Impacts of modernization on historical urban squares' Identity: Case study of Al Marjeh Square

Abstract

Abstract:
Cities reflect as well as shape their inhabitant’s values and outlooks in various ways” (Bell & De shalit, 2011)
Cities and their built environment are reflections of the cultural structure and the dynamics of local identity. hence, they are clearly revealing history, religious and ethnic settings of the region. the difference between each region’s environment, architecture, and beliefs are what creates the place’s identity and makes it unique. The middle east region has been known for its architectural and urban legacy, where inhabitants were raised to preserve and praise it. At the end of the 20th-century middle eastern countries have witnessed radical changes on several levels: economic, political, and social. The emergence of modernization and globalization policies in such region have affected it negatively, changed the region’s architectural and urban character from traditional (vernacular) to modern, and that date was a turning point of the region’s history. This paper aims to explain the impact of modern urban planning practices by foreign urban planners on the historical identity of Damascus city and its historical urban square “Al Marjeh square”, how modern “functional” masterplans could determine the fate of historical buildings and the architectural style of the city. Finally, the paper will draw on criticisms by activists, writers and architects who raised their voices to resist the concept of “modern functional city”
Keywords: Urban planning, Modernization, City identity, Historical buildings, Criticism.

Full text

Impacts of modernization on historical urban squares’ Identity: Case study of Al Marjeh Square | Ghaid Ateek
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Impacts of modernization on historical urban squares’ Identity:
Case study of Al Marjeh Square
Ghaid Ateek
2020

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Table of Contents
Abstract: ........................................................................................ 3
1.Introduction ................................................................................ 3
2. Damascus the city of history: ..................................................... 4
3.Planning practices of Damascus, and its impact on the identity
and imageability ............................................................................ 5
3.1 The masterplan of 1935 (Ecochard and Danger) .................................................... 5
3.2 The masterplan of 1966-1968 (Ecochard and Banshoya) ..................................... 6
4. Al Marjeh square under modern masterplans influence ............. 7
5.The impact of the masterplan on Damascus and Al Marjeh
square today ................................................................................. 8
6.Conclusion ............................................................................... 10
References .................................................................................. 11

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Abstract:
“Cities reflect as well as shape their inhabitant’s values and outlooks in various ways”
(Bell & De shalit, 2011)
Cities and their built environment are reflections of the cultural structure and the
dynamics of local identity. hence, they are clearly revealing history, religious and ethnic
settings of the region. the difference between each region’s environment, architecture,
and beliefs are what creates the place’s identity and makes it unique. The middle east
region has been known for its architectural and urban legacy, where inhabitants were
raised to preserve and praise it. At the end of the 20th-century middle eastern countries
have witnessed radical changes on several levels: economic, political, and social. The
emergence of modernization and globalization policies in such region have affected it
negatively, changed the region’s architectural and urban character from traditional
(vernacular) to modern, and that date was a turning point of the region’s history. This
paper aims to explain the impact of modern urban planning practices by foreign urban
planners on the historical identity of Damascus city and its historical urban square “Al
Marjeh square”, how modern “functional” masterplans could determine the fate of
historical buildings and the architectural style of the city. Finally, the paper will draw on
criticisms by activists, writers and architects who raised their voices to resist the
concept of “modern functional city”
Keywords: Urban planning, Modernization, City identity, Historical buildings, Criticism.
1.Introduction
“The main characteristics which form spatial identity are the physical structure
forming the space, the facilities it embodies, and the meanings created by users.”
(Relph, 1976). To know a city or a place well we have to walk carefully in each street.
blend with its inhabitants and environment, recognize the scents, touch the walls, and
listen to local music that comes out from houses’ windows. In addition, architects and
historians see that those streets are useful not only to recognize and know a city but
also to discover its identity, culture and history. Hence, architects and urban planners
should design masterplans and buildings that reflect the community’s identity and
respect it.
“An environmental image may be analyzed into three components: Identity,
structure and meaning” (Lynch, 1960). Most people have misconception about cities’
identity concept, they define cities from the most famous buildings or symbols for
instance, people recognize Paris from Eiffel tower and London from Big Ben clock,
then consider them the identity of the city, while identity is a combination of the city’s
physical and spiritual elements and their characteristics which distinguish it from other
cities (Natsheh & Hasanen, 2020). “Identity is a case where an object is unique.”
(Lynch, 1960)
In recent years, the interest in preserving the identity of a place and its privacy has
been increased by architects especially against modernization and globalization after
examining its negative influence on historical cities. “no building today is capable of
arousing feelings like the ones the Cathedral of Strasbourg did in the heart of the first

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Romantic Regionalist” ( Tzonis & Lefaivre) .Indeed, many criticisms have been written
by local activists and architects emphasizing on the importance of the identity and
imageability of the historical city (Damascus).Moreover, they are discussing the impact
of risen universal policies on historical squares such like Al Marjeh square.
2. Damascus the city of history:
In Damascus, the stranger sleeps standing on his shadow
Like a minaret in the bed of eternity
Without longing to anyone or any place
We walk towards our future confident of the sun in our past
We and eternity are the residents of this city.
(Mahmoud Darwish)
That’s how Mahmoud Darwish who is a famous Palestinian poet and author
described Damascus when he came to visit it (figures1-2). Damascus is one of the
most ancient cities in the world with 5000 years of history. In some references, it has
been mentioned that it’s the most ancient capital in the world. It has been preserving
within its urban fabric more than 100 monuments and layers of civilizations’ history and
architecture .The urban form of its old city combines the grid system of Greeks and the
narrow lanes of Islamic architecture (Burns, 1987). Hence, no wonder when Mahmoud
Darwish said “without longing to anyone and place” and “We and eternity are the
residents of this city”.
Social life is a very important issue in middle eastern countries, you can read that
through their architectural works and urban forms moreover, urban squares used to be
the main interaction point between inhabitants and architecture since it’s a place where
economy flourish, community comes alive, revolutions took place and big
announcements used to be declared from. Unfortunately, Rapid urbanization,
globalization, and modernization policies are the main factors that affected the urban
fabric of Damascus and Al Marjeh square; changed it on several levels: the urban form,
architectural elements, and historic elements (Mansour H. , 2015). The modern
masterplans have affected the square physically and spiritually (the identity), hence it
led to the loss of urban environment imageability. The square and even the city
became unreadable, and it lost its ability to reveal the history, communicate with the
viewer, and arouse feelings as it used to be.
Figure1: Old city of Damascus. Source: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/37/44/5e
Figure2: traditional shops in the old city of Damascus. Source: https://tr.pinterest.com/pin/347058715008664618/

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3.Planning practices of Damascus, and its impact on the
identity and imageability
Michel Ecochard was a young French urban planner who worked in Syria during
French mandate period, he was in charge of the archeological survey in 1935.
3.1 The masterplan of 1935 (Ecochard and Danger)
The first masterplan of Damascus was prepared by a French firm, Rene Danger
and Michel Ecochard were the heads of the project (Fries, 1994). The masterplan
proposed many ideas but the main themes were:
• to create a functional city, that is easy to access by machines
(transportations) by implementing new streets inside and outside the old city,
which could be achieved by demolishing historical buildings. (Fries, 1994)
• improve hygiene and the infrastructure (sewage system) of the city. (Fries,
1994).
• Follow the proposed masterplan of Morocco by Lucien Vilbert, it was aiming
to separate the city into different parts of the old city and “the modern city” to
maintain the socio-economy stable (Lababedi, 2008).
• Integrating Industrial sites.
The proposals of the masterplan were emphasizing on the idea that the old city
was a “dirty” and “backward” place as they mentioned and left it neglected, instead of
restoring the historical site (Lababedi, 2008)(map1).The main aim was to separate the
city into “morphological-functional zones” (Kallaa, 1993) (map2),because French
planners were examining the “French town planning concept” they wanted to integrate
the “universal idea of modernity” (Fries, 1994).
Map1: Ecochard and Danger’s masterplan. Source:(Al Mahanna,2008)

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Map2: proposed city zones. Source:(Al Mahanna,2008)
Indeed, locals and activists were upset with the proposed masterplan they
considered it “a masterplan which is aiming to distort the local identity” (Totah, 2014).
And it faced resistance and rejection from a city that is “originally” formed by 5000
years of history (Lababedi, 2008). Some aspects of the masterplan were applied until
1953 UNESCO committee came to visit Syria in reaction against the proposal that
would harm the Umayyad mosque and they asked Ecochard to prepare another
masterplan of the city (Matsubara, 2015).
3.2 The masterplan of 1966-1968 (Ecochard and Banshoya)
After the independence of Syria and UNESCO committee’s report, “The
government hired French urban planner Michel Ecochard who worked in Damascus
during the mandate to modernize the city…he submitted a masterplan for Damascus
in 1968 that recommended demolishing wide swaths of the old city to increase
vehicular traffic in the old city” (Totah, 2014) (map3),the new masterplan came in the
middle of the debate on modernity and tradition concepts, while Al Baath party was in
charge, the party was aiming to modernize the country and its cities. (Totah, 2014)
Indeed, Al Marjeh square was a very important site in the masterplan since it is the
commercial heart of the city. Hence the masterplan proposed increasing parking lots,
demolishing old buildings, build modern high-rise office buildings to increase economy
and international investments.(map4)
fmap3:masterplan of 1968.Source: https://www.aljumhuriya.net/ar/content

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Map4:1968 masterplan of Damascus legend. sourcehttps://360th.wordpress.com/
4. Al Marjeh square under modern masterplans influence
Al Marjeh square is a very famous square in Syria, all Syrians have heard about it
from their parent’s tales, history books and folk songs. The square has witnessed many
important political events of Syria’s history (Shihabi, 1987).It is the first square that was
located outside the walled city (old city of Damascus) near Barada river which was
passing by it. The square dates back to ottoman era (1807-1810), the diversity in
architectural styles, and the (telegraph monument) are what distinguish the square,
makes it unique and clear its importance. Moreover,It was considered as the
(commercial heart of Damascus) by National Geographic magazine in1938. (figures3-
4-5-6)
Figure3:Al marjeh square1915.source: figure4 :Al marjeh square 1923.source:
https://syrmh.com/author/emad-alarmashi/page/24/ https://syrmh.com/2017/11/18/
Figure 5: Al marjeh square1942.Source: Figure 6: Al marjeh square 1965.Source:
http://mail.reefnet.sy/reef/index.php?option= https://syrmh.com/2018/05/01/1956

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The square contains many historical buildings that represent the architectural
development of the city:
1.Yalbougha mosque(1347) :it was the second ancient mosque in the city after the
Umayyad. it was built outside the walls (Al marjeh square today) in Mamluks era, the
mosque was restored many times, it played a main role during the revolution against
the occupation on Syria.
2.municipality building (1896): it was inspired by classical architecture style, the
building used to be a symbol of freedom for Syrians.
3.Al Saraya building (ministry of interior): It was built in 1900 inspired by Classic
European architecture with Greek architecture touches “the building represents
architectural development in the history of Damascus because it doesn’t resemble
any other building in the history of the city” Abdulkader Rehawi.
The building and its architecture were very unique, each story of the building
represents an architectural style.
The fate of these buildings was determined by Ecochard’s modern masterplan of
Damascus.
During the rise of modernization, cities were planed and developed ignoring the
needs of the inhabitants and their local traditions. The new masterplan started its
establishment with demolishing historical buildings considering it not functional or in
other words “backward” (Mansour H. , 2015).The iconic Yalbougha mosque and
municipality building were demolished according to the “modern masterplan”. the
government claimed to cut activists’ voice that they “had difficulties in absorbing the
water that is flowing into the foundations” (Zaitoun, 2018)
The claims of the government didn’t change local activists’ and architects’ opinion,
Ecochard and Banoshoya’s masterplan was strongly criticized by them. They
considered it an “imperialist plot against the historic urban” like Nadia Khost and Siham
Torgoman (Totah, 2014). Nadia Khost said in different interviews that “Al-Sham
(Damascus) isn’t Abou Remmaneh and Al malki (two elite modern neighborhoods that
were built outside the walls according to the new masterplan) it’s the historic districts
and buildings including the old city” (Totah, 2014).“with his masterplan he demolished
the municipality building were the independence of Syria was declared from and he
uprooted Yalbougha mosque the second architectural treasure after the
Umayyad…perhaps the illusion of modernity was a justification to surrender Damascus
to a colonial mind that transcends Arab architecture” (Kost, 2006)
5.The impact of the masterplan on Damascus and Al Marjeh
square today
“A readable city provides us with emotional security, while unreadable city awakens
feelings of fear and insecurity” (Lynch, 1960). Modern universal architectural style was
increasing in the city between (1968-2010) and it’s almost the common style of the city
(Natsheh & Hasanen, 2020).This style distinguishes with:
1. The domination of economic thought and design.
2. loss of urban spaces and features’ identity.
3. Significant increase in the city’s skyline height.
The Second style that was increasing around the city which creates the most
dangerous threat to the city’s identity is slums (Mansour H. , 2015),that were
increasing after Ecochard and Banoshoya’s masterplan(figure7) because of:

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1. the government didn’t complete implementing the masterplan
2. No masterplan of the city has been implemented after Ecochard’s, According
to World Bank Statistics, Syria has one of the highest population growth rates
in the world, at 3% per annum, hence the population density was increasing
without updating the urban plan of the city (Lababedi, 2008).
3. the application of “morphological-functional zones” concept.
Figure7: emergence of slums in the capital of Syria. Source: http://armancnews.com/2019/04/17
Al marjeh square was affected by the “modern universal style”. As a result, the
historical buildings of the square were replaced with modern high ones. Yalbough
mosque was replaced with Yalbougha complex that was designed to become a
commercial building since 1973 but the construction works didn’t finish till this day
(figure 8).The municipality building became “Al Faihaa” tower (figure9), and Al Saraya
building became the ministry of interior that was bombed in 2013 ; then it left neglected.
Nowadays, high-rise buildings are what distinguish the square like Damascus tower
which is the highest building of the city(figure 10) “it’s standing up without carrying
anything of the city’s identity, or adding to the city from its architecture or modernity…it
is just a meaningless cemental rectangle” (Mansour M. , 2007)
Figure 8: unfinished Yalbougha complex one Figure9:AL faihaa tower that replaced the iconic
of modernity features.Sorce municipality building. Source:
https://www.google.com.tr/search?safe=strict&hl https://syria.news/a1844860-11081612.html

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Figure10: Damascus tower changed the skyline of the city.Source: https://www.google.com.tr/search?safe=strict&hl=en-
6.Conclusion
Successful contemporary Squares works when they balance between social,
economic and historic identities of the city, provide more pedestrian paths, green areas
and preserve the heritage to arouse the sense of individual local values and belonging.
“cities have the capability of providing something for everybody only because, and only
when, they are created by everybody” (Jacobs, 1961). Nowadays, we can’t change the
scheme of the roads, rebuild the demolished historical buildings or demolish slums.
As a consequence, the square today is a “hostile environment”: noise, lack of sun and
green landscapes, traffic and disorganization are the main themes of the commercial
heart which are harming it, and impact on the social life of the public square. Finally,
preserving the identity and imageability of cities is a necessity during implementing
new masterplans for cities. Moreover, reflecting the region’s traditions and cultural
structure through architectural works would help architecture to communicate with the
viewer, evoke history, and arouse the sense of individual local values and belonging.

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