The urban geography of Baghdad

Abstract

Functionally and morphologically the geographical reality of a town is the result of the interplay of socio-economic factors under the influence of their regional and historical contexts. Function is the decisive element in fashioning the overall pattern of the city. It nearly always finds expression in one or other of the townscape eloments. This physical expression, whether sholin in the street system or in the building type, is constantly changing. The scale, nature and timing of such changes and modifications are determined by the socio-economic factors and technological development in each phase of the city's growth. Functional changes influence both traditional and modern forms and their readjustment in relation to other constituent elements of the townscape. This dynamism and its results is one of the special concerns of this study where new forms are always emerging. The processes of development such as peripheral land use expansion, and the decline and replacement of buildings in the central area are good examples of the physical changes of the Arab city,