The Egyptian Architectural and Urban Heritage, and the UNESCO World Heritage List

Abstract:
By the end of World War II; UNESCO was established in 1945, where it stated among its objectives in the first article" Assuring the conservation and protection of the world’s inheritance of books, works of art and monuments of history and science, and recommending to the nations concerned the necessary international conventions.."
Since then, there have been numerous international agreements sponsored by UNESCO to preserve the world heritage. Leading to the issuance of the (Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage) in 1972, which approved a program aimed at classifying, naming and preserving sites of special importance to humankind. Which are known as (World Heritage Sites), and include landmarks nominated by the World Heritage Committee at UNESCO to be included in the International Heritage Sites Program; The number of sites included in the international list until the end of July (2021) reached 1154 sites in 167 of the member states, where Italy ranks first with 58 sites, followed by China 56, Germany 51, while Egypt owns 7 sites only.
The importance of the various countries of the world seeking to include their various historical sites in that list is that this gives the country a cultural and civilized dimension, and the world knows the importance of the historical heritage of this country in terms of cultural and tourism, and that the country that owns the World Heritage site may seek help when needed to protect its heritage or reform it by UNESCO, especially at the financial, scientific and technical levels, which is what most of the developing countries need, including Egypt. Also, the process of preserving historical and archaeological sites within existing cities - as is the case in Cairo, which the study deals with as a model for the Egyptian architectural and urban heritage, requires the concert of all governmental, civil and societal efforts to upgrade such sites, while spreading awareness of the importance of developing and nurturing these sites for upgrading with its urban surroundings, and then all those connected to it from members of the community, whether they live in it or others as an entrance to preserve it; This is what the study seeks by reviewing many conservation and development projects that have taken place in the historical property of the “Historic Cairo” site, which inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a model for the Egyptian case.