Territorio e patrimonio urbano nell'Arabia meridionale: il caso del villaggio storico di Al-Jahamah nella provincia di Sarat Abidah, Asir

The transformation induced in the contemporary territories and urban fabrics of vast areas of the world seem to be dominated by the constant competition between large capitals provoking trends unrelated to the real needs of places. The resulting urgency to build higher and bigger poses the problem, far from minor, of the risk to the cultural heritage of many of the cities and regions that are facing the new stage of things. Unlike historic Italian cities known for their " duration" and constantly updating the old built landscape while respecting the old one, Arabian cities were not really able to do so in order to preserve the character of their old towns over time. In fact, administrations and governmental institutions gave very little attention to heritage buildings due to the absence of specific regulations on safeguarding national heritage until as late as 1972. Most of the modifications led to the transformations of urban centers as well as historical settlements. Departing from a reflection on heritage and territory transformation, this study aims to compare the historical town of Al-Jahamah (South-West of Arabia) and the new post-oil discovery settlement that has emerged in this area. Photographs and schematic drawings are presented in this architectural research trying of explaining how important it is to become aware of the degradation of the traditional expression and the effect of casual and pragmatic modernization on them.