Damascus: The Morphology and Transformation of an Islamic City

This thesis examines the morphological transformation of Damascus’s urban fabric from the Roman era to the Umayyad era, culminating in the formation of the Islamic city. In addition, the study investigates the Great Mosque of Damascus as the symbolic edifice that impacted the city’s public image. A mixed qualitative, interpretive, and historical methodological approach is employed to analyze the city’s urban identity. Considering that a city is a place for people to live and should serve all of their needs and economic development, the study adopts modern theoretical concepts for understanding the built environment and image of the city, such as urban identity, urban structure, and public meaning. The research probes Henri Lefebvre’s social space theory and Kevin Lynch’s five components of cities to define the case of Damascus. The findings indicate that Damascus’ urban character is not a permanent object and has developed throughout history and across various civilizations, including the Arameans, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Roman, and Islamic. Moreover, the earliest pagan structure continuously altered until it became a mosque. Damascus held different urban identities and public images in each era, creating a layer that protected its current character. As a result, Damascus experienced the ‘morphogenesis’ of the Roman city into an Islamic city, an urban palimpsest that also gave the city its importance over time. The contemporary context represents a city plan that adopts Islamic city features and transforms the urban fabric with the structures built under a host of Muslim rulers. These rulers focused on the Great Mosque of Damascus as a symbolic structure in the city and as a place of public worship. It played an educational, religious, political, and social role in daily Muslim life.