도시공간의 이슬람적 전형성에 관한 탈식민적 논의

Abstract

This article is a study on the discourses of 'Islamic city' related with specific characteristics of urban space. Observing several different perspectives on the model of Islamic city, I analyzed writings on the urban space of Islamic cities and tried to classify them as either colonial/orientalist discourse or post-colonial discourse. Even with the difference of political perspectives, these two kinds of discourses have one common aspect: the idea of a specific model of urban space -- for 'Islamic city' -- as an unconditional presupposition of all. To verify the relavance of common senses about the existing spatial model of Islamic city, I took cases of urban spatial structure from a few cities in the Middle Eastern Islamic world. For this case study, I tried to put the interpretative discourse aside, and concentrated only on the physical spaces of the case cities.

Follows are results of this case study and discourse analysis: First, urban spatial structures of different cities in 'Islamic world' are diverse enough that they can not be generalized in a unique form. Concerning city planning of cities in 'Islamic world', there are rectangular grid system as well as some idealized plans of circle city. Secondly, absolute privacy theory with closed walls for residential district can not be generalized for most of cities in Islamic world. It has never been, for example, main concern for residential buildings in Medieval period Mecca. In this case of Mecca, adaptation to the climate was crucial factor for the window and door arrangement, far more important than privacy questions which was often emphasized by most of Islamic city discourses. Thirdly, irregularity and narrowness of the streets, often with dead ends( cul-de-sac ), can not be generalized as an ideal type of urban spatial aspect in the cities of Islamic world. And several other factors of theories on Islamic city do not fit to the reality of some important cases like Cairo, Damascus and Delhi.

In this analytical study, differences of positions between orientalists and post-colonialist scholars are recognizable. But in comparison with the results of case study on the physical spatial structure, I could conclude that most of discourses employing the theme of 'Islamic city' adopt the same kind of 'over-generalization'. And this over-generalization and stereo-typification was typical method of orientalist discourse, even though each scholars insists that they overcame the orientalist discourse problems.