Sustainable Urban Development in Historical Cities using the Heritage Trail Approach: A Case Study of the Old City of Karak, Jordan

The last two decades have witnessed many discussions, studies, and policies and the application of several models linking tourism and cultural heritage as major contributors to local sustainable urban development. In the Jordanian context, cultural heritage tourism has a particular relevance. Due to its diverse legacy of cultural and heritage sites that attests to its rich history as a crossroads of civilizations. Against this background, the World Bank funded an extensive program of rehabilitation and improvement of five historic cities in Jordan[1]. One of the most important actions is based on a structure of thematic heritage trails, with the aim of supporting the visit of the historic core. This paper emphasizes the sustainable development of historical areas based on their potential as cultural tourism sites. It examines the concept of using a "heritage trail" as a primary, multifunctional, urban rehabilitation axis that would enhance the connectedness and integration of the direct heritage action project area with the larger historical urban fabric as well as a major contributor to local sustainable urban development. To test this theoretical approach, the paper investigates three nodes of interaction stimulated by the heritage trail: conservation and rehabilitation, and interpretation. To illustrate the validity of the proposed approach, this paper discusses the heritage trail as an approach used in the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Urban Development Project (CHTUDP) in the historical core of the Old city of Karak, Jordan as a case study. Keywords: Karak, Old City of Karak, Tourism and Urban Development Project (CHTUDP), City Revitalization Project (CRP), Cultural heritage tourism, heritage Assets, Heritage Trail [1] The Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Urban Development Project (CHTUDP), that intends to promote tourism development in five key historically and culturally important cities: Jerash, Karak, Madaba, Salt and Ajloun and thereby create the conditions for local economic development