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The social transformation of the historical city centre of Karbala , Iraq
Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal,
15
(3),
293-307
(2022)
Abstract
Traditional holy cities, such as Karbala in Iraq, suffer from various challenges, namely socio-demographic transformations. This paper studies three important aspects. First, it investigates land use in the holy city of Karbala for religious, commercial and residential purposes. Secondly, it explores the different methods and materials that can be used to study this. Thirdly, it focuses on the symbolic aspect of the holy city of Karbala, the development of its historic city sectors and its demographic transformation. The paper concludes that the demographic changes are clearly related to political fluctuations in Iraq and the Middle East in general. Relocation and immigration to the city are the outcome of the recent events of violence in the country. This increase in population is directly affecting the standard of services in this city.
Keywords: social transformation; historical city centre; Holy Karbala; Iraq
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Sabeeh Lafta Farhan is a Professor of Architecture and Historic Preservation. He is the Vice-Chancellor for Scientific Affairs at Wasit University in Iraq and an academic visitor at Nottingham Trent University in the Centre of Architecture, Urbanism and Global Heritage (CAUGH) in the School of Architecture, Design and Built Environment. His major research focus is on the preservation of high-profile historical cities and sites and reviving the tangible and intangible heritage of Iraq.
Zuhair A. Nasar has a PhD in Digital Architectural Design and Technologies from the University of Liverpool, an MSc in digital architectural design (DAD) from University of Salford, Manchester and a BSc in architecture engineering from the University of Technology, Baghdad. He is an Assistant Professor in the Urban Planning Department at Faculty of Physical Planning, University of Kufa, Iraq. His research interests are in urban design studies, digital architectural design, building informational modelling (BIM), building energy performance and sustainable, green and smart architecture design.
