Evolution of the Andalusi urban landscape: From the dispersed to the saturated Medina

Abstract

If we review the historiography on Islamic urbanism, one of the fundamental issues from the pioneering studies to the contemporary critic has been the supposedly static character of the medina, an issue which has also been raised in recent critical discussions regarding the relevance of the notion of the timeless Islamic city. 1 Today, almost all scholars accept that the medina is not an immutable entity and that it is untenable to argue that in the medieval period the medina was like the traditional examples which have survived to the twentieth century. Nevertheless, no doubt due to the diffi culty of gathering relevant data, an explanation of the original character of these medinas and the processes by which they evolved into the archetype described by early Orientalist scholars has yet to appear. 2 Most scholars accept that Islamic cities did not originally resemble those of the nineteenth century, and that they were not constructed with disordered cores, dead-end alleys, and quarters, which are supposedly characteristic of the Islamic city. We felt the subject needed to move forward, and we wanted to answer questions such as "What were the fi rst cities founded by Muslims like? How did they evolve over time, up to the point at which they took on the appearance described by earlier scholars?". We therefore published in 2003 a comprehensive article entitled "Sobre la Ciudad Islámica y su Evolución", and in the following year a summary called "Evolución del Paisaje Urbano Andalusí: de la * Translated by Glaire D. Anderson.

Pillar Tombs and the City: Creating a Sense of Shared Identity in Swahili Urban Space

“…The occasional central positioning of (groups of) graves or tombs is not exceptional in the Muslim world, as we can find cemeteries in the core of cities like Basra and Kufa in present-day Iraq as well as in Murcia or Denia in mediaeval Muslim Spain (Milwright 2010: 84). Cemeteries in Muslim urban settlements, due to their sanctity, often maintain their central location even after the city expands and other places such as orchards and workshops move beyond the town walls (Navarro and Jiménez 2007).…”