Reconsidering the Meaning of Home in the Rehabilitation -Towards a Sustainable Historical Town

Abstract

Despite the significant literature about the meaning of home and the scholars’ research concerning the home environment, the concept of home didn’t filter into the rehabilitation process. The conservation theory and the rehabilitation methodology are still concentrating on the material aspects of the built environment and ignoring the immaterial aspects and meanings. In view of that the dwellings are not only artifacts but they are a livable example of the social structure and behavioral patterns. Understanding the dwellers relationship with their dwellings will be helpful in establishing a connection between the rehabilitation of the historical domestic architecture and the concept of home. This requires reconsidering the theoretical frame work of the rehabilitation process so as to be able to recognize the change in the historical house’s spatial structure and order and to link them to the social structure and pattern of use.