YOUTH AWARENESS OF URBAN CULTURE IN GAZA OLD TOWN, PALESTINE

Abstract

Traditional buildings in Gaza old town, Palestine have been suffering from serious problems such
as lack of conservation, outdated regulation, absence of public awareness, and destruction caused by
continuous conflict in the region. There is a need to raise awareness of the youth in Gaza especially
the old town towards the architecture of the Palestinian traditional dwellings. This paper outlines a
research project conducted in Al Zahra High School for Girls (Al Zahra School herein after), Gaza
old town in order to explore the awareness of the Palestinian youth towards the architecture of
Palestinian traditional houses as an indicator of their urban culture. The research used descriptive
analysis and case study analysis to develop a set of urban culture elements used in the assessment of
girls’ awareness. It was found that the students were fairly aware of the basic architectural elements
of the dwelling. Their awareness of architectural terms was lower.There is need to educate the Palestinian youth about elements and terms of the Palestinian
traditional architecture. This research is important because it is the first to study this issue in Gaza.
It is also important for raising the attention of Education Authorities in Gaza to link the students
with the remaining artefacts of traditional architecture and at the same time to the vocabulary
related to it.