Venezia I spent five days in Venice with my family, thanks to Professor Balbo’s hospitality. As numerous writers have pointed out, Venice is unlike any other city in the world. The first, obvious point is that all the major … Continue reading
Those of you who are following these webpages know that I am focused on post-war urban reconstruction and political-economic development. And I think Franz Fanon and Desmond Tutu describe the critical steps necessary to get beyond a condition of war: … Continue reading
The Turkish Cultural Center is the building in the middle. It is very (post)modern, but it fits into the urban fabric extremely well, in part because it makes several comments about the adjacent fabric. I believe this is another new … Continue reading
The streets of Sarajevo The first eight photographs on this page are of streets in eastern, older Sarajevo. Larisa and Vedran were curious about my reaction to Sarajevo. Coming from Kabul, my impression is that it is definitely a European … Continue reading
From Istanbul I flew Turkish Air to Sarajevo, the cultural heart of Bosnia. Larisa Kurtovic and I were both graduate student instructors for Michael Watts last fall. She is a PhD student in Anthropology at Berkeley which means that she … Continue reading
Galata Galata is an urban district on the north shore of the Golden Horn. It was developed in the high middle ages by the Genoese as a trading colony adjacent to Constantinople. This is one of the first buildings I … Continue reading
Sultan Ahmet mosque A big, urban, Friday mosque. Mehmet Pasha mosque A more intimate, neighborhood-serving mosque Suleymaniye mosque Another monumental mosque, further back (west) in the city Beyazid moque … Continue reading
Topkapi Palas After walking around the neighborhood near my hotel I walked down to the waterfront and then back up through the old walls to the backside of the Hagia Sofiya. There is a beautiful Ottoman pavilion there, and then … Continue reading
July 6 through 9, 2007 My mission in Istanbul was to get images of urban development as examples for Afghan planners and architects. I mentioned on the July 7 post how it was strange to arrive in Istanbul ‘from the … Continue reading
During the spring of 2007 I taught at both Kabul University and Kabul Polytechnic. Both at these universities and in the municipality, students and planners alike are trying to envision the future path of urban development for Kabul and all … Continue reading