Assoc. Prof. Bülent Batuman, chair of the Department of Architecture, edited “Cities and Islamisms: On the Politics and the Production of the Built Environment,” published by Routledge in 2021. A Turkish edition of the volume has recently been published by Dipnot Yayınları with the title “Kentler ve İslamcılıklar: Mekan, Mimarlık, Politika” (Space, Architecture, Politics).
The collection of essays expands the theoretical framework of Batuman’s earlier book, “New Islamist Architecture and Urbanism,” to a global scale and sheds light on a particular facet of the link between politics and Islam through the analysis of the relationship between Islamism and the built environment. It addresses issues of national identity, everyday spaces and the making of Islamic milieus; the role of Islam in the making of state ideology via architecture and urban planning; and transnational architectural exchanges through global Islam. The book expands on these issues through case studies which incorporate manifestations in Muslim-dominated countries, including those where Islam has been at the heart of state ideology (Pakistan and Brunei), those with influential grassroots Islamist networks (pre-revolutionary Iran and Indonesia), those that identify with Islam through global exchanges (United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Türkiye) and countries where Islam is an increasingly significant reference utilized by political actors (Algeria and Lebanon).
