Momtaz Dewachi

In spite of the fact that Muslim architects used more than one method of organizing information about their designs, there is a remarkable degree of unity, which can be observed in any Islamic city-both in its entire urban scene or in parts or elements such as the façades of alleys façade in old residential districts, representing the skin of traditional courtyard dwellings within. In this paper, an attempt is made to digitally reconstruct a façade of an old alley in Mosul by utilizing findings gained from the analysis of (20) existing alley façades. Attention is focused on rhythm as the most noticed feature in these façades. A comparison is subsequently made between this reconstruction and a real photograph. Auto CAD 2008 was applied for this task. Conference Topic: Street's interactivity and sustainability .

Traditional and historical cities have been under extensive research for a fairly long time. Many studies tried to capture the rules standing behind their form, structure and organization, and have taken different methods and procedures to reach their goals. In this study, one of these concepts has been chosen, the directionality, a path that has not been followed to its appeased limits. The urban fabric has been viewed through the element of direction as a result of the design process, and the concept of directionality as an architectural and urban formulator. Since the traditional cities had gone through multiple and diverse circumstances through ages, it would be expected to see different effects for these various factors (environmental, social, geographical and political), all viewed through the extent to which they might affect the direction and the orientation of the cities' masses and spaces, and shaping the city as a whole. The study has been applied on a case study, represented by the old city of Mosul, which has a long urban history; starting from being an Assyrian military camp, to an Islamic capital, each culture had its effect on the city's fabric, and thus on its pattern.

The city represents a multi-systems physical entity associated with a range of relationships in various aspects, which organize space, time, meaning and means of communication through many elements. With the vast expanded rising of the concept of sustainability since the last decade of the 20 th. Centaury, many trends are adopted in dealing with this concept within the urban environment. The idea of sustainable urban form, which refers to spatial and physical configuration which affects urban growth and capable of achieving compatibility with the changing and emerging needs, is the most dominant one. The elements of accessibility, proximity and functional mix are the basic means of achieving sustainable urban form. In Islamic city, the mosque was a key element, which urban facilities were gathered around it, it was not just a religious center, but it was an organizer of the spatial configuration of the Islamic city. The multiple functions of the mosque vary from a religious center to a social, political, cultural and educational center. For many Islamic cities, the urban growth has led to establishment of many mosques, where the city of Mosul is a good example for such case. These mosques played the role of multipurpose centers in the districts they found. The presented research tries to investigate the role of the spatial distribution of the Friday mosques in Mosul old city until the beginning of the 20th. Centaury in spatial sustainability. This will be done by adopting space-syntax approach and the concept of spatial sustainability focused on the spatial configuration of the city.

The dwelling units represents a constant feature of domestic architecture in the city. Traditional
dwelling units are a long term residential patterns for their successful interaction with occupants' domestic
experience . The external characteristics of these units prove the materialistic and intellectual developments
of environment and society
Accordingly, this study hypothesized the existence of a relationship between the features of the
external facades of these dwellings and the attributes of the surrounding alleys in Mosul old city.
A purposive sample of 60 intersections with 192 dwellings was selected and after measuring their
variables, a statistical analysis was made. A number of findings were obtained, explaining the relations
between the features of facades of these dwellings and the attributes of the alleys surrounding them .

Waterfront redevelopments are still popular and part of the planning agenda
in most countries. However, to cities on water of the developing countries,
urban waterfront redevelopment is still mostly restricted with a range of strategy
matters, questions and difficulties.
In this paper, the concept of Preventive and Planned Conservation based
on the ten basic guidelines drawn by the Centre for Cities on Water in Venice
are adopted to assess the proposals for waterfront of Old Mosul as prepared in
Old Mosul Renewal Plan in order to make a comprehensive image of the current
situation.
This paper attempts to situate waterfront of Mosul old city within a theoretical
framework based on global trends. It aims to discuss the relationship
between historic urban fabric and the water environment. It seeks to shed light
on various approaches that were adopted to develop this river front. The relationship
between the structure of Mosul city and its river front is regarded as a
major criterion in evaluating these approaches and to conserve the main features
of the urban scene.