Sustainable development of historical areas: study of one of the global experiences

Abstract

This research included some concepts of historical areas that were exposed to the concepts of sustainable development to deal with historical areas, to derive from them the benefit that we are trying to apply to historical areas in our Iraqi cities. By reviewing the concepts of sustainable development in the field of historical areas, we find alternative solutions or policies that have already been applied, and they aim to develop historical areas, especially those located in city centres and also aim to achieve various concepts of urban and environmental development in these areas (such as preservation, restoration and rehabilitation). This is in addition to realizing the concepts of economic and social development (such as Al-Aziz, social cohesion, economic growth, and others). Accordingly, the research problem is the lack of knowledge regarding the application of the concepts of sustainability in projects and programs for historical areas locally. While the hypothesis was that sustainable development provides the basic capabilities to solve projects and programs for historical areas that have been exposed to the concepts of sustainability to deal with them for some experiences through which we can benefit and try to apply them in our cities and line with the Iraqi nature. The research aims to review some of the Arab and international experiences of dealing with historical areas in light of the concepts of sustainability. The methodology was following the functional, analytical approach to know the most important indicators related to reaching the objectives of the research. The research found that the best mechanisms or policies in dealing with historical areas are those that deal with the concepts of urban sustainability. It was found through sustainable global experiences that the most important results are the general planning of sustainable development projects, the financing needed to complete sustainable projects, the role of popular participation in this project, institutional thought factors to complete sustainable environmental projects, technical and urban factors necessary for these projects, and the most important tools used in the research is a descriptive analysis by analysing the results of sustainable global experiences.