Resettlement Methodologies for the Ancient City of Aleppo

This paper aims at proposing a design strategy for the urban recovery of courtyard houses within the UNESCO’s boundaries of the Ancient City of Aleppo, in which sheltering and reconstruction are seen as two phases of the same achievement. When international agencies are prioritizing the monuments restoration to the houses reconstruction, it outlines methodological and practical tools to resettle the former inhabitants of the Ancient City in their own houses, safeguarding the inherited urban fabric characteristics and updating the building typology to the current living needs. In the complex circumstances of a still ongoing civil war, it prospects design strategies for the reconstruction of damaged courtyard houses and urban fabrics, for the renewal of the traditional urban landscape, as well as for ensuring the inhabitants’ right to return in Aleppo. From a theoretic point of view, it envisions a reconstruction methodology for the urban renewal of the Ancient City, which is in continuity with the inherited urban form. From the design point of view, it aims at developing guidelines for the self- reconstruction of the courtyard houses urban fabric by the Ancient City’s inhabitants, providing typological instructions and practical tools.