Outreach & Dissemination

The talk Omani Oasis Settlements: Reengaging a Discontinuous Spatiality, delivered by Prof Soumyen Bandyopadhyay, as part of the workshop Mudbrick Settlements of the Oman Peninsula: Inhabited – Abandoned – Re(dis)covered (University of Leipzig, December 8-9, 2022) addresses the question of the effective employment of heritage in spatial planning and development and draws on examples of historic research and heritage management planning to study the problem in the Omani context.

Oman National Spatial Strategy (ONSS) provides a distinctive opportunity to align cultural and natural heritage with developmental needs and goals. It potentially offers opportunities for removing ruptures and establishing layered spatialities. However, heritage remains understood and conceptualised in a myopic way, which fosters spatial and cultural discontinuity, and prevents the active presence of the ‘pasts’ from being fully explored or interpreted within a developmental agenda. In addition, unimaginative procurement practices for planning and design services limit the exploitation of heritage sites. Drawing on ArCHIAM’s heritage management planning and implementation experiences, especially the work undertaken in Bahla WHS, Misfat al-‘Abriyin and Bawshar, the paper argues for a more comprehensive approach to managing oasis heritage, including the need for rigorous documentation and the opportunities offered by virtual experiences for ensuring their continued presence within a fast evolving cultural landscape.