Fajr Tawayha

University of Minho · Centro do Território, Ambiente e Construção (C-TAC)

Architecture with optimized environmental performance and sustainable construction have been ranked on top of the world’s interests. To develop this concept and to improve it, it is necessary to learn from the past, especially in the Mediterranean basin countries, where a very rich background regarding sustainable cities are available. Palestine, as a country in the Mediterranean, also has a very rich background, but with a very poor reality. The current architectural condition is very poor regarding sustainable concepts, especially socio-cultural aspects. This type of concerns is almost ignored during the design process nowadays by all the parts of the design process, beginning with users, design teams, developers, municipalities, and local governments. This is different from the old process, which was wildly dependent on socio-cultural and religious values, besides the local environment and economic aspects. The main objects of this research in this context, is to clarify the importance of socio-cultural values as one of the three dimensions of sustainable design, investigating the vernacular strategies applied in the old city of Nablus, which is the case study of this research. As result, list of guidelines is developed as a reference for designers and stakeholders to enhance the sustainability of buildings in Palestine.