Heritage Restoration as a Tool to Promote Architectural Identity in the Gulf Regions

Abstract Recently most of the Gulf countries have had significant urban development, with innovative architecture, as a result of the production of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in many places in the world. This has generated an unprecedented construction boom in the cities and the surrounding areas. Despite their rather short urban history, the Gulf States have recently launched several signatures mega-projects, where public investments are developing an urban structure of a global dimension. Affecting the direction of the rapid urbanization is a permanent tension between the creation of a new, modern cultural identity and the promotion of traditional architecture. One aim is to establish new connections with local history and cultural traditions. To reveal the challenge of the construction of a new architectural identity in the Arab emerging cities, this paper focuses on the action needed to preserve historical, cultural, traditional, and architectural heritage, with the aim of filling the gaps of knowledge and encouraging new research in the fields of restoration and conservation that will lead to future practical implementation. The paper also calls for a fresh look at the tradition, modernity, and identity, by outlining a number of aspects related to the current status of architectural heritage conservation in some Arab cities. Traditional culture, ancient architectural constructions, and vernacular architecture are the result of historical processes and products of Arab societies. Understanding this is an indispensable tool for the comprehension of the Arab modern cities, a knowledge which can influence their future expansion and revitalization, and the shaping of a new architectural identity in these areas. In the Arab regions, restoration methodologies also need to be defined and implemented with the aim of preserving cultural heritage and raising the conservation and restoration research profile among the international research community.