LONdon Art and Architecture Research & Design GROUP

Lonaard Magazine is an art and architecture peer-reviewed periodical founded in London by Dr Waleed Al Sayed and Dr Mashary Al-Naim since 2008

Editor

Waleed Al Sayed

Lonaard & Dar Mimar - London

Senior Advisory Board

Ashraf Salama

Qatar University

Howayda Al Harithy

American University - Beirut

Mashary Al-Naim

Dammam University - Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Al-Asad

Chairman/Centre for the Study of the Built Environment - Amman

Nezar Al Sayyad

University of Berkeley- California USA

Sabah Mushattat

Wolverhampton University - England/UK

Saleh Al Hathloul

King Saud University

Wael Samhouri

Damascus University - Syria

Yasser Elsheshtawy

UAE University

Call for papers for Lonaard Magazine
Issue 5, September 2011

Politics and Power: The Impact upon Architecture & City in the Arab and Moslem World - Past and Present

Organized by
Lonaard Group -London

Political architecture in the Arab and Moslem World is yet a subject to be thoroughly investigated. Despite the fact that the role of politics in shaping cities, and architecture across history, has been central in understanding the evolution of certain typologies, dynasty-related styles, let alone ascribed to the emergence of certain features and spatial elements of architecture of cities, this subject has been scarcely touched as an exclusive research in the Architecture of the Arab Moslem World.

Little can be detected in literary sources that address the subject as an independent comprehensive research to shed light on the role of politics as a narrative chronology of time, or place within the architectural context. Moreover, tracing back the roots of such an influence was less obvious in available writings, particularly studies within the scope of the early evolution of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, or those which examine the extent to which politics was evident in the outcome in architecture of the city alike.

In modern times, architecture as ‘political’ tool has been apparent as a result of ideological conflicts. This has been most evident in Jerusalem and was detected by the policies of ruling powerful authorities that left strong marks upon planning as a means to express apartheid policies. What takes particular importance is the recent political wave of change that sweeps across the Arab World, which invokes the need to re-visit the role of changing politics and the way it will affect the spatial morphology of Arab cities. Hence, the need arises to assess and re-read the space in the Arab City in the context of changing power from dictatorships to democracies with more power to the people.

It is the aim of this issue to bring under scrutiny such influence upon Moslem’s architecture, and upon Arab architecture after the spread of Islam, and to explore this interaction between architecture and politics, where the latter has strongly and directly influenced the former. To address the subject following are suggested themes and guidelines:

Themes & Research Areas
In order to study and explore this subject, scholars, and academics are encouraged to participate, within these main themes:

Politics and Architecture – History
Papers within this level may:
- trace in a chronological order within a methodological framework the role of politics in architecture within Arab or Moslem context.
- detect within a defined clear scope within the Arab Muslim history evidence of the strong influence and discuss this rigorously.
- investigate the evolution of certain building types created for political purposes and discuss the circumstances, motives, reasons for their development and relate this to a wider scope based on history and within architectural context.
- detect the evolution of certain features in buildings believed to be the outcome of ideological influences sustained by politics or power. For example, the evolution of the four Iwans in Mosques of North Africa .
- investigate historical data available in the record, such as Ibn Khaldoon’s as a theoretical framework to better understand the architecture of certain dynasty across Arab Moslem History of Architecture.
- present a critical review to available data, books that addressed the relation between the evolution of cities within the political context in the history of Arab/Moslem world.
- explore schools of thought and theories that account for evidence, or lack of evidence, of such strong relation between politics and architecture after the spread of Islam and discuss those rigorously.

The Paradigm of Architecture/Politics in recent history
Papers may adhere to one of the following lines of enquiry:
- investigate the extent to which power and architecture are intertwined in modern architecture of the Arab/Moslem world and the possible effect upon the City structure.
- highlight within a theoretical framework case studies and examples across the Arab world to provide evidence of the strong relation between architecture as a means for politics.
- present a critical review to available data, books that addressed the relation between the evolution of cities within the political context in the recent history of Arab/Moslem world.
- investigate types of power/politics (i.e. dictatorships, democracies, etc.) and compare cities, spatial morphology, planning, or architecture under each type.
- highlight and discuss potential changes of the current political wave that sweeps across the Arab World upon cities’ structure, place and space morphology.

Political Architecture –Urban Design/ Regional Planning
Papers within this theme may:
- trace evidence of the influence of decision making upon the creation of ethnic related regions and settlements in the Arab/ Muslim city.
- investigate the paradigm of power/politics in difference to social or economic dimensions and the extent to which superimposing the former has shaped and influenced the latter.
- detect ‘political architecture’ in the case of Jerusalem or other cities.
- tackle within a certain hypothesis Arab architecture versus politics, past versus present, in terms of social, economic, and other factors to assess the role of politics.

The Socio-Economic/Political Paradigm
Papers in this line of enquiry may:
- question the relation between economy and politics upon the welfare of society and upon the outcome of architecture – with reference to historical examples.
- examine modern theories of economy and apply those upon historical case studies while cross examining the past within its circumstances and context.
- present and discuss a modern theory or framework with regard the relationship between economy/politics, and explore the vital role of decision making/management.
- investigate the current financial crisis and the impact upon architecture and Arab/Moslem city and investigate the extent to which politics/management/bad management were involved.

Important Dates
Deadline for abstracts: June 15, 2011
Notification of acceptance June 16, 2011
Full paper submission: July 07, 2011

Submission and relevant guidelines

Authors, writers and scholars are advised to read the following guidelines carefully before sending their contributions as failing to adhere to the these strict rules may result in their work declined from publication. From previous experience in editing immature submitted text, this proved to be time consuming and endlessly laborious. While we open the door wide for all scholars to contribute without prejudice, we reserve the right to decline any text that appears to be replete with elementary mistakes before even wasting the time of the review committee, as their job will not be to edit language or typing mistakes which is the sole responsibility of the author. Therefore, we ask everyone to check their work carefully and kindly abide by the following rules:

The length of text, format and submission
- The length of abstracts should not exceed 400 words, articles no longer than 2000 words and full paper submission should not in any way exceed 5000 words excluding footnotes or references.
- Papers and articles could be written in English or Arabic, either way the author should provide synopsis of about 200 words in the other language that of the article or paper.
- Abstracts, papers and articles should contain author(s) name(s), academic rank or title, institution or place of work.
- Abstracts and full paper submissions should be sent in MS Word format by e-mail to magazine@lonaard.com

Paper and article structure and writing code
- The use of references should adhere to proper academic practice, the text should be supported with clear photographs where necessary and with clearly stated references. Illustrations, maps & tables, should be inserted within the text and dutifully explained.
- For Arabic text please adhere to these guidelines: Arabic writing code
- For English text please adhere to the following code English text format
- For use of references please check this file Bibliography
- We only accept original authentic work of the writer/co-writers. Any previously published material in part or whole will be rejected and any writer prove to send such work or practice plagiarism of any sort will be banned in the future from any publication with Lonaard Magazine.

Guidelines for sending and including photos in papers
- Authors are required to include low-quality photos within papers for evaluation, if the paper is accepted then the author will be required to re-submit the photos SEPARATELY AGAIN with the following quality and format:
- Depending on the size of the photo, the minimum should be 300 dpi, if the photo is in large size then the resolution should be close to 600 dpi. This is to ensure a high quality for the photo in the printed version of the Magazine.
- The photo should be saved in ‘CMYK TIFF’, processed by Photoshop, compressed by LZW so that the photo will not lose its resolution when compressed and sent as attachment by email.
- Needless to mention that all photos should be the work of the author for copyrights issue, otherwise the source of the photo must be clearly stated under each photo.

For any further inquiries please contact us at magazine@lonaard.com

Top of Page

Previous Issues

Handicrafts

Arab City

Mosque Architecture

The Paradigm of 'Islamic' Architecture

Editorial

Sarah Fawzi

Lonaard Group London

Suad Brown

Lonaard Group London

Adel Alwasabi

Yemen Coordinator

Amer Duhair

North Africa Coordinator

Dania Hakmi

Syria Coordinator

Osama Abdo

Jordan Coordinator

Sherif Elnouby

Egypt Coordinator

Mohammed Al Sayed

Oman, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait Coordinator

Sponsors

Abdel Rahman Al Naim Architects & Consultants

Saudi Arabia

Afniah Architects & Consultants

Dammam - Saudi Arabia

Hamed Ben Hamri Architects & Consultants

Saudi Arabia

Architect Nasser F. Al-Tamimi/ Concept Design

Saudi Arabia

Dar Mimar Group

London

Graphics & Web

Amir Duhair

graphic & Website Management

Moh'd Haddad

graphic designer

Nidal Abu Mustafa

graphic designer