Material and immaterial heritage as a strategic resource facing structural shifts: the case of the Fès-Meknès region (Morocco)

The processes of structural change that are currently taking place in countries situated in the Southern Mediterranean involve rapid and radical transformations. The effects of modernisation are often associated with the loss of relevant elements of heritage which are especially strategic from a long-term perspective: environmental resources, settlements models, building techniques, local productions. The crucial challenge in these contexts is to reconcile pressures for change and innovation with identity preservation and sustainable development. In this respect, systems of heritage knowledge can play a key role since they express practical and technological expertise which is very strictly connected to the environmental and cultural characters of places. These sets of knowledge are rich in historical value, but most importantly of functional value: in this sense, they can be interpreted as design rules and principles that can be re-actualised with contemporary technological solutions. This paper presents a research in progress aimed at producing multidisciplinary design guidelines based on the enhancement of heritage knowledge at the territorial, urban and architectural scale in the Fès-Meknès region (Morocco). In this project, geographical information systems are central tools that allow the georeferencing of heritage knowledge and a wide dissemination aimed at the construction of integrated projects.