Café learning session with architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz

“Conservation is sustainable and looks back at what was a better time,” remarked renowned architect, educator and heritage conservationist Kamil Khan Mumtaz, at a recent talk held at the Lahore Fort.

It brought together a host of fine artists, surface conservators, architects, engineers and archivists, among other creative professionals. Titled the ‘Café Learning Session’, the event was organised by Aga Khan Cultural Service - Pakistan (AKCS-P).

Kamil Khan Mumtaz’s work reflects traditional techniques and designs visible in historic sites in South Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa and parts of Europe. The Mughal heritage sites of Lahore such as the Lahore Fort, represent the artistic approach Mumtaz draws inspiration from.

He stated that in postmodernist discourse, conservation is viewed within the globally accepted framework of linking it to economic development, with heritage sites being considered economic assets. In this framework however, the essence of conservation - linking us to the past and enabling us to explore the valuable knowledge of the past – is lost.

Mumtaz described the norm of traditional societies which involved a system in which whatever was extracted from nature was in some form, given back to it.

“In a hunter-gatherer society humans only took from nature what they needed.” This maintained a certain balance through an equal exchange, a model Mumtaz described as the ‘circular economy’. Harvesting and hunting was done selectively so as to not over extract nature’s resources and hunting and harvesting for the most part, weren’t done unnecessarily. Mumtaz argued that, for most of human history, people lived according to this norm, maintaining a harmonious relationship with nature and their surrounding environment. “We practiced a natural economy for 300,000 years.”

The advent of Agricultural Revolution led to societies planting seeds, growing crops and taming animals. This form of living involved the generation of surplus for the first time, which meant production exceeded consumption. The surplus increased further when machines entered the picture. Industrial revolution led to the mechanisation of agriculture and the establishment of factories whose machines produced large volumes of goods. The Global Ecological Footprint, which is the amount of resources consumed from nature compared to the capacity of nature to produce those resources, expanded dramatically as a result. “We have extracted more than Earth’s capacity to replenish, and we are rapidly moving towards a point of no return,” asserted Kamil Mumtaz with regret.

Mumtaz argued that in the post-1970s period, nature’s upper limit was crashed. This has led to devastating consequences we are seeing in the world today in the form of climate change, global warming and many related natural disasters that have accelerated due to uncontrolled human activity.

He went on to say that the process of production and extracting from nature’s resources is increasing with the passage of time, without the power brokers realising the damage being caused to the ecosystem. In the current technological and economic landscape of artificial intelligence and robotics he said, overproduction is the norm although it is unsustainable.

He described the Covid-19 pandemic as a time when nature seemed to have started undergoing a healing process. “Suddenly more greenery was visible, animal life that was previously not visible began to appear as they started reclaiming their spaces.”

He argued that “a sustainable strategy should be the normative strategy which means taking only what you need and using resources mindfully within the limits of our planet”. He highlighted the importance of learning from indigenous knowledge as we do in conservation. He contended that traditionalism can teach us how to use natural resources while creating a better way of living and appreciating the works of our ancestors.

Mumtaz described conservation as a window into the past, offering an opportunity to learn from indigenous ways of living and their understanding of a harmonious relationship between humans and the environment. He maintained that while we are all taught to look ahead, it is important to look back to the past, learn from ancestral knowledge and apply it to the future. Describing modernism as “inherently flawed” he suggested that the tenets of traditionalism “may still give us a fighting chance at a future.”

A senior architect attending the session reiterated Mumtaz’s perspective on how we view the world around us. “We all should explore different perspectives and choose the most superior out of them all, especially that which does not cause any harm.”

CEO AKCS-P Tausif Khawaja underlined the significance of the discussion for presenting insights into profound historical knowledge whose legacy continues to live on: “Today’s session made a strong case for mainstreaming traditional knowledge and techniques. The value of these approaches is evident in the traditional building practices used in historic structures that are climate-friendly and produce resilient structures. Heritage sites across our country have stood the test of time and remain majestic examples of architectural excellence.”

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