Damascus attended the oldest inhabited city in history, the land full of prosperity and beauty of nature and picturesque terrain .. Jasmine city and Jalak al-Sham in its castle and the gate of St. Thomas and its Umayyad Mosque, and its seven doors Faraj, Faradis and peace At the workshop table, which was invited by the Higher Commission for Scientific Research in cooperation with the Damascus governorate, its history, current reality and future were in front of the attendees, and in precise details when researchers who were keen to provide what they have on this important topic about Streets and neighborhoods, based on the significant increase of those who will be concentrated in cities and is expected to reach 68 percent in 2050, from 30 percent in 1950 and 55 percent in 2018, according to the report of global cities in 2018, which needs according to Dr. Majd Al-Jamali - Director General of the Supreme Commission for Scientific Research to a solid plan to counter this, in order to reach a modern city smart and clean components are organized neatly, and develops based on scientific research methods, knowledge and innovation.
Al-Jamali considered that the shortcomings of the plans are the first obstacles to implementation, excluding at the same time that the problem should be financed only, which was a major reason for calling the workshop to review purely practical projects, and preparing an executive plan based on knowledge and scientific research and development to address the urgent issues in Damascus, to be formulated Proposals plan to be completed this month, to be discussed next month, and approved early new year 2020.
The attendees discussed the ways and means of making the oldest inhabited city developed while preserving its identity, heritage and authenticity, with reference to the great suffering of the distortion and vandalism inflicted by the global war on Syria, in addition to random extensions and irregular expansions.
applicable
The participants for whom the programs for which they have exerted great efforts were presented to the workshop to be applicable on the ground, provided that cooperation is available between all parties, without any hindrance to the implementation plans as was the case in previous times, and this also requires an open mindset and have the vision and desire In cooperation with others towards the public interest, and abandoned the inherited ego as wished d. Aesthetic, stressing the importance of partnership with others in the completion of a lot of work and tasks that benefit others.
Fashionable specifications
This was addressed by the Governor of Damascus, Eng. Adel Olabi, when he pointed out the cooperation between the province and the Commission and experts to establish a plan aimed at the sustainability of Damascus to be a smart city, and modern specifications based on all the views put forward by experts to align with the plans put forward in the province, through which Engineer Mazen Gharawi - Member of the Executive Office of the province, the transition of work from the phased to the strategic, and based on the experiences of developed countries and modern technologies, and overcome all technical and financial difficulties.
The title of the workshop on the occasion of the World Cities Day «for you Damascus» .. development based on knowledge, according to Dr. Al-Jamali in his interview with Tishreen, which followed the workshop, was the fruit of cooperation between the Higher Commission for Scientific Research and Damascus Governorate and a number of academic bodies, especially the Higher Institute for Regional Planning and the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Damascus. And development to address urgent issues in Damascus, where the outputs of many graduation projects and graduate theses in the faculties of architecture, civil, mechanical, electrical, tourism, fine arts, etc., are directed towards urban, environmental and energy development. J and information for the city of Damascus, in collaboration with other research bodies.
Multiple insights
The lecturers discussed various perspectives in urban and environmental planning and how to benefit from technology in the service of these projects. These proposals were discussed by a number of events present in the workshop and presented rich proposals, the most important of which is to find a clear mechanism for coordination and networking between academic and research bodies on the one hand, The executive and the role of the Supreme Commission for Scientific Research in that on the other hand.
And knew d. Al-Jamali in his opening presentation at the Higher Commission for Scientific Research, a public scientific body of an administrative nature enjoying legal personality and financial and administrative independence and linked to the Minister of Higher Education, and its vision: an integrated national system for scientific research and technological development, intertwined with the sectors of society, and contribute to sustainable development, while its mission lies To formulate a comprehensive national policy for scientific research and technological development, coordinate and direct its activities and link them to the actual needs of society and create an enabling environment supportive of scientific research and stimulating researchers.
The overall vision of the Damascus Initiative is the most beautiful, to be a smart and clean modern city in which its components are neatly organized and developed based on scientific research, knowledge and innovation methods, enriching its cultural heritage with art and beauty, and improving the mental and visual image of the city of Damascus through conducting development studies that adopt innovation and aim to solve the existing problems. And to develop strategies in line with sustainable development plans and to meet the future challenges resulting from population growth and the associated negative effects on the city and its ancient heritage.
Greater Damascus
Dr. Natalia Atfah from the Higher Institute of Regional Planning talked about Greater Damascus (the city of Metropole) and the executive work matrix, reviewing the studies conducted over many years, which reached 11 studies and approaches with international cities, addressing the expansions, extensions, irrigated movements, rainfalls, land uses and population increases. She pointed to the guidelines and the importance of a joint authority between the governorates of Damascus and its countryside, and a national team working on all disciplines, and there is an activation of management and rehabilitation of technical staff and monitoring and evaluation system Sani, the possibility of segmentation of studies at time intervals.
In response to the question of «Tishreen» on her talk about the possibility of separating Damascus from its surroundings, said d. Compassion in pause with her:
The facts on the ground cannot say: Damascus is not connected to its surroundings and related to aspects of life as well. Public service workers and government jobs are moving to it, and students of universities and schools, especially private schools make the process reciprocal, and may not be only daily, but because of the need for rural products They become seasonal except for migration that occurs as a result of multiple conditions.
The question arises: who bears responsibility?
Of course this is the case of all the major cities, not just the city of Damascus like Cairo and Amman, as well as many European cities, and it is natural that within this common area that constitutes the biosphere is a joint administration or authority that considers the interest of the greater city, at the same time. It supports the countryside of Damascus as a governorate, as well as the governorate of Damascus.
Add d. Atfah: It is this equilibrium process that will enter us in the right direction to solve the problem of encroaching on agricultural lands, for example, providing services, with the quality currently required in this environment, in addition to visions and approaches to address slums, which requires integrated and joint management, otherwise the spatial challenges will continue to increase, The main center of migration from the rest of the governorates, the bloc in the vicinity of Damascus with a lack of services and the decline of ecosystems.
Because the war has increased the challenges of the population, and we have harm in several areas in Damascus, such as Jobar and Qaboun, the necessity requires a new urban vision, and this requires when studying the detailed areas to consider the integrated spatial vision and the correct link with the surrounding areas and communities, otherwise we will be in a future problem now. Reconstruction requires great potential, addresses all challenges and considers the future of Damascus as a major city capable of growth and prosperity.
And dwell d. Paul Shenara of the Higher Institute of Regional Planning, a well-known expert in talking about the planning and organizational context of the city of Damascus, reviewing all the stages of the schemes starting from the French Ecochar and detailed details usually that Damascus originated from the year 9000 and stopped on the Ghouta of Damascus by saying: Of the green areas, he said sarcastically about the studies company: It is intellectually lagging according to those who had the vision to return to foreigners from the logic of the "Oboe of the neighborhood does not Yatrib," after being assigned to work on the fourth dimension any time, although it includes among its best competencies.
On the risk list
And reminded us d. Abeer Arqawi - Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Damascus, in her talk about old Damascus on the list of danger, the reality of the situation, and the suffering encountered by the inhabitants every day, which was included on the list of danger in 2013 indicating the previous studies, and the keenness of the cadres working in the Faculty of Architecture The number of studies at the thesis level reached 93 between 2010 and 2019 and 23 theses for master's and doctoral degrees.
And for «Tishreen» said d. Arqawi: We are working and preparing to make a memorandum of understanding with the province, and we have a great work through the students, especially graduate studies, and it is important now that my students are in direct contact with the existing problem to propose mechanisms of solution based on those in the workshop, and once the two parties agree we will mark the beginning of useful cooperation.
I now have 400 students working on it, including 200 students in the old Levant. We have studies and excellent work.
Smart applications
And reviewed d. Osama Darwish of the Higher Institute of Regional Planning Applications of smart cities, and the possibility of achieving this in Damascus through student projects and doing so, and the introduction of the concepts of transport and intelligent mobility and the concept of road maintenance and the importance of comprehensive diagnosis of the city, indicating the importance of participatory in the success of any future work, and emphasizing a set of indicators Most notably, efficiency, qualification, smart economy and new opportunities for all.
The spirit of Damascus
As the spirit of Damascus called it, Dr. Ghada Bilal from the Higher Institute of Regional Planning indicated her proposal for the project of reviving the Barada River. She sent us back to the poets singing Barada, recalling Nizar Qabbani: Hawak Yabardi, like the sword dwells in me. Just like the Aura of Barada.
Endure old dissipated ah what is the best cold
Lord of the land of Shaza and dew and surgeries in the heart of Adi
I once lived. The most beautiful history was tomorrow
And I talked d. Bilal about the Barada River in detail and its course and the problem of sanitation, which has become a burden, and the blockage of sewage networks, and the station in Adra, and the importance of the development of environmental solutions through treatment, for example, using bronchioles and convert the shoulders of the river to the shoulders planted bronchioles, to reach the question raised »Whoever bears the responsibility of tiling the land of the river, which deprived him of self-purification, she replies:
Frankly I do not know who did this, and who proposed to pave the course of the Barada River, and deprived of self-purification, and asked repeatedly according to your question who made the decision, whether it was based on certain grounds, or was not scientific and non-academic.
Touch
