Historic Urban Core Research Articles

Prioritizing fire risk factors in historic urban cores of India: an analytic hierarchy process approach

Purpose This study aims to present a comprehensive examination of fire risk components in the historic core areas of Indian cities through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) lens. Urban fire incidents pose significant threats to public safety and infrastructure, necessitating a systematic evaluation of key risk factors. Design/methodology/approach This study presents a comprehensive examination of fire risk components in the historic core areas of Indian cities through the AHP lens. Urban fire incidents pose significant threats to public safety and infrastructure, necessitating a systematic evaluation of key risk factors. Leveraging the AHP methodology, this research identifies and prioritizes critical criteria, including area-level vulnerabilities, socio-economic vulnerabilities, building-level capacities, emergency service capacities and historical fire incidents along with other crucial components. The hierarchical structure facilitates a nuanced analysis, allowing for comparing criteria and alternatives to derive precise priority weights. Findings The findings provide a strategic understanding of the factors contributing to fire risk in the historic urban cores, offering valuable insights for urban planners, emergency service personnel and policymakers. The study emphasizes strategic prioritization through the AHP framework. This study contributes to the broader discourse on urban resilience by offering a robust methodology for assessing and managing fire risks in the dynamic urban landscape of Indian cities. Originality/value This study contributes to the broader discourse on urban resilience by offering a robust methodology for assessing and managing fire risks in the dynamic urban landscape of Indian cities.

Notes on Urban and Architectural Heritage Conservation of Historic Cores in the Middle East: A Critical Review, Evaluation and Recommendations

The historic cores in the Middle East (after this referred to as “ME”) region, a fragmented and thoroughly changed region during the 19th and 20th centuries, have many identities and authenticity challenges. Unfortunately, the rapid development rate, economic and rapid urbanisation, fast population increase, conflicts, lack of appreciation and awareness, and increasing market values gradually replace urban heritage buildings with newer, higher-density identity-less structures. This paper attempts to present the features, obstacles, challenges, and opportunities facing the urban built heritage at the historical cores and the neighbourhood within their physical, cultural and social life in the ME. It analyses questions for maintaining identity and authenticity, the future of traditional physical, technical and functional architectural elements paradigms and their contemporary reinterpretation and rethinking conservation from sustainable technical culture to socio-cultural sustainability. The paper investigates several issues related to the conservation concepts of the urban and architectural heritage in the ME. Special attention is given to the decision-making framework in the conservation practice, the destruction of the traditional urban heritage, and the destruction resulting from the ME region's political changes (modernisation). The focus is to identify, discuss and analyse how to deal with the challenges of maintaining the identity and authenticity of their historic urban cores. Finally, guidelines and framework recommendations are made for possible measures that may be taken for social sustainability.

Social Media Groups in Interaction With Contested Urban Narratives: The Case of Koper/Capodistria, Slovenia

Social media is arguably the most widespread tool for digital communication in Europe and worldwide, which makes it particularly important to investigate how this type of communication tool affects and reflects the processes that shape the urban physical and socio-cultural environment. Its influence on urban realities may be twofold: On one side we can use it as a reflection (or extension) of the processes that occur on the ground; on the other side, the specific ways in which social media operate might influence processes that shape the urban environment. This interaction between the urban and digital spaces is increasingly influencing how collective memory and related heritage discourses are shaped, transformed, and contested. In this article, we present the case of Koper (Italian: Capodistria), the main seaside harbour town of Slovenia, which faced a deep demographic and socio-cultural transformation in the aftermath of the Second World War. Its historic urban core became a deeply contested urban environment, where a hegemonic historical narrative clashed with several subaltern ones. The dissonance between contested narratives has re-emerged in the digital space through a handful of history-oriented Facebook groups in recent years. We analyse how digital tools have influenced the dynamics between the contested narratives and how these refer to specific locations within the town or to its historic urban core as a whole.

Preserving the traces of conflict: The role and meaning of memory in the rehabilitation of buildings along walled Nicosia's buffer zone

PurposeThis paper focuses on the topic of memory during and post conflict and considers how it is expressed materially, spatially, and symbolically within the urban context of walled Nicosia in Cyprus. This is done to establish and define the role of memory and how this is manifested alongside the buffer zone, following the permanent division of the city (and of the island of Cyprus) in 1974, between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. Study design/methodologyThis academic piece employs the assessment of quantitative and qualitative data deriving from semi-structured interviews taken from relevant stakeholders living and working in Nicosia, as well as the author's qualitative empirical findings to unveil the role and the meaning of memory in the rehabilitation of buildings along walled Nicosia's buffer zone. FindingsThe empirical findings of this research demonstrate that despite the Nicosia Master Plan's efforts to safeguard the Cypriot capital's historic urban core, the ongoing division materialises as a tangible transmitter of intangible meanings, closely linked to the memories of conflict. These memories affect people's perceptions about the areas close to and across the boundary. More specifically, the interview responses point out that public interaction with the areas closer to the buffer zone is limited, selective and can often result in the decay of buildings alongside the boundary. This finding is paralleled by the empirical data, which illustrates the poor physical condition of building stock near the buffer zone. Originality/valueThis research contributes to the academic discussion about Nicosia's heritage by introducing new topics and novel empirical insights linked to the division of the city. These include issues such as the interruption spatial patterns through the existence of the buffer zone, heritage prioritisation and obsolescence. In doing so, the creation and dissemination of new knowledge on the specific characteristics of the walled city is achieved, aiming at encouraging a more informed heritage protection, and to support the efforts of the – originally bicommunal - Nicosia Master Plan on both sides of the Cypriot divide.

Correlation between sonic pulse velocity and flat-jack tests for the estimation of the elastic properties of unreinforced brick masonry: Case studies from Croatia

Historic urban cores in southern Europe are characterized by a significant number of existing unreinforced masonry structures that are known for their seismic vulnerability. The first step in the preservation of such damaged buildings is condition assessment and characterization of the mechanical properties of the masonry, which can be achieved using non-destructive, semi-destructive and destructive methods. In this paper, the emphasis is on determining the modulus of elasticity of unreinforced masonry through flat-jack and sonic pulse velocity tests. Both methods are explained in detail and results from eight different case studies are presented. The results are compared and correlations among the techniques are observed, showing that both methods can be suitable for estimating the elastic properties of existing masonry. The paper provides a wide set of experimental data that has been made available. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed. Differences between static and dynamic modulus of elasticity and operational and practicability issues regarding on-site testing are discussed.

Nicosia Master Plan for the Historic Quarters of Selimiye and Omeriye in Cyprus: A Comparative Evaluation

Following the division of Cyprus in 1974 between the Greek Cypriot (South) and Turkish Cypriot (North) Communities, the island has been dealing with a pluralism of social, economic, political and administrative concerns affecting its heritage as well as heritage management. These concerns are particularly visible in the capital of Nicosia, where the historic core of the city has been equally divided between the two communities and has been managed by separate municipal bodies since then. The Nicosia Master Plan (NMP) was introduced as a bi-communal initiative to assist in collaborative management of the city’s heritage, and to prepare its historic core for a possible future event of re-unification. Through the assessment of selected NMP initiatives meant for the historic quarters of Selimiye and Omeriye respectively, this paper attempts to critically examine the impact of division (prompted by conflict) on the heritage of Nicosia. This is achieved through evaluation of the effectiveness of NMP’s efforts on each side of the Cypriot divide. The hypothesis here is that the existing buffer zone significantly impacts its adjacent areas, whereby buildings with closer proximity to the border suffer the most. Despite NMP’s overall contribution in safeguarding a significant part of the city’s historic urban core, the findings demonstrate a departure from its broader bi-communal heritage protection trajectory. Furthermore, novel insights into the use of specific heritage rehabilitation methods are presented and critically discussed, shedding light into the future – pertaining to their impending impact, and on the ways these could assist the heritage protection of the walled city.

Growing interiors – cultivating urban biophilic environments

To address growing urbanization, climate crisis, and food justice, we need to rethink patterns around the global food system. Traditional agricultural processes are labor- and resource-intensive and can be exploitive of local communities and ecosystems. In an increasingly decentralized food system, it is important to further innovate sustainable approaches to food production that support local ecosystems and resource conservation for positive climate and societal impact. This essay presents a case study of an indoor vertical farm in the historic urban core of Lincoln, Nebraska as a form of urban agriculture that creates increased opportunities for localized plant-based food production and access. As an adaptive reuse model for existing or underutilized buildings, it creates a spatial ecosystem of interior space, ecology, and economy, becoming a biodiverse environment for local food production that reconnects communities with their food while enhancing urban food resiliency.

Modelling and Assessing Sustainable Urban Regeneration for Historic Urban Quarters via Analytical Hierarchy Process

The push for urban development and the rapid increase in population have left many historic urban cores vulnerable and subject to deterioration. SDG-11 is often mentioned as the goal in UNDP regeneration, revitalization, and preservation projects regarding historic urban sites around the globe. The goal emphasizes 10 targets that are complex in nature and require closer inspection regarding their interconnectedness when being utilized in real-world scenarios. The current study explores the complexities of the decision-making process in planning urban regeneration projects concerning targets of SDG-11. The study uses a Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) method to investigate how and to what significance the targeted criteria were used in planning for two UNDP urban regeneration project zones in Cyprus. These cases have a complex cultural and socio-political dynamic and pose high contextual significance for the region; therefore, many of these targets are critical in achieving more sustainable regeneration projects. The data collection was done by critically examining the projects’ documentation and conducting interviews with experts involved in the two projects. The data is controlled for internal consistency and anomalies. The study makes its case by comparing the different approaches implemented in these two projects and how effective they were in achieving SDG-11 targets.

Beyond Historic Urban Cores: Conservation and Regeneration Practices in the Garden City Area of Marghera (Venice, Italy)

ABSTRACT Within the Italian context for urban heritage management, this paper aims to discuss conservation and regeneration as a (potentially) combined practice, through the case of the ‘garden city’ of Marghera. Planned in the Venice mainland in the early XXth century, the district underwent a significant planning experiment in the 1990s, but was listed only recently. After examining the reasoning, features and outcomes of such processes, we assess how citizens’ sense of place was taken into consideration, and how it was affected by them.

EXAMINING THE BUILT FORM IN SEREMBAN TOWN FOR TOWN-PLAN ANALYSIS

This paper examined the built form in Seremban town at the urban tissue scale to establish a basis for town-plan analysis of its historic urban core. A buffer was created around each location centre of 25 areas within the boundary of Seremban town (Bandar Seremban), defining an area considered to cover a walking distance of 500m radius; the urban tissues of 13 areas were selected for analysis. The location centres were identified based on geospatial data from the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia obtained in November 2020. Two distinct morphological characters exist in the current town plan of Seremban – the grid-iron (regular) and organic (irregular) patterns. The grid-iron pattern is predominantly visible in the historic urban core while the organic pattern dominates on the periphery. Also, areas identified within the boundary are sparsely distributed in the northern part while in the southern area, they are densely clustered. Therefore, the highest number of overlaps in the northern area is three, whereas up to six are identified in the southern area. This paper is a unique analysis of the built form with two distinct morphological characters. It is important in town-plan analysis of the urban form in Seremban as the study is context specific.

Assessment of masonry structure “Radnički dom” in Mostar

The paper presents the assessment of the building “Radnički dom” (Workers’ Home) in Mostar, which was built in the Austro-Hungarian period, and represents one of the buildings of cultural and historical significance, located in the area of the historic urban core of the city. The paper explains the steps in assessing the condition of the existing structure, which include the collection of existing documentation, structural inspections, tests and calculations, and the assessment and decision on further action. The paper presents the drafts and gives descriptions of the performed visual inspection and the performed static calculation of the existing structure. At the end of the paper, recommendations are given for the rehabilitation and consolidation of the walls of the building: classical methods (injection and grouting) as well as modern methods (carbon strips). The paper points out the complexity of the procedure for the restoration of cultural and historical heritage buildings, the need for valid expertise of the condition and causes of building degradation, the importance of designing details of new structural elements and their corresponding and adequate connections with the original structure of the object.

Fractured landscapes: The racialization of home buyout programs and climate adaptation

The paper analyzes the intersection of racialized land development and U.S. buyout programs to advance a framework for socially sustainable climate adaptation. Using GIS and content analysis, we examine the relationship between the site of contemporary buyout programs and neighborhoods surveyed in the 1930s by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC). To evaluate whether buyout programs are more likely to occur in redlined neighborhoods, we identify the spatial patterns and associations between these two policies. We find that the majority of FEMA-funded buyouts occurring in HOLC-surveyed cities were located outside of graded zones; yet for the buyouts occurring in the graded historic urban core, the majority were located in redlined districts. We then consider how the language used to describe each neighborhood by the HOLC characterizes amenity and hazard and how these descriptions influenced later policy interventions. Using buyouts and HOLC as an example, we engage the color-evasive policy literature to argue for climate adoption policies that recognize the racialized history that has produced unequal vulnerabilities to hazards rather than relying on buyouts as a technical solution to climate change. Moving past recognition towards an agenda of action, we contend that co-production of knowledge is essential to inform environmental-decision making and that the sustainability research community and its allied fields must center environmental justice frameworks for equitable climate adaptation.

Hidden properties of city plans: A case study of Łódź

The article analyses the transformations and the internal diversity of the oldest urban structures of central Łódź, one of the biggest Polish cities. 19th-century Łódź was one of the greatest centres of the textile industry in Europe. Currently, the city faces major challenges, including a dramatic population decrease, population ageing as well as a vast revitalisation of urban structures aimed at reinforcing the new idea of the city’s inward development. The research on the layout of Łódź is based on the modern image of the city as well as four images preserved in historical plans. The subsequent, chronological models are analysed in terms of topological features with the use of space syntax methods. The conducted research made it possible to identify the internal, configurational diversity of the historic urban core of Łódź. A seemingly monotonous, orthogonal urban layout is, from a topological perspective, highly diversified. Due to the actions undertaken in Łódź and aimed at restoring urban structures in the broad sense, the study not only has a cognitive goal, but it also carries a practical context.

A GIS-based methodology for the appraisal of historical, architectural, and social values in historic urban cores

Historic environments represent the evolution of materials and techniques that have been used for the construction these environments over the centuries. Entering into the study of this field entails working not only on the crafts that have constructed these environments but also on the people who made, used, and reinterpreted them by learning about the craftsmen and the idiosyncrasies of the place. The study has adopted several methodologies as reference to examine the material and cultural reality of the rural region of Valencia, Spain. Through the adaptation of international methodologies, researchers have carried out a digital database that compiles and maps out the results of the Local Character Assessment of ten Histotiric Urban Cores by incorporating the historical, architectural, and social values to reinforce the Territorial Heritage Action Plan. One of the critical innovations adopted by this form of assessment is the compulsory integration of tangible and intangible heritage through the active involvement of users and makers. Another innovation is to understand the values behind the dynamism and transformation of historic sites. Hence, this study advances theory and practice on the transmission of knowledge among artisans, researchers, and the population and how contemporary practices help acquire new meanings that overlap the past ones.

The Current State of Built Heritage in Karachi: The Case of Empress Market

Modern Karachi has a fragmented and multifaceted social formation, while its historic core presents a diverse range of historical attributes of its built heritage. The increasing urban population of Karachi contributes heavily to its degradation including the degradation of its historical attributes. There is no effective heritage legislation and there are conflicts between what people do and what the government institutions do. Consequently, there is chaos and deterioration in the inner city. The city has been developing rapidly and the government has proposed many projects for the revival of the historic core of the city. However, most of them have not been successful. The objective of this research is to examine the situation in which heritage buildings face a serious threat. The current research focused on one such project, that is, the Empress Market ̶ the restoration and redevelopment of its historic precinct. It adopted physical observations, archival analysis, and site surveys along with photographic documentation and interviews of the local shop dwellers (especially to focus on the historical evolution of the building) as research techniques. The findings showed that the state of deprivation of the historic core of Karachi is the reflection of a collective devastation of the precinct in terms of social and historic values, which is further supported by the non-prevailing heritage legislative system. The research also investigates the present condition of the Empress Market in connection with its glorious past and urban decay befallen to it over time due to vandalism and the numerous restoration plans proposed for it over the years. The study can be beneficial to comprehend the ground realities concerning the survival of heritage properties within the cumulative urbanization process. The results can be used also to propose the rejuvenation of the lost splendor of the historic urban core of Karachi as a prototype for parallel development schemes.

Planning for historic urban environments under austerity conditions: Insights from post-crash Ireland

In this paper, we examine how conservation-planning and local regeneration in historic urban cores have been re-shaped under austerity conditions and how local planners and local government more generally have negotiated or navigated this emerging austerity terrain. We seek to contribute to wider debates on ‘austerity urbanism’, by examining the impacts of austerity on local planning and how planning officials have attempted to moderate austerity largely imposed by central government (entrenched roll-back neoliberalism) but often through the further roll-out of neoliberalism in local growth strategies. Drawing on the experience of three Irish urban centres, we examine efforts to ‘sell’ the historic city. Both nationally and within the three case study areas, a common overarching theme was evident in the initial post-crisis response to urban development: an emphasis on utilising heritage as a potential economic regeneration pathway. However, while drawing on intangible heritage and heritage narratives for place-branding, the actual protection of tangible built heritage assets was undermined through a greater emphasis on ‘flexible’ planning responses to managing heritage, which seek to minimise barriers to development.

A Holistic Overview of Qatar’s (Built) Cultural Heritage; Towards an Integrated Sustainable Conservation Strategy

Historic urban cores are the backbone of a city’s cultural identity. Maintaining and preserving the socio-cultural, environmental and economic characteristics of the built heritage is vital for cultural identity survival. The Gulf region gathered important architectural and urban richness observed through the massive military towers, mosques, houses, palaces and grand souks. The state of Qatar is under huge pressure to preserve its cultural identity, which resulted from the rapid development, population growth, urban expansion and economic boom since the 1970s. The cities of Qatar are facing difficult challenges to preserve the cultural identity and built heritage without compromising the need for development. Consequently, this study aims to define a set of heritage restoration-preservation tools and an integrated sustainable conservation strategy as part of deliberate planning and design processes. This, certainly, will help achieve sustainable future scenarios for the survival of vernacular architecture and historic buildings in Qatar through their sustained adaptive (re)use.

Soviet Central Asia and the Preservation of History

Central Asia has one of the deepest and richest histories of any region on the planet. First settled some 6500 years ago by oasis-based farming communities, the deserts, steppe and mountains of Central Asia were subsequently home to many pastoral nomadic confederations, and also to large scale complex societies such as the Oxus Civilization and the Parthian and Kushan Empires. Central Asia also functioned as the major hub for trans-Eurasian trade and exchange networks during three distinct Silk Roads eras. Throughout much of the second millennium of the Common Era, then under the control of a succession of Turkic and Persian Islamic dynasties, already impressive trading cities such as Bukhara and Samarkand were further adorned with superb madrassas and mosques. Many of these suffered destruction at the hands of the Mongols in the 13th century, but Timur and his Timurid successors rebuilt the cities and added numerous impressive buildings during the late-14th and early-15th centuries. Further superb buildings were added to these cities by the Shaybanids during the 16th century, yet thereafter neglect by subsequent rulers, and the drying up of Silk Roads trade, meant that, by the mid-18th century when expansive Tsarist Russia began to incorporate these regions into its empire, many of the great pre- and post-Islamic buildings of Central Asia had fallen into ruin. This colonization of the region by the Russians, and its later incorporation into the Union of Society Socialist Republics in 1919, brought Central Asia to the attention of Russian and Soviet archaeologists and urban planners. It was these town planners and engineers who were eventually responsible for preserving many of the decaying monuments and historic urban cores of Central Asia, despite the often-challenging ideological constraints they were forced to work under. The paper focuses particularly on the effect of these preservation policy decisions in Uzbekistan, where the process has been best documented. It argues that Soviet authorities struggled constantly with ways of recognizing the need for historical preservation while at the same time creating a new society that had cast off the shackles of its ‘feudal past’.

Placing Heritage in Entrepreneurial Urbanism: Planning, Conservation and Crisis in Ireland

Ireland is beginning to emerge from an extended period of austerity following the global economic collapse of 2008. In this time, private sector investment in historic urban cores all but halted, and state funding for heritage was dramatically cut. However, both the state and civil society have placed a new emphasis on the potential of built heritage to act as a driver of economic recovery, reflected in both local and national policies and strategies relating to the conservation and regeneration of historic urban cores. Through a discourse analysis of local documentary material, and of semi-structured interviews with a range of key factors involved in the management of two historic urban cores in Ireland (Limerick and Waterford), the paper explores how conservation policy has been fashioned to suit its deployment as an instrument of local and national economic recovery within the context of entrenched entrepreneurial urbanism, and how local stakeholders have responded. The paper concludes on the implications for both conservation policy—specifically tensions between traditional conservation approaches and more flexible instruments utilised in heritage-led regeneration.

군산시 원도심에 관한 계획방식의 변화와 특성 : 1960년대부터 2010년대까지의 군산시 도시계획안 내용분석을 중심으로

군산시 원도심에 관한 계획방식의 변화와 특성 : 1960년대부터 2010년대까지의 군산시 도시계획안 내용분석을 중심으로