Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: According to Bernard Hourcade, three factors make Middle Eastern urbanism unique: the dominant role of Istanbul and Cairo in the region; the diversity of the varied cultural contexts and regional politics; and the existence in the Middle East of several kinds of cities, differentiated both by their antiquity and the variations in their dominant activities.3 The most notable point of departure in this collective urban history concerns the "oriental city"-or the traditional city in the Middle East at the beginning of the nineteenth century-with its architecture and spatial organization reflecting the environmental, cultural, and religious orientation of the region.4 Even during periods of slow demographic growth in the midnineteenth century, Middle Eastern cities became overcrowded, largely because of their confinement within their city walls.The streets were narrow and there were few open public spaces.At least as long as the original foundations remained in existence, waqf properties were maintained and kept in order; as they could not be sold, a significant proportion of urban real estate remained frozen.5 This partly explains the fairly long survival of traditional inner cities. 6 Although far from identical, the oriental city provides a useful point for comparison both amongst Middle Eastern cities themselves, and with their counterparts elsewhere.From the 1798 French expedition on, the Industrial Revolution, the opening of the Suez Canal, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, European colonization, the discovery of oil, and globalization affected to greater or lesser extent each city in the Middle East.At the end of the nineteenth century, Middle Eastern rulers who had visited Europe or had a significant European presence within their countries began to reconstruct their capitals; this took place in earnest in Cairo, Tehran, and Istanbul.Major transformations also took place across North Africa, with new European cities being built alongside the medinas of Algiers, 3 Ibid., 154. 4 For a discussion on the "oriental city," see Janet Abu-Lughod, "The Islamic City: Historic Myth, Islamic Essence and Contemporary Relevance," International Journal of Middle East Studies 19 (1987): 155-76; Andre Raymond, "Islamic City, Arab City: Orientalist Myths and Recent Views," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 21 (1994): 3-18.On the more complex topic of "Orientalism," see Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage, 1978): ix-395.For a critique of Said's work, see Aijaz Ahmad, "Orientalism and After: Ambivalence and Metropolitan Location in the Work of Edward Said," in In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures (London: Verso, 1992).5 In Islamic law, a waqf is an irrevocable charitable trust.Essentially, a person, with the intention of committing a pious act, declares part of his or her property unalienable, and henceforth designates a person or public entity as beneficiary of the property in perpetuity.For a detailed definition, see: G.C.
Author: Andrew David Pilder
Institution: Miami University
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology (arts and humanities)
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2461185313