Urbanization and urban development in the Muslim World: From the Islamic City Model to megacities

Abstract

Urbanization is one of the most studied topics in geography and other related social sciences (Berry 1976; Costa et al. 1989; Davis 1972; Hauser 1965; McGee 1971). Despite similarities in the process, significant differences have been accounted for in the nature, level and magnitude of urbanization in the more developed countries (MDCs) and less developed countries (LDCs). Scholars have also recognized the difficulties of planning, creating, and managing cities as decent, likeable, and humane places of production and social reproduction (Datta 1990; Cheema 1993; Harris 1992; Kasarda and Parnell 1993; Short 1989; Simon 1992). In many LDCs, these problems are insurmountable at least in the short run mailyy due to their large and growing populations and limited resources (Cheema 1993; Amirahmadi and El-Shakhs 1993; Saqqaf 1987). Interest in the nature and growth of towns and cities in the Muslim World (in modern times) began when many Western Orientalists argued that the Middle Eastern cities in the Islamic period were essentially a product of the Islamic religious ideals. These Western Orientalists have viewed Islam as an essentially urban religion and argued that Islam fosters the development of cities. They nevertheless developed a model in which the disorganized internal structure of the so-called Islamic cities was attributed to the lack of civic and municipal administration. Bonině (1993) provides a good summary of the Islamic City Model. This model needs to be rejected on at least two counts. First, the so-called Islamic cities are not a product of the logic of Islam perse. Second, the unplanned internal structures are commonplace in predominantly traditional (preindustrial) societies Islamic or otherwise (AbuLughod 1993; Bonině 1993; Eickelman 1974). Such a rejection is important because many planners in some Muslim countries are trying to reproduce in contemporary cities some patterns of town building that were purported by the Western Orientalists to be the essence of the Islamic city (Abu-Lughod 1993; German 1983; Hakim 1986; Moustapha et al. 1987). 1} This critique of the Islamic City Model should in no way lead to the conclusion that Islamic teachings and principles had no relevance to the way towns and cities were shaped and transformed over time in various geographically-based Muslim societies. Detailed historical-geographical research is needed to develop an appreciation and understanding of the links between Islamic teachings and the way of life with the nature and growth of towns and cities in the Muslim World (AbuLughod 1993; Galantay 1987; Mechkat 1987).