The Influence of modern architecture in transforming Iraqi
city identity

Samir, H; Arayici, Y

Abstract

Many Iraqi cities are losing their character and becoming more ambiguous. Basra is the second main city in Iraq after the capital Baghdad; it is the most important economic, cultural, touristic city in Iraq. A city distinguished by its architectural style and identity. However, this identity was threatened many times by external and internal factors leading to distortion or obliteration of the city such as a colonial influence in the early 20th century, modernity movement, policies of old governments, and the three recent wars in 1980, 1991, 2003, have led to a significant effect on society and demography of the city.
After 2003, many of the investment companies in different sectors entered Basra city to carry out different projects. These companies adopted foreign, alien designs, which reflect their ideological culture. However, it was far from a city spirit, didn’t respect the city's history and identity, and didn’t care for the culture and traditions of the city.
The aim of the paper is to justify the need for an urban design strategy framework that should guide authorities and professionals for maintaining architectural identity in Iraqi cities while enabling modernization. It adopts the case study research with comparative analysis to measure the influence of modernity on the Basra city identity. The findings achieved in the research so far illustrate that the global modern architecture has played important role in the transformation of the Basra city identity. Therefore, there is a need for the development of an urban design strategy framework to produce urban design solutions that should consider maintaining identity while enabling modernization

Citation

city identity. Presented at International Postgraduate Conference 2015, Mediacity University of Salford

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: International Postgraduate Conference 2015
• Conference Location: Mediacity University of Salford
• Start Date: Jun 10, 2015
• End Date: Jun 12, 2015
• Publication Date: Jun 11, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 1, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference