The Impact of climate change on Historic Jeddah in the twenty-first century and some possible solutions to preserve the old city.

Abstract

This study aims to identify and investigate the impact of climate change on historic Jeddah in the twenty-first century and find possible solutions to preserve the old city. The qualitative method was used to answer the question through semi-structured and unstructured interviews in addition to observing the heritage building materials with a restorer. The results show damage to limestones and woods in historic Jeddah in two ways. The results of the first section focus on the indirect effects on the heritage building through increased precipitation, heat, and humidity, such as the effect of increased rainfall, which leads to the erosion of limestone and wood at the site and high humidity affects the wood through the growth of termites, which eat and destroy the wood. The second results section focuses on direct and indirect effects on the heritage Jeddah buildings through Floods, fluctuating winds, and rising sea levels, such as fluctuations in the wind, which lead to the erosion of limestone and wood through carried sand, leading to the appearance of many tiny holes in the limestone, moreover, rising sea level in last 50 years which could be catastrophic for whole the old city in following years. On the other hand, the third results section focuses on the solutions and policies that could preserve historic Jeddah from climate change, such as used acetone with cotton to clean the contaminated layer on the limestones and used traditional materials like linseed oil, dyeing walnut with the mix in water, and putting in damaged parts. Which helps protect the wood from corrosion and makes it protected and treated. finally, climate change has an impact on historic Jeddah materials and the solutions were used help to preserve the old city in the short term.