From talk to action: an effective recovery strategy for Oran's historic centre?

Abstract

Sidi-El-Houari is Oran's mother city, carrying the identity of a city that has been continuously under construction for a thousand years. Despite its status as a 'protected sector,' this neighbourhood is today threatened with being wiped out due to the deterioration of its built form and general socio-economic devitalisation. Limited interventions have regrettably played a role in the deculturation of a place that is loaded with memory. Official preservation discourse and regulations that support heritage turn out to have been particularly ineffective at preserving this priceless legacy. This essay considers the reasons for and the implications of the pervasive inertia, especially in those institutions which are charged with preserving and rehabilitating the 'protected sector.' Furthermore, the division within, and weakness of, civil society prevents a significant level of pressure being placed on local authorities to enforce heritage law. This part of the city needs, but does not have, an effective preservation strategy.