HERITAGE MANAGEMENT PLAN All three approaches can, if implemented responsibly, afford a substantial source of revenue for the local communities and also act as a business primer for many associated industries. In particular tourism is expected to contribute greatly to as-Sulayf’s future due to the site’s picturesque location and ease of access, but its success will be measured by the Oasis’ ability to successfully combine modern technologies with traditional values of natural balance and measured exploitation. An example for a successful heritage management implementation in a traditional oasis context is that of Siwa Oasis in Egypt, where an ancient settlement has been revived to showcase traditional lifestyles, as well as embracing modern sustainable technologies of water management and energy production (Figs. 6.11, 6.17). Challenging environments such as desserts offer unique design and technological possibilities which can be addressed, or indeed embraced, with modern techniques, as has been achieved at the Amangiri Resort in the Utah Desert (Figs. 6.10, 6.16).
6.2 Management PLAN GOALS Any projects undertaken on the architectural and cultural heritage of the Sultanate of Oman will have to be approached with a view towards strict fiscal responsibility, aiming for a high degree of economic sustainability by relying extensively on public/private partnership. In this sense the aim is not the wholesale reconstruction of entire settlements in a pseudo-high fidelity manner simply to showcase their supposed original appearance. Such a practice is necessarily economically prohibitive in the long term and does not serve the desired outcome of reinstating authenticity or revitalizing uninhabited settlements. It will also be noted that ‘revitalization’ is by no means limited to the immediate urban confines of a given settlement; much rather it is proposed here that successful re-habitation is only possible
Figure 6.3 Oman’s Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) power potential. Source: DESERTEC Initiative
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