Artisanat traditionnel, valorisation touristique du patrimoine et Dynamique territoriale : Le cas de la ville syrienne d'Alep

Written shortly before the beginning of the dramatic events that are devastating Syria since March 2011, this article analyzes the relationship between territorial resources and tourism development in the city of Aleppo. Relying on a long historical approach, it first explains the transformation of this old urban territory, whose economy, widely based till the end of the 1990s on traditional craft, has been oriented, during the 2000s, towards a diversification process by the means of an integration of tourism as a complementary way of further development of its rich cultural heritage. In a second part, the analysis focuses on the role of the heritage resources in the socio-economic development of the city. Finally the conclusion of the article is that, in the current context of global competition between nations and regions, the future of Aleppo depends mainly on the capacity of local authorities and of the central government to build a mode of governance which is able to mobilize all the stakeholders in favour of a collective territorial development project. It is obvious that the armed conflict that is extending in Syria for over two years now, and that has destroyed a part of its institutions, is likely to invalidate the analysis. However, the balance of forces between the rebels and the government army is such today that a political solution, acceptable to all the parties, is quite possible in the near future. As long as this solution introduces a dose of regional autonomy from the central government, Aleppo's local actors are likely to restart, on a new basis, the dynamics of territorial development. In such a positive case, the analysis outlined in this article will regain its topicality.