Hands-On Heritage! Establishing Soft Authority over Heritage through Architectural Experiment: A Case Study from Jordan

This study identifies ‘heritage as practice’ as an alternative to ‘authorized’ heritage engagement. Heritage, in this sense, is perceived as a source of inspiration and creativity rather than just an asset to be preserved. ‘Heritage as practice’ is informed by the conventional identification and evaluation of heritage, coupled with the architectural and artistic instincts, capacities, creativity, and commitment found in the field of architecture, to interpret heritage. We label the work produced out of this practice as ‘creative material’ that is subjected to further re-creation when it is used as a platform for community engagement. We examine the mechanisms of these engagements through an academic experiment in which architecture students were asked to analyze the representations of the local heritage site of Umm el-Jimal, Jordan. We argue that shifting from ‘authorized’ engagement to informed ‘instinctual’ one gives the students a soft authority over heritage. However, it is the capacity to creatively engage with and about heritage, and use this to continuously and creatively interpret heritage, that makes this authority valid and just.     

The crowsteps motif in Nabataean architecture: insights into its meaning and use

Nabataeans, in constructing their tombs, added many symbols and geometrical forms, plants and animals. Crowsteps, as a geometrical form, are the most common among these symbols. This study investigates the use of the crowsteps motif found frequently on the facades of Nabataean tombs. The primary focus is to replace models of typological explanation for the introduction of crowsteps into the Nabataean rock‐cut facades. The study begins with tracing the origin of the crowsteps motif and the way it was adopted by the Nabataeans to become one of the most significant features in the making of Nabataean architectural vocabularies. It then provides a theoretical framework for explaining the use and meaning of the crowsteps in Nabataean architecture. Thematic analysis of related literature and existing architectural remains allows us to suggest that crowsteps served both sacred and secular purposes. Sacredly, crowsteps were used to connect the deceased with the principal deities through metaphorical representation either as a ‘high place’ or as a ‘throne’. Secularly, crowsteps served basic human needs: representing identity, wealth and social structure. The study also considers that the Nabataean rock‐cut crowsteps activated the dialogue between different cultural traditions and helped in shaping the ideological cult and identity of the Nabataeans.     

Urban heritage ‘space’ under neoliberal development: a tale of a Jordanian plaza

What happens when urban heritage spaces within developing countries, such as Jordan, are subject to touristic development funded by international bodies, such as the World Bank? This question is explored theoretically and practically by considering a popular local plaza in the secondary Jordanian city of Jerash that has been subject to three tourism development projects funded by the World Bank. The study, which incorporates and critiques the discourse of neoliberalism within urban heritage development studies, seeks to analyse the World Bank projects and, more specifically, how they have defined, approached and produced outcomes in the Jerash plaza and its context. In so doing, the study triangulates the analysis with accounts by local respondents that identify major drawbacks in the World Bank approach, particularly its emphasis on conventional ‘readings’ of urban space that highlight universal values and histories, while neglecting and marginalising local values and understandings. The triangulation offers attentive ‘readings’ of the plaza as a place understood and experienced by a people. The challenge is to break with the neoliberal paradigm that dominates urban heritage development programmes (and their associated West–East dualisms and top-down approaches) by presenting local sociocultural and economic contexts as assets to enrich development projects, rather than obstacles to be ‘fixed’ and ‘fitted’ for tourism.