Historic Town of Zabid

Serious deterioration of the city’s heritage. In particular, around 40% of the city's houses were replaced by concrete buildings, and many other houses and the ancient souq are in a deteriorating state. Large sections of the city’s open spaces have been privatized, either illegally or informally and more than 30% of these built-up.

• Serious deterioration of the built-up heritage (40% of the residential houses being replaced by compact cement and multi-storey buildings);
• The remains of the houses in the city are rapidly deteriorating, due to the prevailing low income of the inhabitants;
• Since the souq activities have been transferred outside the city, the ancient souq is almost empty and free from any type of activity and the shops are falling apart;
• The traditional economic role of the city has vanished;
• The city in general, is lacking any conservation and rehabilitation strategies.
• By reviewing all these elements, it was recognized that the situation of the city corresponds to the following criteria of danger as identified in the Operational Guidelines, paragraph 179: Ascertained danger: (ii), (iii) and (iv) and Potential danger: (ii) and (iii).

The present situation does not allow the formulation of benchmarks for this property.

a) Stopping the illegal constructions and clamping down on major building violations, mostly in public spaces, to re-design the original urban pattern;

b) Carrying out the inventory of the buildings of the historic town;

c) Completing the urban conservation plan, and the socio-economic revitalisation action plan;

d) Ensuring the adoption and implementation of the urban regulations for the historic core.

Total amount provided to the property: USD 7,200 from the Italian Funds-in-Trust.

A report was received from the State Party in February 2007. This reported that in December 2006, in response to high level concerns, a special governmental meeting had been convened and a cabinet decree issued requiring various ministries and the General Organization for the Preservation of Historic Cities in Yemen (GOPHCY) to initiate a programme of work. In February 2007 the Social Development Fund awarded USD 85,000 for a pilot project for subsidies to support rehabilitation and restoration. Furthermore GTZ, the German Development Agency, is currently establishing an urban development project in Zabid. The overall foreseen budget for the Zabid Urban Development project for the next three years is of about USD 2 million. This will include funds for the Conservation plan and for a housing restoration subsidies scheme, similar to what has been done in Shibam.

An ICOMOS/World Heritage Centre mission took place in January 2007. The mission confirmed that the city is in decline, with little conservation framework in place, with more than 50% of the buildings within the city walls now built of concrete. Furthermore, the lack of active maintenance and the poor quality and uncontrolled nature of modern construction mean that there is little confidence that the situation can be reversed.

The mission reported that no progress has been made with improving the legal and administrative framework as Zabid does not seem to be high on the Government’s Agenda. The well motivated local GOPHCY office is under resourced and lacks appropriate authority and does not appear to be well supported by local and regional Councils. The Preliminary Urban Conservation Plan produced rapidly as a scoping document in 2002 has not been completed or integrated into the Urban Development Plan nor has this latter been transmitted to the local authorities. No conservation work was carried out by GOPHCY in 2006/2007.

On the positive side, a few rich owners look after their highly decorated stucco houses well and some litter has been cleared from the souq. The Social Development Fund has recently sponsored restoration projects on the main gates of the city and the Al-Ashaer Mosque.

Zabid is no longer seen as an economic centre and as a result there are inadequate services. Rubbish is not properly cleared and there is no overall mechanism for the provision of services to houses. All this combined with unrestrained and uncontrolled new building presents an unattractive picture for tourists – for whom there are no reasonable provisions. However a new paving programme is being developed and will be carried out in conjunction with storm water drainage with funds allocated by the Social Development Fund. A pilot project will start in mid 2007.

A quick engineering survey by the mission concluded that the traditional houses were well constructed and could be adapted for modern living but traditional skills are lacking and the absence of maintenance and services is beginning to impact on the integrity of the Urban fabric.

The skyscape of the town is now dominated by a water tower and masts, as well as two and three storey concrete structures. At the initiative of the mission, a two week field survey was carried out to quantify the extent of remaining traditional buildings. The results of the survey show that surviving traditional buildings account for only 44% of the total, while 46% of buildings are either new insertions or new buildings on open ground. Thus possibly less than 50% of the urban fabric retains authenticity. Furthermore there is almost complete re-development around the periphery of the old city inside the walls and in the assumed buffer zone area. Within the centre of the city there are a few enclaves of traditional buildings but ruins are spreading and there is general degradation of open spaces.

Conclusions:

The mission concluded that as a result of degradation, lack of conservation, no supportive devolvement, and widespread inappropriate new building, Zabid was losing the values for which it was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Furthermore, it concluded that unless the process was immediately stopped and reversed, Zabid should be considered for removal from the World Heritage List. The mission set out the scope and content of a programme of urgent actions to be carried out – in effect a rescue plan.

This Urgent Action Plan details what needs to be undertaken by whom and in which timescale. It covers legal protection, inter-governmental committees, local stakeholder involvement, costed schedules, capacity building, necessary resources and the provision of relevant conservation documents in Arabic. Medium and longer term objectives are also set out – in effect the contents of a Management/Conservation Plan.

While ICOMOS commends the content of the Urgent Action Plan, it is concerned that the cost of such a plan will be extremely high and currently there is no prospect of all the necessary funding being in place. Furthermore it is also concerned that the overall integrity of the city is under threat and that authenticity now only survives within individual buildings rather than in the pattern of the urban fabric. Zabid was a city that displayed a network of traditional buildings with one or two grander structures. Thus its outstanding universal value resided in the collection of urban structures rather than in the exceptional buildings.

Even if the funds could be found for the rescue plan, and it was implemented successfully, Zabid would probably still not display anymore the values for which it was inscribed. ICOMOS reluctantly comes to the conclusion that consideration should be given to the eventual removal of Zabid from the World Heritage List. However, the World Heritage Centre considers that it would be appropriate to assess the outcomes of the first year of the recommended Urgent Action Plan.