La forma del deserto tra strade carovaniere e insediamenti. L’oasi di Dakhla come modello di sostenibilità.

An oasis is the result of the long and patient work of man who shapes the soil by building walls, constructing hydraulic and irrigation systems, taking care of the palm grove and organizing agriculture. Through the oases of the Western Sahara Desert, the caravan routes are configured as a network of precise geometries, which from the shores of the Mediterranean cross and structure the entire territory. The most important settlements of the ancient kingdom of Saharan Egypt are the five western oases: el-Kharga, el_Dakhla, Bahariya, Farafa and Siwa. They have a particular connotation of identity whose form cannot be separated from the intrinsic relationship with nature. The natural and anthropic landscape develop and articulate, interpreting in continuity, the peculiar and consolidated characters of the places. The hierarchy of the streets, the sequence of the green, the architectural types, the construction techniques, are the translation of a natural order, a sustainable and recognizable system. A privileged condition where collective places, houses, streets, private spaces, domestic and public dimensions, the space of ritual, the space of social iterations and culture, find themselves unconditionally connected. The case study is strongly representative and is considered a tool for methodological definition: the construction of oases as the most complete example of population in harmony with the ecosystem in the Mediterranean.