Dr. Giamila Quattrone, Liverpool University, UK
Desertification, narrow-minded planning strategies, lack of infrastructural provisions and rampant unemployment have coalesced in South Morocco, pushing the local populations to migrate to the north of the country or overseas in search for life and job opportunities abreast of our times. The intricate mix of factors is producing devastating effects on both the livelihoods – with oasis agriculture under strain because of shortage of water as well as manpower – and the traditional built environment – with the abandoned Berber fortified settlements(ksour) relentlessly dilapidating and swallowed by the Sahara sand. In danger of disappearing along with the earthen built fabrics is also the rich intangible heritage of music, dance, poetry, culinary traditions, textile crafts and building techniques.Desertification, narrow-minded planning strategies, lack of infrastructural provisions and rampant unemployment have coalesced in South Morocco, pushing the local populations to migrate to the north of the country or overseas in search for life and job opportunities abreast of our times. The intricate mix of factors is producing devastating effects on both the livelihoods – with oasis agriculture under strain because of shortage of water as well as manpower – and the traditional built environment – with the abandoned Berber fortified settlements(ksour) relentlessly dilapidating and swallowed by the Sahara sand. In danger of disappearing along with the earthen built fabrics is also the rich intangible heritage of music, dance, poetry, culinary traditions, textile crafts and building techniques.M’Hamid, the most remote oasis of the Draa Valley on the fringe of the Sahara, yet the first inhabited place that merchants travelling across the desert would encounter, is no exception. A partnership between ArCHIAM, Centre for the Study of Architecture and Cultural Heritage of India, Arabia and the Maghreb at the University of Liverpool, CineTecture, a moving images production company with expertise in the tectonics of space and screen space, and Terrachidia, a Spanish NGO dedicated to the preservation of earthen traditional architecture, was established in early 2019 to restore, record and inventory the living cultural heritage of M’Hamid, with the aim to generate awareness around the cultural significance of this place and its struggle for survival. This paper deals with the impact of migration on the cultural heritage of Ouled Youssef, one of the traditional settlements of the M’Hamid Oasis. The paper presents the challenges that Ouled Youssef faces as a result of slow yet irreversible physical, socio-economic and cultural change, and suggests sustainable development trajectories that could repopulate and reactivate the settlement through the synergy of heritage preservation, economic and infrastructural development, and community participation and empowerment
Dr Giamila Quattrone is Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Liverpool, founding member and project coordinator of ArCHIAM, Centre for the Study of Architecture and Cultural Heritage of India, Arabia and the Maghreb, and Lead of the Heritage and Digital Technologies Sub-Theme at the University of Liverpool. Prior to her current appointment she has held various academic positions including Research Fellow at Nottingham Trent University, Associate Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan Architecture and Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Visiting Research Associate at The University of Newcastle Australia and Research Fellow at The University of New South Wales. A registered architect in Italy, where she comes from, Giamila holds a PhD in Architectural Technology and a Master Degree in Architecture from Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria. She is recipient of the 2014 Endeavour Research Fellowship, 2006 Endeavour Europe Award and 2005 Wendell Lovett Award. Her research revolves around three main strands: settlement, architectural and construction patterns of traditional oasis settlements of Oman, Morocco and Tunisia, with a focus on their spatial and technological transformation as a result of socio-cultural and economic change; the work of Australian architect Glenn Murcutt; urban recycling and building adaptive reuse.