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Abstract In historic cities, a persistent conflict has always been vivid between calls to preserve cultural heritage, and the need for urban development and change in response to the ever-changing values and demands of societies. Such conflict has two pressing dimensions. The first dimension has been echoed throughout the academic literature via the well-documented exploration and analysis of the ever-growing conflict between urban conservation and tourism development. The second dimension has been reflected in the ongoing perception shift of urban conservation within the physical planning field (i.e. planning approaches and processes). Theoretically, since the late 1940s, there has been a dynamic shift in the planning paradigm resulting in the emergence of various planning approaches to land development. Each of which is affected by, and/or based on, distinct planning ideologies, lIses different planning tools and follows unique planning processes. Consequently, the scope, approaches, styles and levels of urban conservation have to be altered and shifted dramatically depending on the planning approach adopted within the context of historic cities. Empirically, on the scale of urban projects, there has been a widely reported and documented gap between what is planned and what is actually implemented. Although the endless explanations, the common explanation relates such gap to the adoption of different, and sometimes conflicting, planning approaches to land development within the context of the very same project. As a result, objectives, allocation of funding, institutional arrangements and methodology of urban conservation at the planning stage has to be completely altered, and at most of times, hindered and terminated at the gates of implementation. This case has been vivid throughout the physical planning and urban conservation process (i.e. planning and implementation processes) of Luxor City, Egypt since the late 1970s till this very moment. This study focuses on, on the one hand, theoretically exploring, analysing and documenting the paradigm shift of urban conservation with specific reference to physical planning practice. On the other hand, it applies the above theoretical outcome to the case of Luxor City in search for explanation and future ideologies. |