A brief history
During the
Middle Ages, Europe had much to learn from the highly developed Islamic
culture, in particular the transmission of Greek and Roman heritage. Europe
also depended on the Middle East for ‘rare and desirable luxury
goods’ (Bianca, 2000, p. 167). During the Renaissance, Europe’s cultural development
drifted away from that of the Middle East, before France colonised the first
Islamic country, Algeria, in 1830. The Ottoman Empire obtained major power in
the Middle East up until the First World War. During the 16th and 17th
centuries, it was a powerful multinational, multilingual empire which
controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, and served
as the centre of interactions between and the Eastern and Western worlds. The
rise of European powers in the 19th century led to the loss of territory,
especially to France and Britain (figure 1). After World War 1, the Ottoman
regions were now European according to the Mandate system, subjecting the
Middle East to political interference of Western nations.
Modern versus traditional
There were
different extents to which modernism was applied to Middle Eastern cities. For
example between World Wars 1 and 2 it was much less evident compared to post
World War 2 modernism. Furthermore, the 1970s brought about new development and
conservationism. Bianca introduces this weeks reading with a quote contrasting
the traditional and the modern. He describes traditional as ‘static and vertical,’
because it ‘refers to constant and
universal qualities’, and connects the ‘lower to the higher.’
Modern is the
opposite: ‘dynamic and horizontal,’ because it incorporates ‘the material and
historical connections’ (Bianca, 2000, p. 160).
Zdanowski
explores the idea that modernisation is understood as state formation,
urbanisation, industrialisation, migration, and the formation of new global
ties (2014). This process has shaped the countries of the Middle East. He also
explores the implementation of socio-economic development, which aims to solve
over-population, unemployment, lack of housing, water and land shortages, and
lack of education facilities. The ‘new towns’
or ‘villes nouvelles’
incorporate a
more rational street layout, plazas and public squares, and public
transportation. Throughout the 19th century, there were new urban forms
emerging in both the European colonies and throughout the Ottoman Empire.
Modernism is also associated with vernacular modes of development, which is
cultural expression that can ‘bridge the gap between tradition and
modernity’ (Bianca, 2000, p. 182).
Development of Middle Eastern planning
Historically,
Europeans had a large impact on Middle Eastern architecture and planning. For
example in 1870, when ‘the Ottoman administration
established new Western-type municipalities’ to supervise urban
development. French and Italian architects were being commissioned, and
Western-type apartments were lining the street fronts (Bianca, 2000, p. 169). A
large number of railways were built to connect the provinces with the capital,
and to give easy access to the people, especially for pilgrimage. The railways
also provide ‘parallels to Western colonial architecture’
(Bianca,
2000, p. 169). In Cairo just after 1870, when re-planning and modernising the
city, Khedive’s new town plan was ‘a small scale replica of
Haussmann’s schemes’ for Paris. This meant the
inclusion of several axes connecting the new city to the old, thus ‘cutting through the
historic urban fabric’ (Bianca, 2000, p. 171). The European
influence continues when in the late 1960s, French architect Michel Ecochard
designed new thoroughfares through old city centres (Fez, Damascus and Aleppa).
His proposition, although never fully implemented, was to use an ‘orthogonal Roman street
grid by undoing the century-old organic growth’ (Bianca, 2000, p. 179).
Throughout
the 20th century there was a large shift in cities, because of the increased
pressure for rural to urban migration, and shifting conceptions of urban space.
The rapid population growth caused an influx of rural population, which
therefore caused urbanisation to occur (Zdanowski, 2014, p. 216). This was
combined with further advancements such as railways, tramways and new
residential and commercial districts, to improve the efficiency of the city.
Along with the modernisation of urban systems there is increased demand for
transport, specifically vehicular access in the case of the Middle East. Bianca
states that ‘vehicular access is a key issue for preserving both
the viability and the authentic character of historic Muslim cities’
(2000, p.
179). However as usual a balance is needed so that the qualities of a city are
not destroyed.
Over the past
50 to 80 years, there have been two approaches for setting out the ‘new towns.’
Decisions
were made according to their ‘topographic preconditions, the
geopolitical importance of the site and the cultural choices of the
administrators responsible and their architects’ (Bianca, 2000, p. 176).
New cities were either superimposed on the old historic fabric —
which caused
demolition of historic urban structures —
or were
created new colonial cities on unused land. Usually, there were elements of
both in what they called the ‘two town scheme.’
Some elements
of Middle Eastern planning have remained constant such as religion and law,
whilst maintaining a city’s cultural integrity, and are just as
important in the 20th century. These include the congregational mosque, public
bathhouse (hammam) and a market complex (suq), essential for communal life, and
completely dependant on access to and efficiency of the transport system.
Conclusion
Some of the
world’s oldest cities are located in the Middle East, for
example Istanbul, Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo. Today, Egypt, Turkey and Iran
have more inhabitants than Italy, the United Kingdom and France (Zdanowski,
2014). Most cities have undergone modernisation at different times and to
different extents, whether under the Ottoman empire, under colonial or mandate
rule, or due to nationalist development. In the last few decades, Middle
Eastern societies have become urban societies, through European influence and
now their own.
References:
Bianca, S. (2000). ‘The Impact of Western
models on the contemporary development patterns of historic Muslim cities’
in Urban
Form in the Arab World: Past and Present. London: Thames and
Hudson, pp. 161-184
Zdanowski, J. (2014). Middle Eastern Societies in the 20th
Century. Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Figure 1: “What World War 1 did to the Middle
East,” accessed from http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/bild-946052-651551.html
Figure 2: 1968 Master Plan for Damascus,
accessed from http://archnet.org/sites/10361/media_contents/96452
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