Abstract
he debut of colonialism along with the consequent de facto supremacy of the Western world did not only<br />negatively impact on the economy and polity of the Muslim world. It has also, to some reasonable extent,<br />polluted the social system, particularly the structure and form of cities. Human scale is gradually diminishing<br />as a yardstick for construction and is being replaced by a mathematical one. Collectivism, which used to<br />characterize Muslims' social set-up, is now being over-shadowed by stark individualism. The Islamic social<br />values which used to be the binding force that held Muslims together are now being crushed by moral<br />relativity. The situation becomes so chronic that many people begin to assume that Islam has a very negligible<br />role to play in the formation and construction of modern cities. Kano, a predominantly Muslim state in NorthWestern<br /><br />Nigeria, inherited a thousand year-old Islam-oriented building architecture which made it a model<br />Islamic city in pre-colonial Africa. Of special reference is the residential structure which no doubt reflects<br />Islamic culture. Unfortunately, this age-old heritage is now being pushed to the brink of extinction by the<br />almighty modern architecture. This paper explores the Islamic in the Kano traditional residential structure and<br />attempts to comparatively bring into light the extent to which it is diminishing in the modern building<br />architecture. The paper suggests blending the two for a peaceful and harmonious co-existence. <br /> <br /><br />
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