Balancing the Future and the Past

A balance has to be achieved between preservation and upholding living standards for residents. It seems that the city of Djenné, a UNESCO site, has not done a good job with that.

Mali City Rankled by Rules for Life in Spotlight (The New York Times)

Photos from The New York Times: "Djenné is an official World Heritage site. Guidelines established by Unesco, the cultural arm of the United Nations, which compiles the heritage list, demand that any reconstruction not substantially alter the original." Thus, the city must "preserve its mud-brick buildings, from the Great Mosque to individual homes."

From the article:

Abba Maiga stood in his dirt courtyard, smoking and seething over the fact that his 150-year-old mud-brick house is so culturally precious he is not allowed to update it — no tile floors, no screen doors, no shower. With its cone-shaped crenellations and palm wood drainage spouts, the grand facade seems outside time and helps illustrate why this ancient city in eastern Mali is an official World Heritage site. But the guidelines established by UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, which compiles the heritage list, demand that any reconstruction not substantially alter the original.

“When a town is put on the heritage list, it means nothing should change,” Mr. Maiga said. “But we want development, more space, new appliances — things that are much more modern. We are angry about all that."

PHOTO: "In a cultural clash echoed at World Heritage sites around the world, residents complain of being frozen in time like pieces in a museum, their lives proscribed so visitors can gawk. Abba Maiga's 150-year-old mud-brick house is so culturally precious he is not allowed to update it — no tile floors, no screen doors, no shower. "Who wants to live in a house with a mud floor?" said Mr. Maiga."

However, the present desires of the citizens are not the only thing to take into account when pondering the fate of such a place.

The problem, said N’Diaye Bah, Mali’s tourism minister, is modernizing the town without wrecking its ambiance. “If you destroy the heritage which people come to see, if you destroy 2,000 years of history, then the town loses its soul,” he said.

Djenné residents take pride in their heritage and recognize that the Unesco list helped make their city famous. Yet they wonder aloud about the point of staying on it, given the lack of tangible gains, if they are forced to live literally in mud. Many homeowners want to keep the distinctive facades, but alter the interiors. Unesco guidelines prohibit the sweeping alterations they would like, however.

Mahamame Bamoye Traoré, the leader of the powerful mason’s guild, surveyed the cramped rooms of the retired river boat captain’s house, naming all the things he would change if the World Heritage rules were more flexible.

“If you want to help someone, you have to help him in a way that he wants; to force him to live in a certain way is not right,” he said, before lying on the mud floor of a windowless room that measured about 6 feet by 3 feet. “This is not a room,” he said. “It might as well be a grave.”

Is this place an exhibition or a tomb? (It probably should be neither -- because communities are places that should be lived in). When people are treated this way, it seems they feel a sense of stagnation and resentment. Yet if the population can become engaged in the process of cultural preservation and site restoration, they will be the fiercest defenders and best caretakers of a site. These are their homes, their culture! Let's get creative to find ways for tradition and modernity to coexist and thrive.

I'm not the expert here, and I'm sure the architects and archaeologists have spent a lot of time pondering over how to treat this ancient town and its structures. But more community input is needed; otherwise, you end up with situations like the one reported in the article, where a disgruntled homeowner evicted the UN team, tore down an archway to make room for armoires, causing the house to promptly collapse.

Maybe something can be done where the facade and entryway are preserved in the traditional style, while rooms further inside can be remodeled, with wooden floors added. Maybe we could add more structural support and new wiring for electricity. Who knows? The partnership goes both ways: outside experts can listen and attempt to understand the aspirations and concerns of people in the neighborhood. Local residents can try to recognize the value inherent in these timeless buildings and do their children a favor by thinking of the long-term.

 

The town faces an additional challenge: "Poverty prevents many from fixing their houses. Architects who have worked on various restoration projects said the townsfolk are imbued with a unique pride. Many would rather see their ancestral home fall than admit they lack the means to restore it, said Cheich Abdel Kader, a Malian architect who also helped direct the mosque restoration. Others object that outsiders set the rules."

Most of all, we need to involve the population in the upkeep of a city -- inspire them be proud of their heritage and help them recognize and celebrate their culture. Local residents must be partners; they cannot be bystanders in their own homes and neighborhoods. Sometimes it is the tyranny of the bulldozer; here it appears to be overweening rule of foreign preservationists.

 

Chinese architecture & Development

Awesome commentary on Chinese architecture and urbanization from Ma Xiaowei, founder of AGER Shanghai, a landscape and architectural design firm. From an interview in the Global Times.

One phrase I liked, where he comments on the China Pavilion at the 2010 World expo in Shanghai, which uses "China Red" and the "official cap" to represent imperial authority, "the essence of power in ancient times."

But in traditional Chinese culture, humanity and nature are essential, too. Little things like green grass, small bridges, dark blue bricks and painted white walls are what ordinary people relate to a harmonious life, and they are more than just simple symbols.

China could learn from the 1970 Expo, which was held in the Osaka Castle, on how to mix culture into the actual exhibitions. The location was in a rural area, surrounded by bamboo forest, where people enjoy a peaceful life. This concept is what harmony is all about, and it used the famous cherry blossom to represent Japan without it seeming like a forced cultural symbol.

Here's his response to the question: "Traditional Chinese landscape architecture, such as private gardens and small bridges, offers a good example of living in a harmonious environment. But does it work in today's fast-paced urban lifestyle?"

I think there is a misunderstanding about traditional Chinese landscape architecture. It does not equal a small bridge over a flowing stream, nor an elegant pavilion with a pagoda far away. What traditional landscape architecture really offers us is a way of thinking, a philosophy that modern people should adopt. People should live in a natural environment and live in harmony with nature. This is the essence of it.

But now, we tend to only look for big things such as wide roads, fancy skyscrapers and forced city planning... What we really need to pay attention to is: Will people live comfortably here? Is it convenient to cross an eight-lane road to enter the park? Do we really need a man-made mushroom in the park?

Time changes, and so do people's aesthetic values. But the essence of what makes a happy life will never change. A harmonious living environment and a reasonable view on development is what we really need to remember from traditional Chinese landscape architecture.

On green cities in China:

As a matter of fact, Chinese people traditionally live a low-carbon life. People used to live in hutong and build their houses around small alleys. It saves energy on transportation. This is a green lifestyle.

Compare this to some Western cities, such as Pittsburgh. The environment was polluted by heavy industry first, then people realized how important it is to have a healthy low-carbon lifestyle. It is a green city now because people learned from the mistakes they made in the past.

So for China, we can see the mistakes other cities made before and should learn from them. As long as we do not abandon what our ancestors had and were proud of, it won't be very difficult to maintain.

URL: http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/commentary/2010-01/499579.html