Crisis in the Built Environment The Case of the Muslim City

Despite this boors orientation toward scholars in the field of environmentaldesign, it contains many environmental observations that are interesting tothe casual reader. The originality of this work is that it investigates Islamicprinciples and processes of managing and operating the built environmentby Muslim individuals and parties.Through his invdgation, the author has tried to show that the environmentwhich existed in many parts of the Islamic world was successfully orderedby users to meet their needs and optimize Islamically acceptable behavior.Furthermore, it constituted a model of success for today’s crisis of builtenvironments in the contemporary Muslim world.The crisis of contemporary environment, which is described asResponsibility and Control of the built environment, has shifted frompeople/users to centralized “formal” govemment-run agencies. The result ofthis conversion of roles has negatively affected both the relationship ofindividuals and groups to the built environment, and the ability of agenciesto exercise management of that environment.The realms of “Responsibility” and “Control” of “territories” and“properties,” have been impressively elaborated in the investigation includedin this book. Their Islamic signiiicance have also been supported by referencesto original Islamic concepts and rules. The theme presented is that“responsibility” and “control” have been two fundamental issues which theQur’an, the Hadith, the Sira, and other Islamic traditions have stronglyadvocated.The author develops a study model focusing on three areas: ownership,control, and use. The combination of these three areas have generated fivepossible relationships or forms of submission which include: unified (thesame party owns, controls and uses the property), dispersed (three independentpartia are involved; one owns the property, a second controls it and a thirduses it), permissive (a party that uses a property and has to deal with theparty which owns and controls it), possessive (the party that uses and controlsa property has to deal with the party which owns the property), and trusteeship ...