5.2 Proposed Regions and Eras Based on Urban
Morphology
In this section we reconstruct the urban morphology based on the regions and
historic eras by rethinking the literature on the “Islamic city” reviewed above.
5.2.1 The Six Historical Eras
We divide history into six eras of urban morphology based on revolutions or turning
points affecting humans and society, as follows.
1. The early ancient era: There are many studies dealing with the definition of the
city (Childe 1950; Bietak 1979). Most archeologists concur that the earliest cities
arose in Mesopotamia around the fourth millennium BCE. Most of these citystates in Mesopotamia were like Ur or Uruk: densely populated, organically
developed cities that were enclosed by city walls. In contrast to the organic
development of most of the city, there was a component with a geometrical
layout, centered round a main shrine and a royal palace.
Residential areas with a grid layout and straight walls first appeared in
Egyptian culture around 3100 BCE and were designed as workers’ residences.
Subsequently, they appeared in the Indus Valley civilization around 2400 BCE
(Kemp 1977). In East Asia, square-shaped palaces and cities, enclosed by thick
walls, have been discovered in China’s Longshan culture dating from around
2000 BCE (Ogata and Hirase 1988). Moreover, some circular tells in Jazira, on
the border between Syria and Turkey, provide evidence of a large circular city,
Mari, founded in the third millennium BCE.
Around 1000 BCE, the Bronze Age ended and the Iron Age commenced in
West Asia. Iron made it easier to cut and shape stone and wood for construction,
with the result that cities and ports became stronger, and social considerations and
human perspectives altered (Kawanishi 1999), giving rise to the name the Iron
Revolution. The shape and size of cities also changed. The first phase of cities
built from 3500 to 1000 BCE, prior to the Iron Revolution, is called the early
ancient period.
2. The late ancient era: From 1000 BCE, the Iron Revolution resulted in larger
urban areas and palaces being built, and geometrical cities that were shaped in a
largely square or circular shape—with a small degree of distortion in some
cases—became standard in West Asia. Examples include Babylon or Khorsabad
in Neo Assyria and, later, the Sassanian cities (Pedersen et al. 2010). The reason
for these regular shapes is not clear, but it may be a function of the strength of the
rulers’ authority in this era, and their ability to require such regular structures to
be built, as well as being related to the geometrical layout of religious and politic
facilities in the previous era. Ancient Greek and Hellenic cities, such as Miletos
70
N. Fukami
Morphology
In this section we reconstruct the urban morphology based on the regions and
historic eras by rethinking the literature on the “Islamic city” reviewed above.
5.2.1 The Six Historical Eras
We divide history into six eras of urban morphology based on revolutions or turning
points affecting humans and society, as follows.
1. The early ancient era: There are many studies dealing with the definition of the
city (Childe 1950; Bietak 1979). Most archeologists concur that the earliest cities
arose in Mesopotamia around the fourth millennium BCE. Most of these citystates in Mesopotamia were like Ur or Uruk: densely populated, organically
developed cities that were enclosed by city walls. In contrast to the organic
development of most of the city, there was a component with a geometrical
layout, centered round a main shrine and a royal palace.
Residential areas with a grid layout and straight walls first appeared in
Egyptian culture around 3100 BCE and were designed as workers’ residences.
Subsequently, they appeared in the Indus Valley civilization around 2400 BCE
(Kemp 1977). In East Asia, square-shaped palaces and cities, enclosed by thick
walls, have been discovered in China’s Longshan culture dating from around
2000 BCE (Ogata and Hirase 1988). Moreover, some circular tells in Jazira, on
the border between Syria and Turkey, provide evidence of a large circular city,
Mari, founded in the third millennium BCE.
Around 1000 BCE, the Bronze Age ended and the Iron Age commenced in
West Asia. Iron made it easier to cut and shape stone and wood for construction,
with the result that cities and ports became stronger, and social considerations and
human perspectives altered (Kawanishi 1999), giving rise to the name the Iron
Revolution. The shape and size of cities also changed. The first phase of cities
built from 3500 to 1000 BCE, prior to the Iron Revolution, is called the early
ancient period.
2. The late ancient era: From 1000 BCE, the Iron Revolution resulted in larger
urban areas and palaces being built, and geometrical cities that were shaped in a
largely square or circular shape—with a small degree of distortion in some
cases—became standard in West Asia. Examples include Babylon or Khorsabad
in Neo Assyria and, later, the Sassanian cities (Pedersen et al. 2010). The reason
for these regular shapes is not clear, but it may be a function of the strength of the
rulers’ authority in this era, and their ability to require such regular structures to
be built, as well as being related to the geometrical layout of religious and politic
facilities in the previous era. Ancient Greek and Hellenic cities, such as Miletos
70
N. Fukami