| Summary: | The issue of safeguarding historical centres included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and their surroundings from negative impacts caused by pressure of the urban dynamic is important as well as topical. This article addresses this problem through an evaluation of a buffer zone as a means of strengthening protection around a historic site and its context, while maintaining its integrity. Through a case study of the UNESCO site of the Casbah in Algiers, we have tried to prove our hypothesis that, in the case of an urban historic site, the delineation criteria for the buffer zone, which is usually based on the property’s isolation and protection conditions, should be made in relation to, and in favour of, the articulation of the old with the new, allowing for the integration and insertion of the cultural urban property into the urban dynamic of the town.
Our assessment of the actual protection zone around the Casbah has brought to light several inadequacies concerning the establishment of its perimeters, which undermine the main objective of reinforcing the cultural value of the site, its structural and visual integrity as well as that of its surroundings. Because of this, a revision of the protection zone’s perimeter is strongly recommended so as to strengthen protection around the UNESCO site of the Casbah in Algiers and maintain its exceptional value.
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