Urban Research: The Middle Eastern Islamic City: Type and Morphology

By Dion Good

This paper seeks answers to the following six questions: Is there a Middle Eastern Islamic city type? If so, what are its characteristic features? What are the forces that shape it? Are there subtypes? How have geographers studied the Middle Eastern Islamic City? Why is it important to study the Middle Eastern Islamic City? In seeking answers to these questions, writings by scholars in the fields of geography, urban planning, architecture, sociology, and anthropology within the last 30 years were consulted. Is there a Middle Eastern Islamic City type? and What are its Characteristic Features? Stewart (2001) laments in her critical essay of recent work done in Middle Eastern Urban Studies that only a "handful" (p.175) of American and European geographers specialize in this vast field; much work is either not available in English, or is done by architectural historians, planners, anthropologists, and sociologists. The latter presents a tremendous opportunity for urban geographers to study this unique and thoroughly fascinating city type.
At the most basic level, Eickelman (1974) asks whether there is an Islamic city at all, in light of Max Weber's1 definition of "city" as a legally recognized urban commune in the European sense. According to this strict definition, the Muslim world has no cities only settlements, and this has caused division among scholars who either accept or reject Weber's definition.