PLAN349 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Cultural Homogenization, Koutoubia Mosque, Socalled
Document Summary
Week7: cities of the greater middle east; sustainable urban environment. World"s first cities: fertile crescent, along the nile. Perhaps it is no accident that our word urban still carries the name of the world"s first truly urban places, ur and uruk, in southern mesopotamia. The region is the birthplace of the three largest monotheistic faiths: judaism, christianity, and islam. It is islam that is most widely associated with the middle east. Cities in the middle east have evolved around water, the house of worship, and the marketplace. Cities in the middle east are centers of trade and commerce. The middle east was home to the world"s first large, agglomerated settlements. They evolved as centers of production, worship, defense, and trade. The oldest cities in the world were born during the neolithic period. They all are associated with the beginnings of agriculture.
