Cities and Islamisms: On the Politics and Production of the Built Environment

This book sheds light on a particular facet of the link between politics and Islam through the analysis of the relationship between Islamism and the built environment. The relationship between Islam and politics has always been controversial, yet it has possibly never been as controversial as it is at the time of writing. This new edited volume sets out to explore the interactions between Islamisms and the built environment through issues such as:

• spatial negotiations between nation and Islam in the definition of national identity;
• everyday spaces and the making of Islamic milieus;
• the role of Islam in the making (and/or remaking) of state ideology via architecture and urban planning;
• the influence of globalization and transnational links on the spatial manifestations of Islam(ism); and
• transnational architectural exchanges through global Islam.

It expands on these issues through case studies analysing the role of the built environment and the urban realm as major media in the making of Islamist politics. The case studies incorporate manifestations in Muslim-dominated countries, including those where Islam has been at the heart of state ideology (Pakistan and Brunei), those with influential grassroots Islamist networks (pre-revolutionary Iran and Indonesia), those that identify with Islam through global exchanges (United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Turkey) and countries where Islam is an increasingly significant reference utilized by political actors (Algeria and Lebanon).

This book will appeal to students and scholars of architecture, urban studies and cultural studies, as well as those interested in the social and political aspects of the built environment.

Bülent Batuman is Associate Professor of Architecture at Bilkent University, with joint appointment in the Department of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture and the Department of Architecture. He studied at the Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) and received his PhD in History and Theory of Art and Architecture from the State University of New York at Binghamton, USA. His research areas include social production and politics of the built environment, history and theory of modern architecture and urbanism, and urban politics. His current research focuses on the architectural politics of Islamism, and his latest book, New Islamist Architecture and Urbanism: Negotiating Nation and Islam through Built Environment in Turkey, was published by Routledge in 2018.