Sustainable Urban Heritage: Assessing Baghdad’s Historic Centre of Old Rusafa

Abstract

Baghdad’s historical centre is Old Rusafa, which has a long history dating back over a thousand years. The area enclosed within the old wall is approximately 5.4 square kilometres and contains nearly 15,700 buildings. The city’s old core contains significant heritage buildings that belong to the Abbasid Empire (762–1258) and the Ottoman Period (1638–1917). This paper assesses Baghdad’s historical centre and urban heritage. It addresses how the urban fabric has faced irreparable damage, a weak definition of demands, and an ambiguous formulation of what to preserve. The research examines Old Rusafa’s dense irregular fabric, significant old souqs, heritage mosques, historical buildings, and traditional Baghdadi courtyard houses. The research implements various research strategies at different levels to evaluate the current condition of the built heritage in the city centre. It adopts a mixed methodological research approach that brings information from both qualitative and quantitative methods to address the research problems. The paper argues that achieving sustainable urban heritage requires considering efficient and sustainable strategies that drive urban evolution and encourage historic centre revitalisation towards sustainable heritage conservation. The outcomes of this paper raise awareness of the significance of safeguarding Baghdad’s Islamic architecture and the sustainable reuse of its uniquely built heritage stock.