Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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Notes to Chapter V
1
Six major approaches can be identified. First, is the ecological-competitive approach. It attempts to
account for the struggle which presses on the "natural" proclivity of social groups to compete for
territory. Second, is the "trade-off" approach, rooted in neoclassical economics. It emphasizes the
mapping of intra-urban land uses under market-pricing mechanisms. Land is viewed as a commodity
and its status reflects supply and demand forces. The third and fourth approaches, social area analysis
and factorial analysis, are extensions of the basic ecological view. They investigate the social and
economic factors underlying intra-urban structures. The fifth is the conflict/management approach
which seeks the understanding of spatial organization using political science, power analysis and
conflict in society. It goes beyond the static and impersonal forces largely emphasized by the
approaches dealing with the market mechanisms and the equilibratory tendencies of the ecological
approach. It ponders the role played by influential groups and the character of constraints imposed
upon actors in the city. Finally, there is the Marxist approach which attempts to explicate the
production of space as a function of class struggle and the accumulation process. The capitalist class'
adamant efforts to reap greater profits through manipulation of rents, inevitably result in a geographical
outcome exhibiting contradictions peculiar to a capitalist society. For the purpose of simplification the
first four can be lumped into one group, the substantive, static "socioeconomic" approaches, and the
last two as the "intentional" paradigms. See for example, D. Clark, Urban Geography (Baltimore: The
John Hopkins University Press, 1982).
2
J. Akbar, Crisis in the Build Environment: The Case of the Muslim City (Singapore: Concept Media Pte
Ltd, 1988), cover page.
3 This was mainly in most settlements of pre-Saudi Arabia. The use of coined money increased in
1344H./1924 when under King Abdul-Aziz, local money was produced. Al-Washmi, op. cit, 111.
4
For detailed sources of revenue in the Islamic city, see Ahmad A1 Abbadi, "Min Mathahir al-Hayat al-
Iqtisadiyah fee al-Madinah al-Islamiyah" [Aspects of Economic Life in the Islamic City] A 'lam Alfikr
(April/May/June, 1980): 127-160.
5 Compare this to the medieval European city, in which a patrician elite class maintained control over
lower classes. According to Sjoberg (I960:), "Regressive taxation is well ingrained in the feudal
order, firmly buttressing the existing class structure." G. Sjoberg, The Preindustrial City, Past and
Present (Glencoe, 111: Free Press, 1960).
6 As mentioned in Chapter two, Muslims, emulating Prophet Mohammed, have traditionally looked to
the life after death for eternal abode. This notion of "utopia" had a major impact on individuals' lives
and ultimately on the production of uniform physical environments. TTie waqf institution is rooted in
the documented Hadeeth quoted after Prophet Mohammed who said, "When a person dies, his work
[accumulation of deeds needed for salvation in the hereafter] terminates except for three things: ongoing
charity, useful knowledge, or a good son who prays for him." Also, the Prophet said, "The work
and good deeds of a believer that continue after his death are: disseminated knowledge, leaving a good
son [i.e. who prays for him], or a Qur'an for inheritance, a mesjid which he built or a house for
travellers, opening a stream, or a charity created from wealth which continues after death." This saying
was documented by Ibn Majah. Source: B. Hakim. Arabic-Islamic Cities: Building and Planning
Principles (London: Kegan Paul International, 1986), 149. As such, residents, therefore, competed in
establishing charities.
7
I emphasize here that my discussion of cultural attributes underlying urban processes may not
necessarily be taken as an argument for the application of traditional principles- as they are- to the