Working paper by Besim S. Hakim, FAICP, AIA, Consultant, for establishing a common understanding of how traditional towns in the Arab-Islamic world were formed and how they underwent change and growth managed by a dynamic system of codes. This paper was initially developed for the project of revitalizing the historic districts of Muharraq an Manama in Bahrain, December 2005. This paper is also valid for other countries of the Islamic world such as Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Much of the information is also useful for non-Muslim countries surrounding the Mediterranean, such as Greece, and the southern regions of Italy, Spain and Portugal.
Hakim, Besim S. "Revitalizing Traditional Towns and Heritage Districts," in ArchNet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, vol. 1, issue 3 (2007).
