This article explores the territorial dynamics in the city of Aleppo -Syria- as a way to reveal the factors of its success. Our analysis depends on a methodology that interprets the results of an empirical work with the help of a theoretical framework based on the concepts of both the localized productive system and the constructed territory. With such a methodology, this article analyzes the historical process of territorial construction and the resulting dynamics of local socio-economic development. This analysis discloses the crucial factors of local development : the handicraft inheritance updated by the local actors, the workforce skills, the regulation induced by the local socio-culture... and the international openness. As a conclusion, this article questions the future of this territory that, under the effect of globalization, has confronted major challenges that oblige the local actors to reconsider the source of their competitiveness.