A Holistic Overview of Qatar’s (Built) Cultural Heritage; Towards an Integrated Sustainable Conservation Strategy

Historic urban cores are the backbone of a city’s cultural identity. Maintaining and preserving the socio-cultural, environmental and economic characteristics of the built heritage is vital for cultural identity survival. The Gulf region gathered important architectural and urban richness observed through the massive military towers, mosques, houses, palaces and grand souks. The state of Qatar is under huge pressure to preserve its cultural identity, which resulted from the rapid development, population growth, urban expansion and economic boom since the 1970s. The cities of Qatar are facing difficult challenges to preserve the cultural identity and built heritage without compromising the need for development. Consequently, this study aims to define a set of heritage restoration-preservation tools and an integrated sustainable conservation strategy as part of deliberate planning and design processes. This, certainly, will help achieve sustainable future scenarios for the survival of vernacular architecture and historic buildings in Qatar through their sustained adaptive (re)use.