Abstract:
Alongside rapid urbanization of the region and the city, Bahrain has placed a
significant emphasis on the revival of historical cultural and built heritage, in
recent years. Focused on attracting global attention and local investment
whilst fostering economic growth and addressing some of the social
challenges related to rapid urbanization, Bahrain’s new city projects are
using elements of heritage to promote the development projects both at the
local and international levels. Indeed, cultural heritage enables people to
better understand previous generations and the history of where they come
from and can thereby provide an automatic sense of unity and belonging. In
these, numerous critical issues arise related to the need to recognise and
retain authenticity as an inherent value of cultural heritage in order to
employ such development in the task of uniting people. The objective of this
paper is to examine how the engagement of heritage in development has
incited a cultural revival, within the transformation of mega city
developments. It aims to demonstrate how relevant or irrelevant
authenticity is, in relation to promoting heritage restoration and
redevelopment of heritage buildings. The paper evaluates the presence of
authentic historical fabric in the revived architecture of old Muharraq - the
previous capital of the country that has undergone a renaissance of tangible
and intangible heritage from the past. It critically analyses and questions
how this new-built heritage is being produced, by whom, and most
importantly for whom. The research employs the study of documentation of
these projects, reflecting on their aims and motivations. It buttresses the
analysis by the engagement of people’s perceptions derived using a survey
of opinions. The intention is to gain an insight on how local residents relate
to these renewal projects and if they do indeed promote national pride and
a sense of belonging to their historic past. In conclusion, the paper seeks to
locate if authenticity is, if at all, relevant to the people’s engagement with
their cultural and built heritage in Bahrain. Moreover, it will evaluate the
ways in which the cultural revival has promoted investment and tourism at
local and international levels and help create a sense of belong among the
people.
Citation:
Ayesha, S., (2016). Promoting urban development and managing cultural heritage: critical issues of cultural revival in bahrain. In J. Wijesundara, & R. Dayaratne,(Eds.). Proceedings of the International Conference on Cities, People and Places ICCPP 2016. (pp. 129-147). Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa.