Rebuilding a Sustainable Image in a Cultural Landscape

The beautiful and untamed mountains in Iran are a strong source of identity for the residents and the visitors. The view of the Alborz Mountain’s peak, Damavand, from Tehran is breathtaking. Yet the same geological processes that have created these magnificent mountains have also made the country very susceptible to devastating earthquakes. While there have been numerous quakes in Iran with many casualties, none have ever overwhelmed international headlines the way the earthquake that struck Bam on December 26, 2003) has. Since that faithful day, there have been many other natural disasters all over the world. The tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the Hurricane Katrina along the gulf coast of the U.S. are two events that have also caused devastating tragedies. There are major lessons to be learned from the Bam experience that can be applied to other similar situations. The relationship between nature and culture adds a significant insight into the complex situation, where reconstruction extends beyond bricks and mortar to the reconstruction of lives and the continuation of a culture. In this regard,the process of people’s participation is of vital importance. In Bam a unique approach was used to recover cultural values and reach out to segment of the population that is vital to Bam’s future, its children. The Bam experience involved children in a UNICEF workshop1 and provided a way to involve them in the design of parts of the environment, through their own eyes. This article describes the historic nature/culture relationship in Bam and how the workshops were used to recover them and to find hope in the midst of a disaster.