Il libro delle città / The book of the cities

The second issue of DAr introduces a crucial question, which will guide our future studies: is there “an” Islamic city, intended as a system of characters proper to this definition? Or is it rather a thousand, infinite Islamic cities, in which the way of life, the sunnah, has determined similar characters, expressing different stories? Although they have recurring characters and communal features, the cities of the Islamic world cannot be considered univocally. On the contrary, they are a tangible expression of different cultures and identities, the result of stratifications, transformations and modifications that have made them unique: a character that is intrinsic to the idea of the city.