The Cultural Meaning of Aleppo

Through a capillary documentation of the palimpsest of Aleppo—of the peculiar characteristics of its courtyard houses and the neighborhoods of al-Bayyada, Bab Quinnesrin, and al-Farafira—The Cultural Meaning of Aleppo is a theoretical and practical handbook for architects, urban planners, and restorers alike. Through this analytical discussion of the city’s urban fabric, Giulia Annalinda Neglia introduces the concept of the cultural urban landscape acting as a “cohesive territorial organism” nourished by different cultures, in which contrasting scales of land, city, and neighborhood are interconnected in a fractal state. 

With a focus on retaining the uniqueness and diversity of this historic urban landscape, which bore witness to the rich cultural history of Syria and the Middle East as a whole, Neglia maps a future reconstruction that focuses on cultural continuity, tradition, and the reestablishment of a crucial social memory.