Public Baths in North African World Heritage Cities: Challenges or missed Opportunities for Historic Cities’ Urban Resilience in the Context of Climate Change?

This paper presents the results of two research projects (led by the author) on the surviving public baths in the world heritage cities of North Africa, and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in the UK. (see ECO-HAMMAM – Share the resources, save the planet!)

The paper examines the ecological transitions that can be applied in the rehabilitation of this cultural heritage in the context water scarcity and global warming in North Africa, as triggered by climate change.  Lessons of sustainability embedded in this affordable key heritage public facility for hygiene and wellbeing are carefully examined to counteract the claims made at the COP 22 (held in Marrakech, Morocco), labelling these centuries old heritage facilities as a source of urban pollution and excessive water usage, leading to technical solutions that are not only difficult to implement but also unaffordable.

The paper contextualises the discourse by engaging a wide variety of stakeholders and members of the public to deconstruct the various arguments put forward and provide evidence of how hasted conclusions triggered solely by and an environmental agenda can miss opportunities to learn from the past to inform and innovate future practices that are not only environmentally sustainable but also socially, culturally and economically too.