Preface

Recently, there has been growing research interest in identity in the architectural and urban environment. Concurrently, there is also a growing interest in sustainability.

 This research is interested in achieving an integrated environment to meet human needs as well as guide energy consumption, which preserves both the identity and privacy of architecture. In terms of contemporary architecture, there is an important need to formulate guidelines for planning and designing decisions with regard to the potential of sustainability that is evident in the traditional architecture environment.

There is a contemporary return to the traditional environment, wherein successful and efficient climatic solutions contribute to the rationalization of energy consumption.

As a result, our contemporary architectural styles must be affected by our fundamental traditional concepts. This helps to preserve architectural identity and heritage when our comprehensive architectural works respond to the cultural and natural environment. Contemporary cities should meet the needs of the modern human while maintaining their architectural identity.

In contemporary cities, there is an increasing population growth that causes them to expand. Modern urban and commercial processes have expanded rapidly towards their cities' historical centers, and with the loss of the majority of the cities' master plans, the relationship between the old and the new, as well as its social, economic, and architectural effects, has becomes an issue tackled in many researches. This makes us responsible for developing today's cities, especially our historical cities, for the future. As a result, the cities of the future must be based on a foundation that ties together the past, present, and future through an advanced connective chain that meets all humans' requirements in any era. Cities with no memory miss their past and, as a result, can't dream of building their future, which makes them vulnerable and prone to destruction.

There is importance in finding a clear visualization for planning the architectural design for historical cities in the present and in the future. This plan puts us on the path of sustainable development, which satisfies the needs of the present and protects the future. This is why it is important to study "urban conservation."

 Chapters of this book attempt to answer a number of questions, such as what is urban conservation? How do cities of historical depth deal with modern planning policies? What are our policies for conservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and preservation of the urban fabric of historical cities and heritage buildings? How can we explain urban conservation, sustainable heritage, and historical sustainability?

The preservation of cultural and architectural heritage requires the participation of specialists from various disciplines, including architects, urban planners, economists, sociologists, archaeologists, artisans, interior design experts, law experts and building legislators as well as specialists from engineering disciplines related to structure and infrastructure.

This book consist of four sections. Section 1, "Urban Heritage Conservation," includes the introductory chapter, "Heritage Conservation; Rehabilitation of Architectural and Urban Heritage." I try in this chapter to explain some concepts and procedures for urban conservation. It is an attempt to come up with guidelines for the planning and design of contemporary architecture with respect to sustainability. This sustainability potential that emerges in the traditional architectural environment helps preserves its past and maintains its identity.

 Section 2, "Reuse of Heritage Buildings within Sustainability," includes two distinguished chapters. Chapter 2, "Improving Environmental Sustainability in Reuse of Some of England's Churches: Challenges and Options for Sustainable Practices," aims to investigate current retrofitting strategies and interventions in heritage buildings. The purpose is to assess current performance through the viewpoint of energy efficiency. The chapter adopts a pragmatic analytic and comparative approach and methodology to investigating retrofitting interventions in the reuse of England's listed churches. Chapter 3, "New Additions to Existing Built Heritage and Their Contributions to Sustainable Development: Cases from Ankara, Turkey," uses data from a new survey of historic buildings in Ankara with new exterior or interior additions of previous restorations in order to reveal the quality, compatibility, and/ or incompatibility of contemporary new additions. It also explores contributions to sustainability using five case studies of historic buildings in the Ankara, Ulus district.

 Section 3, "Vernacular Architectural Identity within Sustainability," also includes two chapters. Chapter 4, "Sustainability and Vernacular Architecture: Rethinking What Identity Is," aims to redefine what identity is as a concept. It also discusses the impact of globalization on contemporary architecture, especially on regions with rich heritage and unique culture such as the Arab world. The chapter examines the emergence of "local identity" as a reaction to the globalization of cultural values, uniform architectural styles, and stereotype patterns through discussing sustainability as a motivation for identity in culture and architecture.

 Chapter 5, "Repackaging 'Traditional' Architecture of the African Village in Zimbabwe," architecturally and onomastically explores selected outdoor spaces in Zimbabwe. Repackaging of these spaces is being done through construction of buildings with connections to traditional architecture as well as respective traditional naming of such, symbolizing a return to African values. The names of the spaces communicate African sensibilities about the African aura of the traditional village and at the same time sustainably conserve the architecture authored by African heritage.

Section 4, "Preservation and Restoration of Historic Buildings" includes Chapter 6, "Assessment of Selected English Colonial Heritages Features for Sustainable Conservation in Kaduna Metropolis- Nigeria." This chapter sets out to establish heritage significant values, determine the relative influential index of deterioration, and assess the suitable sustainable heritage conservation options within the colonial Nigerian town of Kaduna.

I would like to thank all the authors for their valuable contributions to this book. I would also like to thank IntechOpen's Author Service Manager, Ms. Maja Bozicevic, for her cooperation and competence in the management process and her help in bringing this book to publication.
