Publications

Quattrone, G. & Bandyopadhyay, S., 2013. Changing communities and discarded landscapes. Strategies and methods towards new life cycles for Omani traditional oasis environments. Planum. The Journal of Urbanism, 27(2)

Abstract

Following Oman’s post-1970 rapid modernization and the flourishing of better rewarding jobs and life opportunities, local communities have been lured away from living within oasis traditional environments. The dilapidation of historic built fabric and the neglect of agricultural land have brought about a constellation of discarded landscapes. Building on research and fieldwork conducted towards the delivery of Heritage Management and Development Master Plans for the traditional mud brick settlements of Saybani and Yemen, in the oasis towns of Barkat al-Mawz and Izki, the paper proposes strategies and methods to introduce new life cycles. In an attempt to address the imperative of ensuring growth without consuming the planet’s finite resources, including land, heritage management provides an opportunity to rethink current development logics by proposing a culturally and environmentally informed approach based on reformulation of functions, resignification of identities, reactivation of territories through social inclusion and functional diversity.

Keywords

• Discarded oasis landscapes
• Continuity and change in traditional environments
• Recycling strategies and methods