The first work to offer 5,000 years of authoritative historical coverage of ancient and modern cities in the Middle East and North Africa—from their founding to the present—highlighting each city's cultural, social, political, and economic significance. Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia is a comprehensive reference work on major ancient and modern cities in the Middle East and North Africa from their beginnings to today. In an unprecedented work of historical research, renowned experts Bruce Stanley and Michael Dumper provide 5,000 years of authoritative historical coverage as they trace the full trajectory of each city, discuss ties to other cities, and present a comparative analysis of the region through the lens of its cities. The A–Z entries feature extensive information about each city's location, geography, demographics, climate and environmental issues, ancient and classical history, Islamic history, post–1800 C.E. history, architecture, religious significance, cultural issues, society, municipal features, economic issues, and contemporary trends. Introductory essays explore urban general history and historiography, urban planning and modernization, poverty, interaction between cities, social welfare, culture, identity issues, and the place of these cities within the world economy.

Publisher Description

The Middle East, defined here as extending from Morocco to Iran and Turkey to Sudan, lies at the crossroads of three continents – Africa, Asia and Europe. With the largest reserves of petroleum in the world its importance is well beyond its physical size and population. Rapid urban growth has radically transformed Middle Eastern society in recent decades, but the associated problems are incompletely understood. This volume, first published in 1980, highlights some of the major issues of Middle Eastern urbanisation and provides a comprehensive statement about the current position of research. Urban origins and the nature of urban growth are discussed to provide a background to considerations of migration, employment, housing and retailing. The contributors suggest that planning strategies have hitherto proved inadequate with small towns being largely overlooked, historic quarters rapidly disappearing and water in short supply. Future research into all these problem areas is considered essential, but the research must be coordinated and utilised. Concentrating on practical problems, achievements and challenges for research, the contributions in this book, specially commissioned from active researchers in the field, will prove a valuable guide to recent ideas and developments in the Middle East.

The Middle East and North Africa form a bridge between Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. This unique position has made it an area of rich culture and an important center for trade. Its immense energy resources are also vitally important for the global economy. This title explores how the region is working to solve its political and religious tensions.

Through a series of essays, photographs, and archival content, this book highlights the diverse young and old diaspora communities of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) around the world. Drawing on topics from the ten-year archive of Brownbook magazine a publication dedicated to covering stories on the contemporary culture of the wider MENA region and its diaspora, including people, architecture, and more than fifty cities the book is driven by the magazine's expansive research and content. And in light of the recent refugee crisis, it is an urgent testament that migration from the region isn't something new. Diaspora of the Middle East and North Africa is a gateway to the communities who have planted roots in adoptive cities where they now seamlessly blend, from the nine million strong Arab community in Brazil that arrived from modern-day Lebanon and Syria in the late 1880s, to the Singaporean descendants of Yemen who have helped shape the city state's urban fabric through trade and development for nearly two centuries. The book also covers the small but significant diaspora communities who have formed enclaves across the world, such as the Kurdish residents with barber shops and food joints in Nashville and the Assyrians in Sodertalje, Sweden who place equal importance on integration and preserving their history through local institutions and social clubs. SELLING POINTS: * This book draws on topics from the archive of this magazine, a publication dedicated to covering stories on the contemporary culture of more than 50 cities in the wider Middle East and North Africa region. * This book is extremely current especially in light on the recent refugee crisis. * Using essays, interviews, architectural profiles, Q and As, photo essays, and travel stories, this book highlights the culture of these Diaspora communities around the world.

The great cities of the Middle East and North Africa have long attracted the attention and interest of historians. With the discovery and wider use over the last few decades of Islamic court records and Ottoman administrative documents, our knowledge of Middle Eastern cities between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries has vastly expanded. Drawing upon a treasure trove of documents and using a variety of methodologies, the contributors succeed in providing a significant overview of the ways in which Middle Eastern cities can be studied, as well as an excellent introduction to current literature in the field.

This book examines the changing dynamics of stabilisation efforts in the Middle East and North Africa. Written by recognised scholars and practitioners in the field, this volume provides a rich overview of the broader spectrum of stabilisation. The topics range from a comprehensive set of lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq to transitional justice and reconciliation efforts in Tunisia and international attempts to protect the region’s cultural heritage. Ultimately, this edited collection presents a comprehensive look at the attempts to increase stability in the MENA region.

Presenting the current debate about cities in the Middle East from Sana’a, Beirut and Jerusalem to Cairo, Marrakesh and Gaza, the book explores urban planning and policy, migration, gender and identity as well as politics and economics of urban settings in the region. This handbook moves beyond essentialist and reductive analyses of identity, urban politics, planning, and development in cities in the Middle East, and instead offers critical engagement with both historical and contemporary urban processes in the region. Approaching "Cities" as multi-dimensional sites, products of political processes, knowledge production and exchange, and local and global visions as well as spatial artefacts. Importantly, in the different case studies and theoretical approaches, there is no attempt to idealise urban politics, planning, and everyday life in the Middle East –– which (as with many other cities elsewhere) are also situations of contestation and violence –– but rather to highlight how cities in the region, and especially those which are understudied, revolve around issues of housing, infrastructure, participation and identity, amongst other concerns. Analysing a variety of cities in the Middle East, the book is a significant contribution to Middle East Studies. It is an essential resource for students and academics interested in Geography, Regional and Urban Studies of the Middle East.

This eBook introduces readers to the geography of North Africa and the Middle East, covering the culture region as a whole rather than individual countries. The volume emphasizes the region's people and their various ways of life, considering how they have adapted to, used, and changed the natural environments in which they live. Like other titles in the 10-volume Modern World Cultures set, North Africa and the Middle East, Second Edition explores the geographical features, climate, and ecosystems; population, settlement, and culture; and the history and economy of the region at hand. Also covered are the region’s diversity, challenges, and prospects. Illustrated with full-color maps and photographs, and accompanied by a chronology, glossary, and further readings, these accessible titles offer an ideal starting point for research on the culture regions of the world.