Like many coastal cities, Alexandria must deal with the problems that arise from competition and conflict over the limited resources. Urban Expansion or wetlands conservation, Tourism development or Industrial waste disposal, artisanal fisheries or port development - these recent challenges characterize coastal regions in all over the world. However that which sets Alexandria apart is not so much conflict among contemporary resource-users but conflicts between the city TODAY and the city - or more precisely the cites- that Alexandria has been in the past. as it struggles to renew its Urban core, to resolve problems of traffic and population, Alexandria is everywhere confronted by the archeological remains of its remarkable past.
For Instance now, a breakwater in an inconvenient location has triggered passionate debates that oppose the underwater archeological site of the pharos with onshore Qait Bey Fort, Confronting Cultural Heritage with Recent mis-Urban Expansion and Industrial development.What can be done? Must one moment be sacrificed to conserve the other? Must antiquities Conservation give away to Urban renewal? or we should give both priorities?
I am working now on suggestions, solutions or a statment that allows Alexandria to harmonize its past with its present, a vision for the future.
For Instance now, a breakwater in an inconvenient location has triggered passionate debates that oppose the underwater archeological site of the pharos with onshore Qait Bey Fort, Confronting Cultural Heritage with Recent mis-Urban Expansion and Industrial development.What can be done? Must one moment be sacrificed to conserve the other? Must antiquities Conservation give away to Urban renewal? or we should give both priorities?
I am working now on suggestions, solutions or a statment that allows Alexandria to harmonize its past with its present, a vision for the future.
