The Role of ‘Sense of Place’ in Cultural Heritage Conservation:
The Case of Historic Cairo, Egypt
文化遺産保護における「場所の意味」の役割：エジプト・カイロ歴史地区を事例に

Mohamed Nour Mohamed Ali Elbarbary
モハメド ヌール モハメド アリ エルバルバリ
１．Introduction

towards the conservations of Historic Cairo are affected by

The SoP concept has been developed by famous human(1, 2)

geographers,

their SoP, which is affected by their demographic andsince the early 1970s and refers to thesocio-economic characteristics (Figure 1). In this context, thesymbolic meanings or attributes an individual or a group holds

academic purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth

to a particular place or region. It includes three overlapped

analysis of the controversial case of Historic Cairo andsub-components: Place Attachment, Place Dependence, andexamine the role of SoP in formulating the local people'sPlace Identity. Few previous studies have empiricallyattitude and influencing their behavioral intentions towards theinvestigated the significant relationship between SoP andconservation/abuse of the historic buildings. The ultimate

human’s behaviors in different contexts such as eco-tourism,

objective of this study is to identify the appropriate approach(3, 4, 5 & 6)

sustainable tourism, and pro-environmental behavior.

for an effective conservation of the living cultural heritage sites

The focus of most previously mentioned studies was directedin the Middle East and North Africa, such as Historic Cairo,

to natural places (e.g., national parks, islands, landscapes) in

based on both theoretical and empirical analysis.

Asia, Australia, and Europe. In the Middle East, the role of'SoP' is highlighted in understanding the structure and characterof heritage spaces in Iran, thus improving the quality of its
architectural conservation based on a descriptive-analytical
approach.(7) While, empirically, a significant relationship isfound between SoP and the tourists' intentional revisits tospecific natural destinations in Egypt (Fayoum and the WhiteDesert).(8) Hence, in the field of cultural heritage conservation,
the academic literature has fallen short of examining the SoP
neither theoretically nor empirically, especially in North Africa
and the Middle East.
The present study investigates the controversial case of'Historic Cairo' in Egypt, a UNESCO world cultural heritagesite since 1979, to fill in this gap. Despite receiving several
conservation interventions by national and international actors,
the historic center of Cairo has been deteriorated since themid-20th century. Also, the local people in Cairo's Historicquarters have contradicted behaviors towards conserving its
cultural heritage. The author hypothesized that the previous
conservation projects’ approaches were inappropriate for aliving cultural heritage site which is still inhabited and wheretraditional lifestyle, skills, and crats still exist. Also, ithypothesizes that the local people's behavioral intentions

学位論文梗概集 2021

Figure 1. The conceptual framework of study.
Source: Edited by author

２．Methodological Framework

El-Khalili’ quarter has been known as Egypt’s specialized（１）Study Areas

traditional market of the local handmade products. Currently,

The study is limited to investigating the cases of the'Al-Khalifa' and ‘Khan El-Khalili’ quarters, at the South andmany historic buildings at the quarter have deteriorated andothers are abused in business activities by shopkeepers.

North of Historic Cairo, respectively (Figure 2). Both quarters
have quite similar demographic and geographical features,
while their socio-economic and urban features are quite
different. The ‘Al-Khalifa’ quarter is an impoverished area,
while the ‘Khan El-Khalili’ quarter is a famous touristic area.
At

the‘Al-Khalifa’quarter,

thelocalpeople(residents/shopkeepers) are giving due attention to conserving
specific religious buildings (e.g., Sidi M. Al-Anwar), andnon-religious buildings (e.g., Shagaret Eddor). The 'Sidi M.
Al-Anwar' is a religious building which consists of amausoleum and a small oratory. It was built in 1012 by theFatimid caliph 'Al-Hakim' who claimed that he once saw 'Sidi
M. Al-Anwar', a descendant of the prophet's house, at thatplace in a dream. The building was renovated in 1780 by thelocal government and gains the local people's interest in its
conservation. Therefore, it is well conserved compared to its

Figure 2. Geographical location of Historic Cairo and two quarters

similar neighboring historic buildings in the quarter. Similarly,

Source: Edited by authors

the 'Shagaret Eddor' is a non-religious (memorial) building at（2）Methods

the 'Al-Khalifa' quarter which consists of a burial dome that

The methodological framework consists of three systematic

was built between 1246 and 1250 for 'Shagaret Eddor' (Tree ofsteps, which includes both qualitative and quantitative

Pearl), the only queen of Egypt during its medieval Islamic

methods: a pilot survey conducted in December 2018 and 2019

history, for about three months in 1249. She was killed andbased on direct observation, 50 questionnaires with aburied inside her burial dome at the 'Al-Khalifa' quarter. The

representative sample of local people at the 'Al-Khalifa' quarter,

dome has unique historical and architectural values, since it is

11 semi-structured interviews with a representative sample ofconsidered the oldest 'Ayyubid' dome in Egypt, and its main

local

apse has the oldest mosaic pattern in the Islamic architecture ofsemi-structured interviews with five stakeholders in both

Egypt. In 1919, an unfinished mosque was attached to thequarters. Upon this pilot survey, the current conservation statusburial dome, but never functioned as a mosque and currently

and the local people's behavior towards the cultural heritage inserves as a community center of educational programs, crafts

both quarters were identified. Secondly, an intensive literature

workshops, and summer camps, especially for the children andsurvey of prime historical resources, conservation reports, andwomen. So that, the building gains the local people special

recent related studies on Historic Cairo is conducted tointerest and is well conserved compared to its similar memorial

understand the historical background and the formal/informalbuildings at the quarter.

conservation history of the historic buildings in both quarters.

peopleatthe'Khan

El-Khalili'quarter,

andWhile, at the 'Khan El-Khalili' quarter, the local people

Finally, a sequential explanatory design, using quantitative and(mainly shopkeepers) abuse or are indifferent to conserving

qualitative methods, respectively, is applied to examine thehistoric buildings. The quarter comprises about 11 historic

relationship between the local people's SoP levels and theirththbuildings that were built between the mid-13 and mid-20

behavioral intentions towards the conservation of the historiccenturies. Most of these buildings are trade centers known asbuildings in both quarters.(9) A total of 201 and 207‘Khan’ or ‘Wekalat’ (Caravanserais) rented for local/foreign

questionnaires were collected at the ‘Al-Khalifa’ quarter on themerchants, in addition to other religious, memorial, andreligious building and the non-religious buildings, respectively.

residential buildings. Since the medieval ages, the ‘Khan

While a total of 228 questionnaires were collected at the ‘Khan

Summaries of Academic Theses 2021

El-Khalili’ quarter. Besides, 20 semi-structured interviews werebuilding as a venerable place of various activities that meet

conducted with a representative sample of local people at each

their daily life needs, compared to the other similar religious

quarter. The numeric data were statistically analyzed using thebuildings in the quarter. In comparison, the local people's

SPSS software for descriptive analysis and the Warp-Pls

attachment to the non-religious building has been constitutedsoftware for Structural Equation Models (SEMs). While thethrough childhood memories and direct connection with theinterviews were voice-recorded, transcribed, translated intobuilding, especially after its adaptation as a community center

English, then thematically analyzed.

and dispensary. These findings indicate the significant
influence of the buildings uses on the local people’s SoP

3．Results

sub-components. It aligns with the Venice Charter which

Theoretically, in Chapter 2, the author found that there areendorsed this point clearly, when stating that "The conservation

about 17 mega conservation projects that have been conductedof monuments is always facilitated by using them for somein Historic Cairo since the early 1970s. However, only threesociallyconservation projects focused on improving the local people's

touristification of the 'Khan El-Khalili' quarter, over the past 30

quality of life and their integration in the implementation

years, the local people have been replaced by newcomers who

process, and thus, had positive outcomes and worldwide

have divided rootedness and commodified relationships withgratitude. Also, the author identified that the various challenges

the quarters' historic buildings. Therefore, the author found nothat constrain the effective conservation of Historic Cairo are,significant relationship between the local people's 'place

directly or indirectly, connected to shortcomings in theattachment' and their attitude and behavioral intentions towards

methodology or structure of the national management system.

the historic buildings, which explain their abuse andEmpirically, in Chapters 3 and 4, the author found a

indifference to their conservation. Finally, interesting findings

significant relationship is found between the local people's SoP

are released based on the correlation analysis between the local

and their positive behaviors towards conserving the religious

people’s demographic and Socio-economic characteristics andand non-religious buildings at the 'Al-Khalifa' quarter and their

their SoP towards the different types of historic buildings innegative behavior towards the historic buildings at the 'Khanboth quarters. The author found a negative correlation between

El-Khalili' quarter. At the ‘Al-Khalifa’ quarter, SoP explains

the people's residence/ working place location and their SoP(39%) of local people’s attitude, which can predict (14%) oflevel among all investigated types of buildings. It means that,

their intentions towards the conservation of the religious

the closer is the person’s residence/workplace to a culturalbuilding of ‘Sidi M. Al-Anwar’. Similarly, SoP explains about

heritage site, the stronger is his/her SoP towards that site. Also,(26%) of local people’s attitude, which can predict about (39%)

it is found that the elderly people who received a low educationof their intentions towards the conservation of the non-religious

level develop higher SoP levels towards the religious andbuilding of ‘Shagaret Eddor’. While, at the ‘Khan El-Khalili’

non-religious buildings, but not the residential and commercial

quarter, SoP explains about (25%) of the local people’s attitude,buildings,

which can predict about (21%) of their intentions towards theresidents/shopkeepers developed high SoP levels towards thehistoric buildings’ conservation. Actually, the previous values

buildings. Also, the people who live/work for a long time at aare considerable when taking into consideration the many otherplace, develop higher SoP levels towards its religious,

variables that have an influence on people's attitude (e.g.,

residential, and commercial buildings, but not the non-religious

knowledge,buildingculture,religion)

andbehavior(e.g.,

usefulpurpose".(11) Interestingly,

wherewherebothbotheducated

short-termdueandandto

thenon-educatedlong-termsocio-economic values, physical and intellectual abilities)

residents/shopkeepers developed high Sop levels towards thetowards a particular place.(10) Surprisingly, at the 'Al-Khalifabuilding.

quarter,' the author found that 'place dependence' has thehighest degree of influence on the local people's attitude

4. Conclusion

towards the conservation of the religious building. In contrast,

Overall, it could be concluded that: 1) The transition in local'place attachment' has the highest degree of influence on thepeople's SoP plays a significant role in identifying thelocal people's attitude towards conserving the non-religious

conservation status of the cultural heritage sites disregardingbuilding. The local people highly depend on the religious

their type. 2) The 'local people centered approach’ is the most

学位論文梗概集 2021

appropriate for conserving the living cultural heritage sites,

7) Falahat, M. S., Kamali, L., and Shahidi, S.: The role of the “Sense ofsuch as Historic Cairo and similar historic centers at the MiddlePlace” concept in improving architectural conservation quality. Journal ofEast and North Africa. Such an approach considers local

Bagh- E Nazar 14(46), pp.15–22, 2017.

people's socio-economic values and needs, which inevitably8) Abou-Shouk, M. A., Zoair, N., El-Barbary, M. N., and Hewedi, M. M.:

reinforce their SoP and positive behaviors towards the culturalSense of place relationship with tourist satisfaction and intentional revisit:

heritage. While the intensive touristification of historic quarters

Evidence from Egypt. International Journal of Tourism Research 20(2),negatively affects the local people's SoP, thus promoting thepp.172–181, 2018.

abuse and deterioration of the cultural heritage. 3) The closer is9) Creswell, J. W. and Creswell, J. D.: Research design: Qualitative,

the person's residence/workplace from a cultural heritage site,quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, Sage publications, 2017.

the stronger is his/her SoP towards that site. 4) Using

10) Lengen, C. and Kistemann, T.: Sense of place and place identity: Review

quantitative methods only is inadequate to assess the local
people's SoP towards a cultural heritage site, and quantitativeof neuroscientific evidence. Health & Place 18(5), pp.1162-1171, 2012.
11) ICOMOS: The Venice Charter. ICOMOS, p.2, 1964.

methods are needed to complement and interpret the numericfindings.
Finally, the author proposes the assessment of local
people's SoP as a principal criterion for the future inscription ofliving world heritage sites by the global organizations such as
UNESCO to ensure their sustainable conservation. Also,
further research opportunities can be outlined out of thisresearch such as assessing the local people’s SoP at a living
cultural heritage site, pre and post the recently implemented
conservation projects at that site, based on a mixed-method
approach (Qualitative and Quantitative) to ensure the projects’
effectiveness and sustainable outcomes.
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Summaries of Academic Theses 2021