The transformation opportunities of Cypriot vernacular houses under the scope of tourism

Paper presented at the XXXIII IAHS World Congress on Housing, 27-30 September 2005,"Transforming Housing Environments through Design", University of Pretoria.ABSTRACT: A unique vernacular architecture has developed in Cyprus through history. The Cypriot house, which has its own peculiarities, bears some differences according to its rural or urban position. While the preferences of the ruling powers influence the urban vernacular, the local characters and values are important in determining the rural ones. The environmental, production and cultural factors gain importance in the shaping of these local identities and divergences. The richness in the vernacular architecture of Cyprus, as observed in Mediterranean architecture, can be considered as one of the main assets for tourism. Although sometimes, the demands in tourism might be regarded as a threat for the vernacular environment, tourism itself might be based on the local factors as in the case of ecotourism. Under this scope, the Cypriot vernacular architecture bears potential for cultural tourism with its own peculiarities such as environmental, architectural, production and way of life. In this paper, it is aimed to discuss the transformation and adaptation opportunities of the vernacular Cypriot house for the growing potential of cultural and ecotourism in Cyprus.Authors of papers in the proceedings and CD-ROM ceded copyright to the IAHS and UP. Authors furthermore declare that papers are their original work, not previously published and take responsibility for copyrighted excerpts from other works, included in their papers with due acknowledgment in the written manuscript. Furthermore, that papers describe genuine research or review work, contain no defamatory or unlawful statements and do not infringe the rights of others. The IAHS and UP may assign any or all of its rights and obligations under this agreement

Tradition and modernity in the mediterranean cities. The tunisian cities: Tunis, Kairouan, Tozeur, Nefta.

L’articolo fa un confronto tra le differenti forme urbane delle città del Nord Africa, in particolare quelle della Tunisia (Tunisi, Kairouan, Tozeur, Nefta). Tali città, distribuite tra il Nord ed il Sud del paese, esprimono, nelle loro medine, l’identità della forma urbana e ne dichiarano la modernità lungo i loro bordi. Tunisi, posta tra due laghi, costruisce la sua modernità con la città coloniale che, anche se con linguaggi diversi, evidenzia i temi del Mediterraneo. La città di Kairouan mantiene la sua identità nella grande moschea, luogo centrale di organizzazione urbana. Le città d’oasi, come Tozeur e Nefta, esprimono il loro rapporto col paesaggio ed evidenziano con le loro architetture i materiali usati