Architectural Heritage in the Old City of Sana'a: Between the Problem of Visual Pollution and the Need for Valuation.

Abstract

The study aims to diagnose and analyze the most important aspects of visual pollution of the architectural heritage in the old city of Sana'a, and to develop a strategy to treat and value it within the framework of serving the local development in the city. Visual pollution is one of the new issues that is now imposing itself on the heritage reality of the city, which appeared after recent developments that facilitated Ways of life and greatly affected people's lives and their way of living, as a result of the tyranny of material benefit and man's desire for a better life, which introduced extraneous influences to the ancient city, which contributed to the pollution of its architectural heritage and its historical value.

  This dire situation has become a reflection of the architectural heritage of the ancient city of Sana'a, which became famous since the dawn of history during the rule of successive states in the rule of Yemen, as it bears between its lane and its narrow and winding streets the imprints of its inhabitants, and due to the penetration of the touches of the developments of the era, its bright appearance began to fade due to neglect and the desire of its residents to Changing the style of their homes and the disregard of the government authorities, which made most of the urban heritage in the city full of various manifestations of visual pollution. Therefore, the study dealt with the diagnosis and analysis of the most important manifestations of visual pollution of the architectural heritage in the city, knowing its causes and the factors that led to its occurrence and extent of its spread in residential neighborhoods, as well as clarifying its damages. And the extent of its seriousness in the loss of the aesthetic value of the city, Its uncivilized appearance is not commensurate with its historical heritage value, so it must be addressed and valued within the framework of integrating it into advancing the local development wheel in the city.

  Therefore the study based its methodology mainly on the historical, descriptive, analytical and quantitative approach, based on collecting available information about the ancient city of Sana'a, in addition to a comprehensive field survey, where we surveyed the architectural heritage and its types, and we also employed inspection and personal interviews with the population in understanding the reality of visual pollution that affected Its buildings and its settlement on the map, and taking expressive pictures, and from this standpoint, the study came out with a set of results that are included in the body of the study, the most important of which is that the historical architectural fabric included within the preserved sector of the ancient city of Sana’a. In the twenty-first century, he lives in a state of chaos and excessive deterioration, resulting in severe visual pollution and a total loss of the values ​​of the heritage architectural fabric that it gained from being a footprint of the ancestors, which eventually made it a discordant and distorted architectural block devoid of its original past, which is reflected in the end. Negatively on the development path, and based on the results, the study recommended a set of recommendations, all of which are aimed at addressing the visual pollution that dominated the architectural heritage of the city and integrating it into advancing local development.