Social and Economic Importance

Adjustments to periods of crisis or phases of economic upswing are recognizable in individual buildings and subsequently also in the access systems of the quarter as it had evolved over the centuries. Today’s economic situation, changes in family structure and dynamic urbanization process cause phenomena similar to those during past crises. In the wake of migration, the medieval eastern suburbs have become home to poorer members of the lower middle class. Lifestyles in the smaller, simple, traditional courtyard houses are adjusted to the region’s climatic conditions and the lifestyles of the mostly rural population.

Maintaining large courtyard houses has been impossible for decades, therefore they were frequently subdivided to the point of becoming uninhabitable; storeys have been added, or have been left to become derelict. Large houses are often empty, a development fuelled by complicated inheritance laws.

Storeys are added to smaller courtyard houses and their courtyards may be built over, resulting in the dissolution of the social and overall spatial structure of the quarter. Residential quarters sometimes become more compact in a sort of informal construction. New building types have been developing. It is no longer the inward-facing courtyard house that determines the architectural and urban fabric but the public space. Former cul-de-sacs are becoming traffic thoroughfares, and along larger roadways residential use is being replaced by shops and craft businesses. The area is turning into a slum.

This process has been accelerated during the past few years by the destruction wrought by the war; some parts of the old town have been irretrievably lost.

Lessons for the reconstruction of some old town quarters might be learned from past experience, which shows how buildings have adjusted to the changing social and economic conditions of their inhabitants. Strategies for the preservation of the material and immaterial cultural heritage should be developed as a basis for a peaceful future.

The urban planner Anette Gangler has studied the history of Aleppo’s architecture and urban development since 1986. She earned her doctorate on the Banqusa district and taught at the Institute of Urban Planning and Design at the University of Stuttgart. She performed field work as a planner for urban renewal projects in the Near and Middle East. To this day, a special focus of her commitment has been the preservation of Aleppo’s urban cultural heritage, for instance by working for “Freunde der Altstadt von Aleppo e.V.” (Friends of Aleppo's Old Town), which she co-founded and has chaired for many years. Today she collaborates on projects for the rehabilitation of Aleppo after the war.