A comparison between beauty in Islamic urban textures and European historic cities: differences in urban conservation strategies

According to the Oriental-Islamic notion of urban space, socio-economic classifications cannot be materialized on the exterior appearance of buildings. On the contrary, in a European historic city, the social status of citizens can easily be expressed on urban facades. Introverted-Islamic textures consist of buildings with courtyards in which interior private facades are more important than the exterior appearance of buildings. In this definition, the European concept of urban façade is not observed. Pursuing an analytic-comparative method, this article attempts to analyze the fundamental differences in the concept of urban beauty between the European historic center and the introverted inner city. Furthermore, the paper defines urban aesthetics with respect to the particularities of the relationship between open and closed spaces. In addition, the principles and characteristics of esoteric beauty in introverted fabrics are discussed. With integral knowledge of the basic differences in urban aesthetics in the two different contexts, the paper tries to analyze the sequent differences which possibly exist in urban conservation strategies. Likewise, the reasons for differences in urban regeneration strategies have been analytically argued. The paper concludes that the definition of urban beauty in introverted-Islamic fabrics completely differs from the perception of beauty in European historic cities. Accordingly, urban conservation strategies in introverted areas should pursue the particularities of Islamic urban beauty. However, the paper emphasizes the necessity for urban transformation in order to give such static areas a new lifestyle.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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