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A
proposal for rebuilding the water system and the tilled terraces
of wadi al-Mataha (Petra). The restoration of the ecosystem and
the revival of the vegetation are not only a new archaeological
attraction managed by the bedu groups, but also the defence of
the environment against the erosion and demolition of the sandstone
walls.
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Thula
(Yemen), reconstruction of water harvesting systems, open-air
cisterns, underground cavities and tunnels which from the citadel
provide the terraced gardens and the ablution rooms of the mosque
with water. The hydraulic installation still in use is very similar
to that of the ancient Sabean towns.
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Matera,
Civita and the glacis of the Sasso Barisano. An urban ecosystem
is an oasis model which evolves into a town. It gains complexity
and stratification, but retains its organic relationship with
the environment and a sustainable use of resources. The aesthetic
qualities we appreciate in the Sassi di Matera are due to the
rules and restraints imposed on the settlement by the water and
energy requirements and the need to protect the soil. The adoption
of the same principles in similar environmental situations explains
the similarities arising even with distant urban ecosystems such
as Ghardaia in figure on the right.
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Ghardaia
(Algerian Sahara). The mosque had to accommodate all the inhabitants.
When this was no longer possible a new settlement was built in
a similar context. The habitat, therefore, maintained its clustered
shape which was in harmony with the environment.
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Ghardaia(Algerian
Sahara). The overbuilding of the settlements on the rocky summits
along the palm-grove forms the so-called pentapolis of the M'zab
valley.
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Sasso
Barisano, one of the two large depressions forming the ancient
town of Matera. The houses, terraces and gardens develop in successive
circles and surround the riverbed of the narrow drainage stream,
the "grabiglione", now paved. The high spur of the Civita, where
the Cathedral stands on a rise, overlooks the urban landscape.
The dwellings envelop the limestone bed by stretching out into
the rock with deep underground cavities whose entrances may be
observed where the buildings become fewer and leave the rock matrix
bare.
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The
hydro-agricultural origin is important to understand the urban
layout of the Sassi of Matera. Above, the Sasso Barisano is a
basin into which water coming down from the plain above conveyed.
Below, an overhanging garden resulting from the threshing-floors,
the agropastoral matrix on which the process of urbanisation was
implanted.
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In
the Sassi of Matera the digging of caves drains the slope and
the inside of the rock thus making the cavities useful and providing
water storage for the inhabitants and the terrace crops. The digging
material is used for building the cave-dwellings by extending
forward the lateral caves of each terrace and for building the
protected courtyards. The rainwater off the roofs is harvested
in the well inside the courtyard. In order to accomplish this
task the pitches of the roofs do not protrude from the houses
but they are rather built within the walls, where the community
life of the neighbourhood takes place. The hypogeums, whose temperature
is constantly 15° C, provide heat in winter time and cool in summer
time. The layout of small streets and stairs is useful to channel
rainwater for farming the terraces, which because of the urban
development become saturated with houses or turn into hanging
gardens.
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