Sub-project 5:Cultural Heritage

Summary

Cultural heritage subproject (SP5) focuses on application of inclusive and balanced strategies of adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, sites and urban areas to foster sustainable growth in the rapid urbanizing city of Dar es Salaam, which poses threats on the city’s long established cultural identity, including the knowledge embedded therein. The urbanization trend threatens erasing the city’s material and immaterial heritage as well as economic potentials for sectors such as tourism. The goal of the SP5 is to generate capacity to safeguard the cultural, environmental, material and immaterial heritage and identity in tandem with SDG 11.4.

In addressing the general scope of SP5, the on-going PhD’s relate to the SP5 ambitions on ‘generating capacity’ in relation to mapping potential heritage in the Asian quarter of Dar es Salaam, as a case, to address issues of heritage management (PhD1), as well as safeguarding “knowledge embedded” in vernacular architecture and craftsmanship (PhD2), and a focus on academic education on heritage and conservation (PhD3). Capacity building also includes master’s training program in adaptive reuse.

The Master in Adaptive Reuse at Hasselt University inspires the introduction of a similar master program at ARU, which could potentially make the SP5 – Cultural Heritage sustainable beyond the duration of the project. ARU-SP5 and Hasselt-SP5 have agreed to work through in realising the introduction of the respective master’s program. 

Pilot sites:

1)   Dar es Salaam. This is the key site for the intended PhD1

2)   Bagamoyo - Community of Weavers in Bagamoyo. This is the key site for PhD2. Further reach-out to a larger community of weavers, including the coastal region is recommended for the study.

Currently 2 PhDstudents and 1 Masterstudent are supported by this subproject.