" Changes in the urban form of the city from the Abbasid era to the beginning of the twentieth century: a comparative study of the urban form (Baghdad as a model)

Abstract

The research presents how various variables and factors interact and influence the urban form of the city over successive periods. Iraqi cities, like other cities, have witnessed numerous urban transformations due to the impact of several factors .One of the most prominent cities that embodied these changes is Baghdad, the current capital of Iraq, where the roots of its design and urban planning first emerged during the Abbasid period as a fortified circular city and a center of Islamic civilization, exemplifying power and authority.

The city subsequently faced a series of challenges and changes in rulers that affected its structural composition, leading to new transformations in its architectural structure influenced by the modernity of the twentieth century. The research concludes that the change in urban form  was not limited to the influence of a single factor but interacted among many factors, primarily environmental, economic, cultural, political, and religious, which contributed to shaping urban structures throughout these periods, reflecting communities and their capacity for growth and adaptation. In the circular Baghdad, political and religious factors were the most influential in the changes occurring at the urban form  level, introducing new patterns that were previously unfamiliar. The city of Baghdad in the period of late Ottoman era until the beginning of the twentieth century it did not match the previously known design and planning foundations and The most influential factors are the economic and political factors. in the city and the introduction of new jobs and random expansion, which affected the privacy of the city .