Alienation of Traditional Habitats and Shelters in Jordanian Villages

Abstract

Hundreds of Jordanian traditional villages are facing the serious risk of being demolished due to the shortage of basic public services and their resulting abandoned state. Important occurrences of vernacular architecture in these villages necessitate a national strategy to conserve the tangible and intangible heritage they offer, despite the economic difficulties that impede the local community in their efforts to protect or rehabilitate their long-established habitat and traditions. The case of Dana is a relevant example of these villages that are abandoned in spite of their considerable human and material potentialities. Therefore, analyses of place-oriented conceptual meaning, which affect man's belonging to the place, and building typologies are developed in order to comprehend the traditional spatial composition and the interrogatives of conserving the original habitat for tourism purposes. Appropriate scenarios of administrative and technical approaches could better offer the local communities the conservation of memories, place identity and sustainable economic development, hopefully extendible to other situations in traditional villages.