This is the most important single page of images for my students at Kabul University. There are many paths to a modern city, both physically and institutionally. What these images show is a city of extremely narrow streets, similar to the width of the informal streets in Kabul, but with five-storey buildings on all sides. […]
Central neighborhoods of Napoli Read More »
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: psychological and spiritual transformation. In the long run these internal, personal changes are what show
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 cultural center (Larisa please verify). The entry pavilion obviously refers back to Ottoman ablution-fountains, but
Conflict and modernity Read More »
The streets of Sarajevo The first eight photographs on this page are of streets in eastern, older Sarajevo. Larisa was curious about my reaction to Sarajevo. Coming from Kabul, my impression is that it is definitely a European city, reminiscent of Austria and parts of Italy. Of course, it does have many mosques, and their
Sarajevo: streets and social housing Read More »
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 is the social science equivalent of a rocket scientist. She wanted me to visit Sarajevo
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 encountered when I crossed the Galata bridge. Pretty obviously Italian in its design; but does
Galata and the Airport Read More »
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
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 I realized that the wall behind the Hagia Sofiya has a massive gate in it,
Topkapi, Hagia Sofiya, Grand Bazaar Read More »
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 east’; another reason for this is that I was looking for images of Istanbul for
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 of Afghanistan’s cities. During my inter-semester break I am visiting several cities to gather images
Five cities, four weeks Read More »