Urban identity in the holy cities of Iraq: Analysis of architectural design trends in the city of Karbala

The issues associated with the urban identity of cities are particularly important in the context of historic holy cities, where the social and cultural changes of modernity have profound impacts on the urban transformation of traditional urban fabric and structure. This paper investigates trends of architectural design in the city of Karbala, one of the most important sacramental cities in Iraq as a site of two holy shrines (among other sites) for Shia Muslims. It first highlights urban identity in general and the urban identity in holy cities in particular, focusing on special characteristics of urban identity formation. Secondly, it explains the selection of the city of Karbala as a case study, due to its regional, social and historical role for Shias around the world. This study undertook original research by administering a questionnaire among local architects in Karbala, focused on the relationship between the architect as a designer and many concepts affecting the urban identity of the holy city. The methodology used to analyse the validity and consistency of the questionnaire was the Likert method. The research concludes that there is a weakness in the designer communication with the urban heritage of the holy city of Karbala in particular, and with Iraqi culture in general. Also, designers believe that the legacy is unable to fulfil contemporary requirements, as the process of communication between past and present is limited by only copying the elements and architectural forms from the past.