Rural Areas in Post War Syria: Challenges and possibilities for Resilience and sustainability

Abstract

The chaos of Syria's seven years of war has caused severe damage to community and rural built environment, leading to series of challenges from ensuring adequate housing and infrastructure to support growing populations. Furthermore, reducing vulnerability to disasters and protecting the rural cultural and natural heritage are of paramount importance. In order to deal with those issues, we need to implement integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, mitigation and adaptation to climate change and resilience to disasters. Moreover, constructing sustainable buildings utilizing local materials and guarantee resources efficiency. The study tackles the possibility of achieving aforementioned goals in Syrian rural areas and the obstacles that might hinder the process in the post war era. It also sheds light on the idea of considering the war as an opportunity to enhance both community and built environment, taking advantage of demographical and political substantial changes. This paper uses a quantitative method including statistics and surveys, to collect and analyse data from different resources working on the field, then comparing them and concluding the results. Finally, the results of the study will play a significant role in designing a guideline towards an integrated planning and upgrading system in the rural community.