Management of a Historic Oasis

Abstract

Boasting a history of several millennia, the oasis of Bam, Kerman, is the first Iranian cultural landscape inscribed on the World Heritage List. It was initially nominated as the Bam Citadel and its related archaeological sites, but in the course of its evaluation, its boundaries and definitions were modified and it was inscribed both on the World Heritage List as well as the World Heritage List in Danger as a cultural landscape, immediately after the disastrous earthquake in 2004. This posed serious management challenges for Iranian authorities who were not at all familiar with the notion of a cultural landscape or with the increased requirements for its management. Assisted by UNESCO, the Iranian authorities tried to elaborate a Comprehensive Management Plan addressing diverse aspects of this endangered property. Preparation of a full-fledged Management Plan and its adoption at the highest level thus became a process of trial and error to find working relations and reach mutual understandings between international, national and local actors. Furthermore, the implementation of the Management Plan demonstrated the need for continuous capacity building and forging cross-sectoral working relationship to manage a cultural landscape. Although without official announcement, it could be observed that the operations to implement the Management Plan in practice covered three levels: (a) the monument and registered properties, (b) public buildings and those of special interest such as the traditional bazaar and (c) daily urban development and reconstruction of privately owned small-scale units, such as houses, shops and offices. These levels have their related practical considerations to achieve the same objective of integrating the cultural identity of the built heritage within the pre and post-disaster planning. This chapter examines this experience with respect to the political environment, reconstruction procedures, and decision-making processes, revealing valuable lessons for the integration of cultural heritage within the pre and post-disaster planning and implementation. Based mainly on unpublished reports and first-hand observations of the authors, this chapter recounts a critical review and lessons learnt in a decade-long process leading to the removal of the property from the World Heritage Danger List in 2015.