allah, is a basic historic element in the reading of our national history and heritage, and we are part of this chain that is due to remain until Allah inherits the earth and every one on it. This makes us even more willing to study the historic moments when this land has been born again, for, every time, it was born to play a major role in history, never as a substitute. Today, the Kingdom’s role is proportionate to its weight and cultural impact, in this world.

Let me say that the state’s support of the national heritage, through King Abdullah Project to take care of the national heritage, is no coincidence, but a confirmation of the “civilizational role of the Kingdom”. This should be kept in mind. It is not a matter of “celebration”, but a start or an end of a phase and the start of a new one, in celebration of achievements that introduce us into bigger achievements. This is what we are trying to tell to our citizens. We are celebrating with them the national heritage, and we shall do the same next year in Qassim, who welcomed the Forum, and we shall keep celebrating, in sha’a Allah, because we consider this Forum a part of the real role played by our country in the world cultures. This is our destiny and role. We want citizens of this country to be proud of it as a source of civilization, and the scale of its role is as wide as the whole humanity, as says the Prince of Tourism, and as proven by history and archeological findings.

Message that could be conveyed by the Kingdom to the world, through its national heritage, will certainly be expressive, because our Kingdom is not a “nouveau

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riche” whether in civilization or in economy. This message we share with the world, shall make our youth proud of their country and its important role. The deep civilizational dimension of this country is the real treasure that will never be exhausted, it is an ever regenerated source, and we ought to dust it off and take care of it, since it is making our identity, and through it we shall be known in the world.

The Heritage Forum… Identity and the Economic Development

Before trying to define identity, we should notice here, that anthropologists such as Taylor and Morgan confirm the unity of human race, they base their belief on the fact that human mind is similar everywhere. They claim that human beings everywhere think the same way and develop their culture in similar methods. The American anthropologist Franz Boas (1858- 1942) was the first to confirm that human races have the same ability to the intellectual and civilizational development, a theory also endorsed by Ruth Benedict (1887- 1948), Boas student, in the bulletin “Human Races”. Benedict ascribed differences between races to the environmental reasons, not to the instinct components. All human races are equally clever, and environment explains the physical differences.

It is clear that the idea of “the unity of the human race” initiated by the Holy Qur’an and Islam, explains the meaning of identity that is the positive diversity of the human race. If we add to it the idea of the “cultural aspect” and the ability of culture to propagate, then we shall understand how human beings learnt from each other, and how they formed their own identities. The concept of identity may have been determined in the Qur’anic holy verse:

{O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware} (Al Hujurat, 13). This verse could help us trace human “identity circles”. Allah created us male and female “human identity”, and made us nations “cultural identity”. This identity is often made of a “cloud” of identity circles. To give an example, people of KSA have a cultural identity, a national or cultural or local identity, which is part and parcel of the Arab cultural identity, a cultural, linguistic, or racial and regional identity, it is also bound to the Islamic identity “ideological identity”. It is clear that the cultural identity could be sub-divided to smaller circles of “regional” character. And then Allah made us tribes “social identity”, and so human groups are often composed of individuals related by blood and kinship. And we refer to old cities we find that they were tribes and large families who occupied a certain place and remained on it through the years. The growing of families and tribes the blood bond became far between, and big tribes dislocated into small families. In general, there is a link between the social identity and the location. But some social identities are not linked to a location (sometimes in the figurative meaning), and even in group emigrations some groups remake their local identity, by reaffirming values that they carried with them to the new location. Nevertheless the collective identities (not the cultural) in case of emigrations, fade out by the time and become weaker, due to the mix with other human groups, with a different identity, that requires accommodation.

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The architectural Forum shades light on many of these deep cultural ideas, and surveys means of how the heritage forms have propagated into the Arab World, and the impact of the Arab Peninsula’s architecture, in particular, in the traditional Arab architecture.

Some may think that I am exaggerating by saying that many forms have propagated with the first conquerors, to several Arab regions, and have mixed with the local forms, to contribute in a special distinct architecture. We all know that the Arab Peninsula was the source of Arab culture, and the Arab architectural heritage must have been born on this land, where the Mohammedan Message has emerged to conquer the ancient world. We want our citizen to be proud of his civilization that has started in the desert, the mountain, and on the sea shore. This civilization has made the personality of people of the Peninsula, and stamped them, and did the same with the Arab World, giving it a special character in the world.

Desert architecture in the Arab World is very similar, and I think that this similarity comes from the Arab Peninsula. I talked to a colleague (not an architect), who told me how amazed he was to notice that Moroccan mud architecture was very similar to the Najdi architecture, so I told him, why being so amazed when we all know that some Najdi tribes emigrated since long to the North of Africa (Banu Hilal and banu Sulaim and others). So forms propagate with people to become localized through the time, and this is part of the human mixture that we cannot deny.

The architectural heritage Forum is an occasion to better know the national components, and to rediscover them, mainly by the new generation, who never had the chance to live in an old neighborhood, and walk among mud buildings in the shade of “Sibatat”. It is an occasion to acquire knowledge of the country that makes us proud of the locations where our grandfathers have lived, and of being part of this human civilization. The Forum is an occasion for the owners of traditional buildings, to discover the huge economic resources that lie in these buildings. The whole world is investing in culture, and these buildings that cannot be offset, are a big treasure that will bring a continuous economic income.

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Scientific Committee

Committee reviews with the participation of King Khalid University

Prof. Mashary bin Abdullah al Naim General Supervisor at the National Center of Archeological Heritage (President)

Prof. Abdulaziz bin Sa’ad al Mugren Faculty member at the King Saud University (Member)

Prof. Hisham Ali Mahmud Murtada Faculty member at the King Abdulaziz University (Member)

Prof. Musfer bin Muhammad al Khith’ami Faculty member at the King Khalid University (Member)

Dr Salih bin Ali al Hadhlul Faculty member at the King Saud University (Member)

Dr Zaki Aslan Director of the Regional Center for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage in the Arab Area (Member)

Dr Muhsen bin Farhan al Garni Director of Protection and Documentation at the Center of Archeological Heritage (Member)

Dr Ibrahim bin Idrees Falqi Faculty member at the King Khaled University (Member)

Dr Javid Malek Abdul Faculty member at the King Khaled University (Member)

Dr Hani bin Muhammad al Hinedi Councelor at the National Center of Archeological Heritage (Member)

Dr Walid bin Ahmad al Sayyed General Manager of the Leonard Group and Dar Ma’maar, London (Member)

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The evolution of built-heritage conservation concept in Saudi Arabia since the 1970’s till 2014 Festivalization of Historical Places

22 Mohammed Bagader

38 Dr.-Ing. Mona Helmy

Contents

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Saudi Arabia occupies a huge geographical area with different major vernacular architectural types adjusted to the climatic and environmental conditions in different sites within the Kingdom. These architectural types are: mud architecture in the center of Arabia (Najd), stone architecture in the west southern of Arabia in the mountains area (Asir), African hut architecture type in the south coast of Arabia (Jazan), wind towers architectural type in the east of Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and Mamluk/Ottoman type in the Hejaz region. This significant inheritance deserves not only to be preserved to the next generations but also to be conserved and rehabilitated for economic vitality. In the 1940’s, Saudi Arabia was poor and its towns were lightly inhabited, which allowed the vernacular architectural heritage to continue for a long time, but without any huge development. When in the early 1970’s the country witnessed a huge economic boom from the oil revenues, the country rushed into town buildings and modernization with new urban and architectural vocabularies. This was with catastrophic results for the Saudi urban and architectural built-heritage. While this oil boom in the international society, after the 2nd World War, was appealing to preserve heritage “historical” sites worldwide for next generations [Venice Charter], and Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries that signed this charter. Many experts believe that the Venice Charter was the corner stone of the built-heritage conservation concept and it was not fully activated and understood in Saudi Arabia until the establishment of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) in 2001.

However, in the last decade, Saudi Arabia, on both governmental and non-governmental levels, made a considerable development towards built-heritage conservation concept. In other words, the built-heritage conservation concept in Saudi Arabia has shifted from preserving the national identity and legacy to the commoditisation of heritage for international tourism development. Many examples were shown of this new trend in built-heritage conservation when the authorities inscribed [or tried to inscribe] a number of ”historic” heritage sites as World Heritage Site, such as historic Jeddah, Madain Saleh and historic Al Dir’iya. This paper will attempt to understand how the concept of built heritage conservation evolved in the Saudi Arabian context in both governmental and non-governmental agencies since the 1970’s by asking two major questions; how Saudis understood the concept of built heritage conservation in the 1970’s? It will also examine how the different stakeholders have been involved and contributed to the evolution of the concept of the Saudi built heritage conservation in the 1970’s. In order to achieve the aim of the paper, the researcher will consult the available Saudi literature, official reports, the author surveys, observations and interviews with the different Saudi built heritage stakeholders.

Key words: Saudi Arabia, built-heritage, conservation, stakeholders.

Mohammed BagaderPhD Candidate in Architecture at the University of Manchester Manchester – the [email protected]

The evolution of built-heritage conservation concept in Saudi Arabia since the 1970’s till 2014

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1. IntroductionSaudi Arabia is a young country (82 years old) occupying a huge geographical area that lead to the appearance of a variety of the traditional urban and architectural types, styles, forms and approaches. These vernacular architectural types can be found in different provinces in the Kingdom from the Hejaz region in the west, to Alahsa architecture in the east. The Saudi vernacular architecture styles are different in materials, principles and designs. For instance, Najd’s vernacular architecture depends on mud and Asir’s vernacular architecture was stone architecture (Al-Saleh, 1984). Al-Saleh (1984) and Kaizer (1984) and others discussed in details climatic factors: heat, humidity and rain, topographic and soil, religious, social factors and external cultural factors that had influenced the different architectural types in Saudi Arabia. Also, they studied in each type: the urban fabric, functions and internal utilizations, materials used and external facades. In the beginning of 1940’s, Saudi Arabia was a poor country as

many countries in the region due to the global political situation (the 2nd World War) and other reasons. At that time, the Saudi towns were lightly inhabited, which allowed the vernacular architectural heritage to continue for a period of time, but without any obvious physical development (Alamoudi, 1994). In the early 1970’s, the Kingdom witnessed a huge economic boom from oil revenues (known as the 2nd oil boom). The country rushed into town building and modernization, which is totally different from the traditional ones (Orbasli, 2007). Bianca (1986) in her great book “Traditional Muslim Cities and Western Planning Ideology” rightly described that the urbanization expansion efforts led to demolishing traditional vernacular urban and architectural towns (heritage) to be replaced by modern (concrete) architectural type and modern urban fabrics. This was catastrophic for the conservation of Saudi urban and architectural heritage.

The situation remained as it was in the seventies and eighties with some development in the preservation process, but it was not obvious, and did not have an influential role in the evolution of the built-heritage conservation concept in Saudi Arabia. However, in the last decade (since 2001) Saudi Arabia witnessed a new era of built-heritage conservation concept with new agendas, visions and goals. The Saudi built-heritage concept shifted from preserving some historic sites to conserving many historic/heritage sites by using them as an economic tool “tourism development”. Bagader (2013) believes that the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (STCA) was the moderator for this new trend: the Saudi built-heritage conservation concept. Therefore, this paper attempts to understand how the Saudi built-heritage conservation concept evolved since the unification of the Kingdom. In order to understand how the concept evolved, the paper will focus on the stakeholders as well to find out their contributions in crystallizing the pervious and current built-heritage conservation concept.

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2. The evolution of the Saudi concept of built-heritage conservation The evolution of the built-heritage conservation concept in Saudi Arabia was strongly related to many social, economic and cultural factors. Many observers (Grill, Bianca, Kaizer and Farahat) of the GCC countries in general and Saudi Arabia in particular in terms of the social and urban changes believe the oil boom that Saudi Arabia witnessed was the reason for the loss of many built-heritage sites. Grill (1984), for instance, documented this rush of urban expansion and city development of the GCC countries and he clarified that it was a state policy. During this period (in the early 1970’s), according to Grill, these newly expanding urban centres faced huge waves of rural-urban and international migration to benefit from the rush of modern development. This meant disregarding the conservation of the built-heritage. These cities became huge workshops for bulldozer expansions in all directions, delaying any heritage conservation discourse to emerge.

Farahat (1986) believes that Saudi Arabia may have rich urban and architectural built-heritage sites, but not when it faced the new needs for modernization: rapid changes and a desire for acquiring new modern urban facilities and patterns were prioritized. In most urban growth and expansion, the approach of bulldozer development was chosen to realize quick and efficient modern styles of city building (Tyrrell and MU’AZ’, 2008). That has led to deep major maladjustment and uncomfortable assimilation of western modern styles of urbanism, and loss of the urban and architectural heritage. This was quickly noticed, alas after much damage had taken place. Therefore, new trends and discourses were issued for preserving and conserving the national heritage (Bagader, 2013). The evolution of the Saudi built-heritage conservation concept can be traced as follows:

A) Before the 1970’s (1932-1970): There is no information about the built-heritage conservation or preservation in the beginnings after establishing the Kingdom (1932 until 1970). The author thinks that the Kingdom was under construction and the society was living heritage; therefore, there was no reason to restore, preserve or conserve anything. It is worth to mention the historical background about the international built-heritage conservation concept at the same period (before the 1970’s). The “international” concept of built-heritage conservation has been prompted and supported by a few western countries, following the massive destruction of the historic cities in most European counties that were involved in the Second World War (Steinberg, 1996).

Before the Second World War (in the 1940s), just a few countries in the world appreciated the value of their historic cities and sought to preserve and protect them from destruction, including “demolishing and destroying” (Soliman, 2010). In Europe, for instance, the

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concept of built heritage conservation was limited to the care of historical buildings of special importance (usually castles, palaces, churches, museums and other significant public buildings) by focusing on these monuments individually and isolating them from their urban context (Menon, 1989). For example, in France, the Church of Notre Dame in Paris was conserved, but the historic areas surrounding it were demolished. This was the whole concept of urban architectural conservation before the Second World War (Steinberg, 1996).

However, in the period after the war (in the 1950’s/60’s), the concept of built heritage conservation changed especially in Europe and North America from preserving particular buildings or sites (monuments) to conserving the whole historic urban fabric as it was (Bianca, 2000). Furthermore, there was growing criticism of the two different schools regarding their ways of dealing with the historic areas, the architecture school “modernism” and the planning school “bulldozer” (Steinberg, 1996). On the one hand, “high-rise” housing solutions were being introduced and imposed in the name of modernisation. These faced popular resistance due to the huge shifts in the housing standard as compared with the older types of housing (Steinberg, 1996). On the other hand, the “bulldozer” approach also faced great dissatisfaction, as whole areas were indiscriminately demolished and their social communities thoughtlessly ruined (Dix, 1987). All of these conflicts lead the international society (United Nations) to establish a new authority “ICOMOS1 ” for managing, regulating and organizing heritage sites worldwide, which lead to Venice Charter.

B) Venice Charter (in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s): As mentioned earlier, many of the historical sites in Europe were destroyed after the First and Second World Wars. Therefore, in 1964, ICOMOS with the Venice Charter prompted and supported the establishment of the conservation approach for historic monuments in order to preserve what remained. By 1972, many developed and developing countries signed the UNESCO’s Convention Concerning the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage (Saudi Arabia signed this charter too), and in 1977 the listing of world heritage sites began (WHC.unesco.org, 2014). Since the Venice Charter was only concerned with individual monuments, the UNESCO Convention introduced for the first time the concept of cultural heritage, which became the basis for area conservation and rehabilitation concepts (ICOMOS, 1994). It seems that the first universal action towards the concept of heritage conservation was launched through political efforts.

However, in the beginning of the 1970’s, the concept of built-heritage conservation had just been initiated and understood in Saudi Arabia. Many countries signed the charter at that time, due to the oil boom and the wave of modernisation, as in most GCC countries (al-Nami, 2010). During the oil boom of the 1970’s, the governmental authorities as some experts and

1— The International Council on Monuments

and Sites is one of the first international

organisations for supporting and promoting

the built-heritage conservation concept.

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advocates of heritage noticed that the built-heritage sites in Saudi went through a severe wave of modernization that affected the vernacular built environment (Al-Zahrani, 2010). These rapid changes (since the 1970’s) resulted in a sense of “not belonging” in the urban environment in Saudi Arabia, since people suddenly found themselves in a completely different physical environment compared with their local built environment that they are used to. Indicating the loss of traditional identity in the Saudi built environment, Eben Saleh (1998) writes:

“Recent buildings have lost their traditional identities and have become hybrids of exotic character in their architectural form, main concepts, arrangement of spaces, organization of elements, and building techniques employed.” (Eben Saleh, 1998)

Konash (1980) agrees with Eben Saleh’s statement. He also adds that the Western firms that practiced in Saudi Arabia in that period (the 1970’s) accelerated the loss of the Saudi traditional identity, due to their lack of knowledge about the local culture while suggesting greater collaboration between Saudi and foreign architects (Konash, 1980). No doubt, the Western urban concepts have a huge impact on Saudi cities; therefore, in 1981, Al-Hathloul suggested that the above mentioned traditional architectural types that used to formulate the needs of Saudi families and which responded to the Muslim cultural, social and religious needs should be respected in any future building regulations (Al-Hathloul and Muhal, 1991). Fadan (1983) goes further, attributing the loss of the traditional identity to the social changes happening in Saudi society, writing that the “attraction(s) to the Western life-style have drawn Saudis’ attention away from developing a clear and concise understanding of the evolution of a traditional living environment” (Fadan, 1983). All of these studies agree on the negative impact of the Western urban concepts (modernity) on Saudi cities built environment, which resulted in the loss of its identity and forgetting its authentic heritage.

However, the concept of built heritage conservation in Saudi Arabia, in the 1970’s and 80’s, was subdued for rush towards modernity, that is why Al-Hathloul (1981) and Fadan (1983) attributed the loss of traditional identity to the vast quick social changes that were imposed by unprecedented physical changes in the urban and architectural context. Al-Zahrani (2010) explained that it was the opinion of some that the demolition of old buildings helped expand the urban areas and ease the engagement of redevelopment, in a bulldozer approach (Al-Zahrani, 2010). However, there were also those who advanced the view “we need to conserve our heritage by all forces because it reflects our identity” (al-Naim, 2008).

These two conflicting points of view are not surprising at all, due to the different groups’ intentions, backgrounds and positions. Al-Zahrani (2010) thinks that the Saudi governmental institutions acted very wisely in order to satisfy each point of view. Al-Zahrani also claims that the Saudi authorities supported both points of view

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and that this is very obvious in the planning regulations and sites’ designs. There was a different treatment for the urban expansion and built heritage conservation: for some historic site as the Grand Mosque in Mecca was treated with heritage conservation in mind, while residential urban sites modernity took over (Al-Zahrani, 2010). As mentioned above the government decision to expand and develop the Grand Mosque in Mecca had a unique course.

Another example is “Historic Jeddah” conservation master plan in 1972, designed by the well-known architect Sir Robert Mathew. Historic Jeddah was the first site in Saudi Arabia that has been preserved and documented as a national heritage “heritage zone” with classified sites. Many experts (Adas, Boussa and Angawi) claim that Mathew’s conservation master plan was comprehensive, but the authorities did not apply it as it should have been. The authorities, Jeddah Municipality, took care for the built-heritage conservation circle from the decision making to the implementation processes without involving the other vital stakeholders, such as, the owners, public, heritage activists and advocates and others. It seems that the Saudi authorities worked individually in the built-heritage conservation file rather than working institutionally “involving the public participation”, and this might be one of the reasons for losing many heritage sites in the country. This lack of community involvement in the process of conserving the built heritage has caused a lack of public awareness of the importance of the heritage sites in general.

On the other hand, while Saudis were struggling to understand and implement the concept of the built-heritage conservation in a beneficial way, the international society2 had developed the built-heritage theories, approaches, strategies, policies and implementations worldwide. Many international and national organisations were found in order to support the concept of the built-heritage conservation. IRCICA , for instance, is a research centre for Islamic art and culture, and conserving the Islamic heritage (tangible and intangible heritage) (IRCICA, 2014).

C) After establishing the SCTA (2001 until the present): The concept of the built-heritage in Saudi Arabia remained as it was in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s without any obvious development in the theories, strategies and policies. For instance, according to Okaz’s report (2013) that the physical condition of the Historic Jeddah was deteriorating day after day even with financial support, unique building codes and a clear strategy (Matthews). Historic Jeddah was not the only example but many faced the same destiny. Therefore, in 2001, the Saudi government established the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) in order to reduce the load on Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA) regarding tourism and antiquities, which both concern ‘heritage’.

The department of the Antiquities and Museums in the SCTA is responsible for conserving the heritage sites in Saudi Arabia (MOMRA, 2004) in terms of preservation, rehabilitation and

2—It refers to the United National representa-

tive by the UNESCO. Many good examples were

shown in the world of the UNESCO support

for conserving their built-heritage sites, such

as: Cairo-Egypt, Fes-Morocco, Sana’a-Yemen,

Vince-Italy and many others.

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development (SCTA, 2010). The SCTA has several initiatives in the field of conserving the urban and the architectural Saudi heritage, which can be summarized as follows:

• To protect the heritage sites;

• To classify, designate and register the heritage sites;

• To promote public awareness;

• To rehabilitate and develop heritage sites;

• To help investing and financing heritage projects;

• To offer technical support;

• To engage in partnerships;

• And finally to undertake public activities to raise the awareness.

Regarding the concept of the built-heritage conservation, the SCTA has implemented several projects to conserve different heritage sites in Saudi Arabia. Before indicating one of these projects, we need to mention that there are always different stakeholders in most governmental conservation projects in Saudi Arabia. However, the SCTA is frequently involved, sometimes in the strategic scheme or in the implementation process. One of these projects was the rehabilitation of Mahyial Asir’s traditional market in Asir Province in 2008. The aim of this project was to rehabilitate the old market “souk” to cope with the contemporary requirements but with a traditional image (figure 1). The stakeholders of this project were the SCTA, the Governorate of the Asir region, the Mahyial Asir Municipality, owners and investors (SCTA, 2012). It is important to mention that the Municipality of Mahyial Asir and the SCTA are the key decision-makers in this project without involving the other stakeholders in all conservation stages. This means that the concept has been changed in order to cope with the international theories and strategies of the public participation.

The SCTA accomplished some successful efforts towards built-heritage conservation; for instance, major international recognition was earned by initiatives taken by the SCTA. An accord supporting

Fig.1 A 3D view of the Mahyial Asir traditional market proposed by SCTA (SCTA, 2010))

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the registration of Mada’in Salih, Historic Ad-Dir’iyah, and Historic Jeddah in UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre list (WHC). The SCTA has worked on registering these sites in co-operation with the other related authorities. Mada’in Salih and Ad-Dir’iyah registered in the WHC in 2008 and the Historic Jeddah in 2014.

The registration of Mada’in Salih encouraged the establishment of a local airport in order to facilitate welcoming incoming tourists groups to visit this historic site. Many new facilities, such as hotels, cafes and transportation networks were established to enhance the expected tourists’ influx. Similar activities were established after the registration of Ad-Dir’iyah (SCTA, 2010). This is an important turning point from the Saudi discourse to merely have a discourse centered on national identity and cultural considerations for built-heritage conservation to a discourse that takes into account economic sustainable tourism.

The aim of SCTA is the establishment of a modern and active industry of tourism in addition to the Hajj and Omra tourists’ tradition (religious tourism). This is visible in active campaigns and programs for local and national tourism and an aspiration, after the WHC registration for an international tourism campaign. This new discourse will necessarily dictate the engagement in a wide variety of non-governmental stakeholders (investors, tourists agencies and international co-operation with UNESCO and WTO). The SCTA initiatives towards the built-heritage conservation concept made a considerable shift not only in the concept but also in the discourse of conserving national heritage sites in Saudi Arabia and using them as an economic tool “tourism development”.

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3. The Saudi built-heritage stakeholders: their roles, initiatives and perceptionsAccording to a study done by the author4 , the majority (89% of the sample) of Saudis like their heritage and have a relationship with it, both the tangibles and the intangibles, but at the same time, they prefer to live the modern life that fulfils their 21-century needs. The same study shows that some Saudis (25% of the sample) think that the government “authorities” should preserve, conserve and rehabilitate the historic/heritage sites even if they are the original owners of the heritage sites. On the other hand, there are some Saudis (15% of the research sample), most likely the owners of the heritage sites or have direct relation to the site, who attempt to preserve this valuable heritage, in groups or individually. Many experts (Angawi, Adas, Farahat and others) believe that the lack of awareness of the importance of conserving the built-heritage sites, and the dependence on government, has lead to destroy, deterioration and decay of heritage sites in Saudi Arabia. This led to the emergence of a number of people interested in conserving the Saudi built-heritage “stakeholders”. The Saudi built-heritage stakeholders have been affected and influenced at all stages of the evolution of the concept of built-heritage conservation (see 2). The paper suggests four types of Saudi built-heritage stakeholders: the owners of heritage sites, the governmental agencies (authorities), the public sectors and the international organisations. Here, the author attempts to identify the key stakeholders in conserving the Saudi built-heritage by highlighting some of their role, initiatives and perceptions towards the Saudi built-heritage concept.

a) Heritage sites ownersOwners of the heritage sites, and legal heirs of these sites, are the corner stone in the conservation processes in many conservation projects worldwide5 (Harrison and Hitchcock, 2005). In Saudi Arabia, the majority of the original owners and their heirs were not involved neither in decision-making processes nor in the preservation, conservation and rehabilitation projects and schemes processes, until the SCTA initiatives involved them. Saed Alamoudi6 states that the local authority “Jeddah Municipality” in Historic Jeddah doesn’t involve the house-owners of the heritage sites in the restoration projects even when they know about the projects. He also adds that, the municipality legislated very strict regulations7 that wouldn’t allow owners or investors to restore or rehabilitate their properties in Historic Jeddah. Another owner, Ahmed Banaja8 claims that the main obstacles facing the owners and their heirs are legal arrangements. He thinks that the SCTA is doing a very good job on this level. In his opinion, the Historic Jeddah, and other heritage sites in Saudi Arabia in general, will never be upgraded if the legal issues still persist. Many other examples were shown in different provinces in Saudi Arabia, for instance, Rejal Alma’ in Asir and the important role of some families and investors to conserve and rehabilitate their old villages. However before establishing

4— This study carried out in Saudi Arabia

(Jeddah, Medina, Mecca, Dammam and Riyadh)

by the author in the period between June and

December 2013. The study was part of the

author fieldwork “data collection phase” for

his PhD study at the University of Manches-

ter – Architecture department. The research is

still in the analysis phase at the moment and

in this paper some of the results are presented.

The author conducted interviews (structured

and semi-structured interviews) with many

built-heritage stakeholders. The sample ex-

ceeds 80 participants from different stakehold-

ers (owners, investors, academic staff, tourism

agencies, governmental agencies and others).

5—See Old Fes and Old Cairo conservation

schemes.

6—Saed Alamoudi is one of the owners in

Historic Jeddah

7—Jeddah Municipality

8—Ahmed Banaja is one of the Banaja’s family

member owning many properties in Historic

Jeddah. He is interested in restoring his family’s

properties to be conserved for next family gen-

erations. He faced many legal issues due to the

big number of heirs, and the legal procedures

are taking very long time to be done, he claims

that the SCTA made an arrangement with the

Ministry of Justice to ease these procedures in

order to save their heritage properties.

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the SCTA in 2001, the role of the heritage sites owners in the conservation circle was ineffective and not active due to the lack of the awareness of their vital role in the conservation processes. There were some good and bad initiatives done by the owners to restore, preserve, upgrade and rehabilitate their properties but most of them faced different obstacles that can generalise their roles in the evolution of the Saudi built-heritage conservation concept. After conducting interviews with more than 50 owners the obstacles can be defined as follows: lack of restoration techniques, shortage of traditional materials, lack of finical support, legal issues, strict regulations and not involving them in any of the conservation processes (decision-making, consulting process, supervision and maintaining process).

b) The governmental agencies (authorities)There are many governmental agencies that have direct or indirect relations with the built-heritage sites and evolution of the concept in general. These agencies, in a way or another, can be defined as follows: the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA), the Ministry For Islamic Affairs, Endowment, Dawa and Guidance (MOIA), and the SCTA.

MOMRAIn Saudi Arabia the MOMRA is in charge of legislating the built environment regulations, polices and strategies with co-operation with the other ministers and organisations (public and private). The heritage sites are one of these built environment components, therefore, MOMRA is in charge to restore and preserve the historic and heritage sites in Saudi Arabia as one of its duties by legislating suitable regulations for each site in order to cope with the surroundings built environment. Each municipality has its own agenda; for instance, in 2010 Jeddah Municipality established a special municipality in order to preserve the city legacy “Historic Jeddah Municipality ”9.

MOIAMany historic and heritage sites in Saudi Arabia are mosques and endowments “Waqfs”. 35% of the heritage sites in Historic Jeddah are waqfs (mosques are waqfs in the area). Maintaining and conserving these historic and heritage sites are part of the MOIA duties. Therefore, MOIA should play an important role in the evolution of the built-heritage conservation concept in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, according to many experts; the MOIA has not upgraded the heritage sites that are under their supervision in the past decade. That is due to many reasons, such as, the ministry doesn’t have experts in conserving such sites in the right way. (Recently, the ministry made a co-operation with the SCTA to develop the heritage sites in different unclear means). It seems that the MOIA realized that the heritage sites must be kept under the SCTA’s supervision in order not to lose them.

9— In order to inscribe Historic Jeddah as

world heritage site at UNESCO, the UNESCO

required a special heritage management depart-

ment in the historic core of Jeddah.

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SCTAThe SCTA is playing an important role in changing the discourse towards the built-heritage conservation concept in Saudi Arabia by making co-operations and partnerships with public and private sectors. The SCTA spent years to educate its staff about the importance of conserving the built-heritage, and then started to educate the other stakeholders in both levels public and private. It seems that the SCTA is the main engine in the process of the evolution of the Saudi built-heritage concept. However, the SCTA has a big dream of putting Saudi Arabia on the international tourism map via the heritage sites by inscribing three sites in the world heritage list at UNESCO.

c) The public sectors: In the last three decades, there were some initiatives by the public, individuals and groups, who attempted to raise the awareness towards the importance of conserving the built-heritage sites in Saudi Arabia. These initiatives were materialised in a number of public lectures, restoration projects, future visions, tourism activities, conservation campaigns and others. This type of the Saudi built-heritage conservation stakeholders was confined to a small number of members of the society and they are often specialists such as Dr. Sami Angawi10 until the SCTA supported this type of stakeholders. In addition, some of the public sectors are non-profit groups and organizations are using built-heritage for business. Both of them, in one way or another, are making a huge shift in the built-heritage conservation concept by prompting heritage and tourism development. This section of the paper will shed light on some examples from this important type; they can be classified to the following:

1. Activists and advocates (individuals or in groups)Most of the Saudi built-heritage activists and advocates were, and still are, volunteering in non-profit organisations or individuals. In Saudi Arabia, there are many built-heritage groups and individuals supporting and prompting the concept of conserving this heritage for next generations. On one hand, there is the Architectural Heritage Center, Al Turath Foundation, Saudi Heritage Preservation Society and many others are focusing on the heritage sites in the national level. On the other hand, there are many groups and organisations (public participation) in local level (cities level). For instance, in Jeddah alone, there are two main groups: Jeddah’s Heart Group and the Conservation Society of Architectural Heritage. Many other examples were shown in Historic Jeddah only, for example, “Mag’ad Jeddah we Ayamna al Hilwa” is a small gallery and museum presenting some of Jeddah’s history. Ahmed Badeeb is another example. He bought Salama’s House11 in old Jeddah in order to preserve and rehabilitate it into a museum. This situation is witnessed not only in Jeddah, but also in the whole country. It means that the public has started to participate in the conservation processes and raise of public awareness.

10—In the 1980’s Dr. Sami Angawi and a small

group of Saudi architects rented a heritage

house (waqf) in Historic Jeddah and made it

an architect firm as part of supporting the idea

of conserving the built-heritage sites in Saudi

“Amar Group”. Amar is a great example of a tra-

ditional building that uses some modifications

in order to promote a comfortable environment

with respect to the traditional context.

11—Salama House is one of the heritage houses

in Historic Jeddah.

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2.Investors Due to the great interest by the governmental agencies and the private sectors in preserving and conserving the Saudi built-heritage, many investors and experts became interested in participating in this huge shift in the Saudi built-heritage concept. Some of the investors are interested in tourism development and others are interested in launching projects that are strongly related to heritage. Sameer Algomssani12 is working as tourist agent. Oddly, many Saudi females are making arrangements with both Mr. Algomssani to visit the area and know more about their families’ past. Both are recognised by the authorities. Saleh Gadeh is another good example. He has an architectural firm called Alsyahya. He made a considerable shift in preserving Asir’s heritage by designing and implementing many heritage villages. It seems that the Saudis understood that built-heritage conservation has economic vitality.

Fig.2 Amar headquarters building (re-using heritage). (AKTC, 1988)

Fig.3 Salama House (Badeeb’s now) after preserving it by Mr. Ahmed Badeeb (the author, 2013)

12—Mr. Sameer Algomssani is an expert in

tourism. He is a lecturer in King Abdul Aziz

University and in Prince Sultan College For

Tourism and Business. Mr. Algomssani did

many visits to Saudi females, international

visitors and others in Historic Jeddah. He is

recognised by the authorities as a tourist guide.

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d) The international organisations Saudi Arabia is part of the international community; therefore, many international organisations that support the built-heritage concept are interested in the Saudi heritage. Saudi Arabia, as mentioned earlier, has a rich heritage in both tangibles and intangibles, and many of the heritage sites have a universal significance. UNESCO, IRCICA, OIC and other international organisations are interested in the Saudi built-heritage and consider themselves as stakeholders of its continuity for the next generations.

4. Conclusion The Saudi built environment heritage was rich and diversified in the different regions. Unfortunately the country has, for a long time, suffered from poverty, isolation and stagnation. Since the early 1970’s, with the advent of the oil boom, it was state policy to expand major urban concentration sites. In the first four Five-year plans, Saudi Arabia has witnessed quick urban expansion and population concentration in what was called the development axis (Grill, 1984). This had catastrophic effects on urban heritage, which led to the emergence of debated views on built-heritage conservation. Some voices preferred bulldozer approaches, but other voices started to point out the significant loss in local, traditional, and national heritage, and insisted on a discourse of built-heritage conservation. A series of governmental and non-governmental initiatives enforced the emergence of preferring a discourse of heritage conservation for many reasons. The establishment of SCTA in 2001 gave weight and momentum for the discourse of built-heritage conservation, but with an innovative addition of developing tourism to ensure the sustainability and vitality of the sites. But it is still early to assess how successful the new evolution of such a discourse can be. Perhaps the desire to inscribe/register historic sites in Saudi Arabia has stimulated and urged the consideration of new radical and basic changes in viewing and elaborating built-heritage conservation discourses. This new vision and shift necessitated considerations of making the heritage conservation viable and economically self-supporting plans. Therefore, Sustainable tourism development is the need of a holistic undertaking of built-heritage conservation from preserving national heritage and legacy. Also, this perhaps, has changed the way all stakeholders’ views of what built-heritage conservation is about. Finally, SCTA plays a vital role in raising the importance of the Saudi built-heritage sites, collaborating with governmental authorities and private agencies in the Kingdom in order to upgrade, revive and rehabilitate the historic and heritage sites. Many individual initiatives existed before the establishment of SCTA, but that only occurred after the embellishment of Saudi built heritage became institutional. In the coming future, the whole built-heritage sites must be managed and developed by united management, and involve all key stakeholders in order to conserve the remains of heritage sites in the right way.

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Festivalization refers to the use of flagship cultural, religious, artistic and social festivals and events as a means to market specific place. This paper argues that event-places, cultural celebrations, social occasions and gatherings have resulted in crucial impacts on the historical city spaces. Many examples in Riyadh, Dubai, Doha, Muscat, and Jeddah, as well as in many other sites are evident. Through the promotion of exciting representation of historical city spaces and the presentation of their socio-cultural values, event-spaces in historical areas have not only become the means by which the interests of heritage authorities, developers, visitors and residents are increased, but they also act as instruments that enhance and support the charming identities of historical places. Consequently, the evaluation of impacts of festivals of all kinds on historical city spaces is very much needed in order to guide future successful development policies. The main objectives of this paper are to conceptualize why festivals, events, and spectaculars

are increasingly becoming important city development tools/policies, as well as to investigate how creative approaches to the regeneration and revitalization of city spaces can enhance cities’ positions through the quality, experience, performance, and representation of the city space. The paper identifies the main approaches of (re)making historical public spaces under the “excitement”, “fantasy”, “communication” and “exchange” qualities of festivalization processes, while at the same time integrating the authentic and integral qualities of the historical city space. Thus, the research paper seeks to establish a new perspective for reading, interpreting, and revitalizing historical city spaces through festivalization.

Key words: Festivalization, Historic Places, Event- places, Festivals, Events, Historic Jeddah

Dr.-Ing. Mona HelmyAdjunct Professor, University of Stuttgart, GermanyAssistant Professor, Architecture Program, Dar Al-Hekma University, Jeddah, KSARelenbergstr. 57, 70174 Stuttgart, [email protected]

Festivalization of Historical Places

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1. Introduction“There is no space without event.” Bernard TschumiFestivals may occur in the same place on a specific time pattern. Accordingly, altering some or more of its characteristics, acquires new qualities and perceptions. Festivals have become key factors whereby many historical cities adopt major programs of visitors’ development, expressing their cultural identity and enhancing their position as international/regional tourism destinations or investment opportunities via place-marketing. Historical city spaces have been one of the crucial components

of many cities for centuries, from the Greek agora and medieval open market places to today’s pedestrian promenades, traditional shopping quarters, city squares, plazas and atria. However in spite of this historical significance, public spaces have also become subject to concern over the past few decades (Carr et al., 1992; Tibbalds, 1992; Boyer, 1993; Crilley, 1993). Under the influence of globalization trends, city-marketing, cultural industries, historical destinations, and the new landscape of contemporary cities in many regions, city spaces have witnessed the (re)emergence of attractive and fascinating new trends in using public spaces in historical areas as event-spaces of special characteristics. These trends led to significant changes in the quality of city spaces. Constantly changing concepts of public space are not only advancing the historical city image, but have moved further to critically transform the setting, structure, and functions of public spaces.

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2. Research Methodology The research paper explores Historic Jeddah as a main case study of Festivalization. It uses a descriptive analytical approach to examine its key successes, challenges, as well as the direction of future development in this regard.

The analytical model used in figure 1 relies on analyzing and assessing Festivals of Historic Jeddah in terms of context, space, and nature of festivals.

3. Festivalization An event/festive place is “a place characterized by an intimate relationship between a festive activity and spaces that makes them memorable” (Sabaté 2004b:10)Festivals have become key factors whereby many historical cities adopt major programs of visitors’ development, expressing their cultural identity and enhancing their position as international/regional tourism destinations or investment opportunities via place-marketing. In general, some cities have become a vast stage on which festivals and events are organized for the benefit of residents and visitors. Festivalization refers to the use of flagship cultural, religious, artistic and social festivals and events as a means to market a specific place, accordingly altering some or more of its characteristics, acquiring new qualities and perceptions. Recently, festivals/events have become tools for developing cities at large. Figure 2 illustrates the impact of Festivals on City Development.

Fig. 1: Research Analytical Model | Ref.: The Author

Fig. 2: The impact of Festivals on City Development

Ref.: NIE Jing, LU Rong. (2010) ‘City Marketing from the Perspective of Shanghai World Expo’, orient academic forum. http://www.seiofbluemountain.com/uploadproduct/201004/2010glhy02a10.pdf

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4. Festivalization of Historical Places The process of festivalizing the city (as a continuous festival), was described as the ‘festivalization’ of the city (Hitters, 2007). According to Van Elderen (1997:126) festivalization involves the temporary transformation of the town into a specific symbolic space in which the utilization of the public domain is under the spell of a particular cultural consumption pattern. Festivals have many positive impacts on places, where they happen, as well as on the city at large. According to Hauptfleisch, et al, 2007, festivals as cultural events, “eventifies” elements and issues of the particular society in which it is taking place. Festivalizing a historical place expresses its soul and reflects the culture of its nation.

5. Case Study: Historic Jeddah Festivals

5.1 Context Jeddah City dates back almost 3000 years. “Jeddah dates back to the pre-Islamic era as an important place across different civilizations. At the beginning of the Islamic era, Jeddah was the port of the Holy City Makkah in the year 26 AH / 647 AD, and from that time on, the city of Jeddah gained its historic dimension” (see SCTA website). Historic Jeddah, also called downtown Jeddah is located in the center of present Jeddah. Historic Jeddah carries a big part of the city’s heritage. It has many historic houses, courtyards and mosques. It also has traditional Souks, such as Souk Al Aluwi, Souk Al Baddu, Souk Gabil, and Souk Al Nada.In addition, Historic Jeddah has a number of monuments and heritage buildings of archeological interest, such as the Old Jeddah wall and its historical courtyards, including Al Mazloom, Al Sham, Al Yemen, and Al Bahr Haras. It is divided into districts/neighborhoods or Harat, such as Al Mazloom Hara, Haret al-Sham, Haret Al Yemin, Haret Al Bahr, Krintena Hara, Haret Al million Tifl (Hara of million children). Historic Jeddah was recently added to the World Heritage List of UNESCO. Two years ago, SCTA worked with the Jeddah Municipality to preserve the historical area in Jeddah through the development of a plan and a system of buildings, and the preservation of the historic character of the area, and work on the classification of historic buildings, as well as paving streets with stone, and lighting them with traditional lanterns. This happened after the number of historic houses declined from 557 to 350 in recent years, according to Jeddah Municipality and SCTA officials (see Arab news article) “State efforts are aimed at the development of the Jeddah Historic Area architecturally and economically in a way to maintain their identity and meet the requirements of the present time, as well as ensuring the preservation of major component of the national heritage in Saudi Arabia”. The state efforts were manifested in many projects, such as Establishment of the Jeddah Historic Area

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municipality as well as Preservation Department, implementation of lighting and paving projects, restoration of Bait Al Balad, implementation of the first phase of fitting a fire network project, maintaining and cleaning the historic area, among other projects. Through the Jeddah Historic Area Development Project, SCTA aims to preserve and rehabilitate the area architecturally, culturally and economically in a manner that highlights its architectural and cultural heritage landmarks, as well as to encourage its owners to protect their properties. Figure 3 shows an overview of historical Jeddah, which recently experienced a variety of preservation projects.

5.2 Historic Event-places Historic Jeddah Festivals venues were centralized in Jeddah City Center, which is the location of Historic Jeddah Area. As shown in Figures 4 and 5, there were two main routes for the festivals’ activities, one stretching from Bab Al Madina in the north of Al Bay’a Dawar up to Yemeni Hara Omda (tribe chief), and the other extending from Bab Al Bant up to Bab Makkah. Also Naseef Yard had been prepared to host special events among other plazas.

Fig. 3: Historic Jeddah

مسابقة تصوير التراث العمرانى، ملتقى التراث العمرانى الوطنى الرابع منطقة عسير رقم الصورة. 1766. اسم المصور. عبدالله محمد صالح عبدالله. تاريخالصورة. 04/10/2011

http://nbhf.org.sa/ViewParticipantImages.aspx?Page=50

Fig. 4: Sham Route, Ramadanna Keda Festival, Jeddah Ref.: Printed Festival Map

Fig. 5: Yemin Route, Ramadanna Keda Festival, Jeddah Ref.: Printed Festival Map

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5.3 Historic Jeddah Festivals Recently, the Jeddah historic area has begun holding festivals that aim to introduce the heritage and the original culture of the city to new generations. It also aims to highlight the role of Jeddah as a gateway to the Two Holy Mosques, and as an important station through which all the cultures and civilizations of the Kingdom have passed.Three major festivals have been held to date in the Jeddah Historic area (figure 6). The first festival done was “Kunna Keda” or (We were like that) Festival. It lasted for 10 days and provided 50 events that are designed to recall the past of the Jeddah Historic Area. The event addressed all the sectors of the society as the festival is featuring a number of cultural events including, poetry, art shows, etc. As shown in figure 7, the event was visually mapped to highlight the festival route with its activity.Following the success of “Kunna Keda” Festival, “Ramadan Keda” or (Our Ramadan was like that), followed by “Eidna Keda” or (Our feast was like that) festivals were presented to celebrate the heritage of Jeddah. Heritage and handmade artifacts shops were spread over both sides of each of the avenues of the festival crowded by traditional water vendors, carts, street vendors and Mosahrati.Three museums were also integrated as part of the festival avenues. The three museums are “Jeddah Seat”, “Our Sweet Days” and “Hejazi Costume Museum”.

5.4 Historic Jeddah Festivals as City Development Tools Recently, festivals and events have been recognized as important city development tools. They are included in many levels in the city planning processes and through city development and regeneration programs and projects. Governmental organizations, private investors and non-governmental organizations are usually the initiators of festivals to address specific goals and objectives as follows.

5.4.1 Festivalization as a Tool for Revitalizing/Representing Historical PlacesThere is no doubt that associating festivals with historical places gives them a different value, creating their identity. On the national level, some historical places are mentally connected with festivals taking place on them. Summer Festival in Abha with its activities and vivid colors even on street’s asphalt, Al-Jenadriyah in Riyadh with its heritage and cultural festival (figure 8), and many others not only represent their historical places, but also promote and shape the identity of their cities at large in Saudi Arabia and worldwide. On an international level, the Edinburg festival (figure 9) creates an identity of Edinburg City and represents its heritage, IL-Palio di Sienna Festival (figure 10) that is being held twice per year in Piazza del Campo, and is visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors, raising the reputation of the city and confirming its position on the

Fig. 6: Jeddah Historic Festivals Website Ref.: http://www.historicjeddah.com/#!about/c4nz

Fig. 7: Map of Kunna Keda Festival showing its route Ref.: Printed Festival Map

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international map and as a destination, and many other festivals have also succeeded in representing their places and strengthening their identity.

5.4.2 Festivalization as a Tool for Shaping/Confirming the Place Identity Festivals, as part of the place media generated image and among other factors, have a strong impact in shaping the place identity through the mental image. Figure 11 illustrates the three main components that shape the place identity. These components include place visual identity, place behavioral identity and place mental image. Residents, visitors, and even virtual visitors (through visiting festivals’ websites) are usually linking or identifying the place with the activities taking place in it. Venice Carnival, shown in figure 12, confirms the identity of Piazza San Marco, the historical piazza of Venice. Likewise, Historic Jeddah Festivals aims to mix entertainment with history to give Jeddah visitors a chance to reconnect with the city’s past traditions and the authentic character of the place. Figure 13 shows a cultural and traditional show presented during Historic Jeddah Festival, among other cultural and entertainment activities offered through the festival.

Fig. 8: Janadriyah Festival, Riyadh Ref.: http://www.opposingviews.com/sites/default/files/featured_image/Janadriyah.jpg

Fig. 9: Edinburg Festival Ref.: http://www.tattoocanyon.com/67-military-tattoos/16747-military-tattoo-highlands-festival-edimbourgh-ecosse/

Fig. 10: Il Palio di Sienna Festival, Sienna Ref.: http://diegobraghi.blogspot.de/2013/07/palio-di-siena-horse-race.html

Fig.11: Shaping the Place Identity Ref.: The author

Fig. 12: Venice Carnival in Piazza San Marco Ref.: http://cache.daylife.comimageserve/0boz4UP3fK4dS/610x.jpg

Fig. 13: Historic Jeddah Festival Cultural and Art Activities

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5.4.3 Festivalization as a Tool for Urban Regeneration Holding festivals in historic places is usually connected with urban regeneration policies and enhancement projects. Historic Jeddah Festivals, such as “Kunna Keda” and “Ramadanna Keda” (figure 14) are very good examples of representing how spaces of Historic Jeddah celebrated these event through urban regeneration and beautification processes. Also, the event that was done to celebrate the declaration of the Historical Area in Jeddah on June 21st, 2014 as a World Heritage site by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was a manifestation of what is called event-place, where one is interacting /affecting the other.

Fig. 14: Ramadanna Keda Festival, Historic Jeddah Ref.: Danyl G. Lada Photography http://www.historicjeddah.com/#!pics/ckit

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5.4.4 Festivalization as a Tool for Historic Jeddah Restoration There are massive projects for the enhancement and restoration of the Houses of Historic Jeddah. The enhancement project ranges from complete restoration of some old buildings, to preservation of other buildings, or for some historic buildings, the enhancement is limited to repainting their facades. The restoration project also ensures the survival of traditional architecture by requiring that modern buildings in old Jeddah conform to the exterior design elements of the historic structures. More than the beauty of the restored buildings and the modern structures that follow them, Historic Jeddah’s sense of community was considered in the restoration project. 5.5 Historic Jeddah Festivals: Impact Assessment Although festivals and events held in any place have many objectives, they also have many impacts on their venues/places that might be positive or negative. Those impacts are often measured and assessed before, during, and after the event. Impact assessment could be generalized and summarized under three main areas: environmental, economic, and social.

5.5.1 Festivalization Environmental Impact Historic Jeddah’s public spaces celebrated its recent festivals by developing and implementing a variety of public amenities in order to enhance the quality of the public realm. Those amenities, such as trash bins, lighting elements, signage systems for way finding as well as for the shop names, shown in figures 15 & 16, have facilitated and maximized the practical usage of the space. They also minimized negative implementations of space usage by crowds, such as pollution and vandalism. In addition, a special “Lightingscape” project took place to focus on illuminating some of the historic buildings as well as overall ambience lighting (figure 17) that integrated with the overall sense of place.

Fig. 15: Historic Jeddah Urban Furniture Ref.: The Author

Fig. 16: Signage of Shops in Historic Jeddah Ref.: The Author

Fig. 17: Historic Jeddah Lightscape Ref.: The Author

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5.5.2 Festivalization Impact on Economy The three Historic Jeddah Festivals have impacted the economy in a very positive way. As per MAS, 743,390 visitors have visited “Kunna Keda” Festival. 70% of the festival’s visitors stayed in Jeddah for more than three nights as represented in figures 18 & 19, while 30% stayed three nights or less. The average daily expenditure was highest for accommodation, followed by transportation and shopping, which were higher than expenditures forfood and entertainment (figure 20).

5.5.3 Festivalization Impact on Civic Pride Historic Jeddah festivals have resulted in raising the civic pride of Jeddah residents as well as visitors. As illustrated in figure 21, some of the visitors have acknowledged their satisfaction and civic pride by writing statements on one of the walls that was assigned for this purpose.

Fig. 21: Visitors Statements showing their satisfaction and civic pride Ref.: The Author

Fig. 18: Number of Kunna Keda Visitors Ref.: MAS

Fig. 19: Number of Nights by the visitors of Historic Jeddah Festivals Ref.: MAS

Fig. 20: Average of daily expenditure Ref.: MAS

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6. Conclusion There are some recommendations that need to be considered when planning an event-space. The objective of these recommendations is to draft and highlight a balanced relationship between a festival and its space, as follows:

6.1 Innovation Innovation in (re)creating event-spaces should be done by the use of novel ideas, in order to apply an original solution to design program or requirements. Likewise it could the implementation of existing ideas taken from a different field.

For example, many festivals make use of unusual venues, which may add an unexpected design of event-spaces that inspire new event programs and generate considerable attention. It also attracts numbers of the public who normally do not go to traditional event venues.

6.2 Livability Livability of an event-space should be done through promoting the quality of life in public spaces and making it attractive, safe, and organized. This is accomplished, through safety, comfort, quality environment, mixed activities and recreation, such as restricting traffic circulation and introducing the short-term pedestrianization of spaces or creating special places and open-air stages.

6.3 Connectivity Connectivity of event-space is the interaction, integration, and reaction between the event and the place, which add value to both of them. For example, event programs that overlap, taking place at the same time, might be linked together to create a strong sense of collective series that any single event program would find difficult to achieve.

6.4 Interaction To consider the interaction of event-space by creating spaces within the event where ‘insiders’ can meet and interact, or by transforming streets, parks and public squares into performance spaces. For example, by developing a feeling of enclosure and building bonding and bridging social gaps through special initiatives, activities and the design of intercultural gathering spaces.

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6.5 Flexibility Flexibility in event-spaces is often shown as the ability of a place to respond efficiently to varying conditions, to fit to occurring changes affecting its capacity. For example, by concentrating activities in a relatively small space or over a short period of time to create a heightened sense of animation and festivity, or by re-organizing pathways, route networks that efficiently link event-spaces and events together in a flexible way.

6.6 Imaging Promoting event-space imaging, which is the representation or reproduction of a place’s visual impressions; responding to and reinforcing locally distinctive perception and visual identity of the places that generate events.

In many cases, visitors actually have a more positive image of the places that they visit than residents, who may be more keenly aware of the negative aspects of the place.

6.7 Sense of Place Creating a sense of place is one of the key elements of place distinctiveness. This involves highlighting unique physical features and historic/ contemporary landmarks, rivers, canals, or green spaces, which creates critical success factors for many events. Cultural events can be an important means of underpinning a sense of belonging and local pride.

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References

Bott, H. (2006) Stadtgestaltung in der Global-isierung, Universitaet Stuttgart, Germany.

Boyer, C. (1993), ‘The city of illusion: New York’s public places’, in P. Knox (Ed), The Restless Urban Landscape, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Carr, S., Francis, M., Rivlin, L.G., & Stone, A. (1992). Public space, Cambridge Univ. Press

Crilley, D. (1993) Megastructures and urban change: Aesthetics, ideology and design, The Restless Urban Landscape, ed. P.L. Knox, Pren-tice Hall, New Jersey

Gotham, K. (2005) Theorizing urban spec-tacles: Festivals, tourism and the transforma-tion of urban space, CITY, VOL. 9, NO. 2.

Häusserman, H. (1993) Festivalisierung der Stadtpolitik: Stadtentwicklung durch grosse Projekte, Westdeutscher Verlag.

Sabaté, J. (2004b) Some lessons to be learned from event places, in J. Sabaté, D. Frenchman and M. Schuster (eds.), “Event Places”. Barce-lona: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and Massachusetts Institute of Technology,

Tibbalds (1992) Making People Friendly Towns, Taylor & Francis

Van Elderen, PL (1997) Suddenly One Sum-mer: A Sociological Portrait of the Joensuu Festival. Joensuu: Joensuu University Press

Internet websites:

SCTA website, Old Jeddah, visited on 10.08.2014

www.scta.gov.sa/en/Antiquities-Museums/InternationallyRegisteredSites/Pages/Jeddah-HistoricalDevelopment.aspx

Jeddah Historic Area Festival

www.scta.gov.sa/en/Programs-Activities/Pages/HitoricalJeddahFestival.aspx

www.historicjeddah.com/#!about/c4nz

Historic Jeddah

www.scta.gov.sa/en/Antiquities-Museums/InternationallyRegisteredSites/Pages/OldJed-dah.aspx

Arab News, Jeddah Heritage Festival concludes its 10-day run

www.arabnews.com/news/516026

Historic Jeddah Restoration Project

www.saudiembassy.net/files/PDF/Publications/Magazine/1999-Winter/preserving.htm

“culture of architectural heritage” in our country, and what was a

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