Urbanization in the Middle East

FAIN: FA-11872-77

Janet L. Abu-Lughod
New School (New York, NY 10011-8871)

To produce a brief, synthetic overview of the origins, evolution and nature of urbanization in the Middle East. The book will focus on the interactions over time between urban forms in the Middle East and those in the west. Its primary subject matter will be the unique character of the Arab Islamic city as it evolved from a Byzantine base which was fundamentally transformed by the special religio-legal institutions of Islam and by the character of medieval economic, cultural, and social organizations in the Middle East.