Isfahan School of urban design: a morphological perspective

Abstract

Urban morphology of cities in the Middle East and Central Asia has been of great interests to academics from various disciplines. Through centuries of development Iranian (Persian) art and architecture contributed to what is called now Islamic cities. Isfahan school of urban design has particularly played a significant role in creating to be highly influential in development of Islamic cities in the region. We discuss how establishment of this new school of thought on Islamic cities in 16th century (concurrent with Renaissance) influenced the way we think about cities in the Middle East and Central Asia today. Using content analysis and direct observation as our research methodology we investigate urban fabric of Isfahan- the capital of the Isfahan region in Iran and once its most largest and glorious city in order to extract the conceptual and practical lessons about traditional urban morphology and advocate their importance and relevance for the contemporary urban development practices in Islamic cities.