A tool for urban rehabilitation. Atlas of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour

Abstract

This paper is part of the volume Bethlehem Area Conservation and Management Plan: the Atlas, publication displaying the final report of the Bethlehem Area Conservation and Management Plan. The volume “The Atlas” reproduces the new cartography in the form of an urban atlas, as resulted from the fieldwork conducted by the team of young architects, who surveyed the three Historic Towns and their Buffer Zones under the scientific and technical supervision of the International Team of Experts (ITE) who coordinated the Plan. The Atlas, conceived as a “manual” for urban rehabilitation, is introduced by a technical note which illustrates the rationale of the methodology and the procedures for the construction of new detailed maps in scale 1:500, based on an existing maps (2003, in scale 1:5.000) and supported by updated aerial photography (2007), through the undertaking of quantitative and qualitative field surveys, which lie at the basis of the methodology of the Plan. The Atlas, to enable an easy consultation, is composed of 108 sheets of the new cartography, accompanied by the corresponding aerial photography, reproduced in scale 1:1.000, and 90 sheets representing the qualitative field survey reduced in scale 1:650. The Survey of Palestine (1930) is reproduced where the corresponding sheet is available. The BACM Plan ultimately led to the World Heritage nomination of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem (2012) and of the Battir olive and wine landscapes in Beit Jala (2014).