Decoding the Mediterranean Town

26 December 2008 - 11:00am

The complex, organic form of Mediterranean towns has been traced to a dynamic system of reproducing building codes.

This information was brought to light by Besim S. Hakim in his book Arabic-Islamic Cities: Building and Planning Principles.

"From his study of the treatise of Julian of Ascalon, but also of those of Muslim scholars around the Mediterranean, Besim S. Hakim was able to identify the underlying process that generates the complex morphology all towns of the Mediterranean have in common, and that so many have sought to imitate. This discovery gives us the opportunity not only to restore the life of those historic places, but also to employ it as a technology in order to grow sustainable towns out of suburban sprawl."

Source: Emergent Urbanism, December 21, 2008
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Maybe we should blame Thomas Jefferson. He was the godfather of the urban sprawl racket in America.