Integrative Conservation for Recovering the Riverfront of Mosul Town

Abstract

Mesopotamia has seen the emergence of the dawn of civilizations and the establishment of the first cities on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where many ancient societies have grown from Babylonian, Assyrian and then Islamic to the present time; this requires the conservation of the most prominent historical monuments. The riverfront of the city of Mosul, with its unique and distinguished urban fabric and inhabited until the period before the last war in 2014 AD, was one of the most prominent products of those civilizations. This research attempts to develop a policy to preserve the spirit of the place by reviewing the most critical trends and policies of urban conservation, analyzing many global experiences and explaining international charters. The integrative conservation strategy was adopted by activating community participation. The research applied the method of expert interviews and questionnaires to a sample representing an educated group of society and close to decisionmaking sources, academics and the private sector to obtain qualitative and quantitative data to be statistically analyzed. The research's result was that the policy of conservation and restoration is the closest, followed by the approach of rehabilitation and then urban redevelopment and to the exclusion of the urban renewal policy.