11 MAYIS 2016 RUBA KASMO SEMİNERİ: THE OLD CITY OF ALEPPO, A COLLAPSING WORLD HERITAGE SITE Dr. Arch. Ruba Kasmo graduated from Department of Architecture of Aleppo University in 2001. She received her PhD in 2014 and M.Sc. in 2008 from Department of Restoration of Istanbul Technical University and her M. Arch. in 2003 from Department of History of Architecture of Aleppo University. Her research focuses on Syria and the Arab region in terms of conservation of built heritage, Islamic architecture, Ottoman architecture and the waqf system and its role in the architectural and urban development. Since 2002, she has actively engaged in the local conservation efforts in Aleppo both on academic and professional levels. She is currently lecturing (öğretim görevlisi) at the Faculty of Architecture and Design, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University in Istanbul.

SEMİNER ÖZETİ: Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Five thousand years of urban history and development and of social and cultural transformation have made it an exceptional place. In 1986, UNESCO has classified the Old City as World Cultural Heritage, primarily for its unique urban fabric, which is mirrored by an authentic mixture of functions, land uses, and lifestyle displaying traditional oriental culture and vitality. The historic part, which expands over more than 350 ha around the impressive citadel, counts more than 16,000 mainly traditional buildings, with 240 classified historical monuments. Although, for the last four years its name has been linked to an unprecedented destruction, the Old City of Aleppo, however, was one of the pioneer examples of successful urban conservation and rehabilitation in the Middle East before the conflict. The lecturer in this seminar will present the historic development of the Old City of Aleppo, its previous conservation efforts and its current situation after five years of armed conflict.