The modernization projects that changed much of the political, social, and cultural landscapes of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century had important consequences in the Arab provinces. Aimed to reform the administrative structure of the Empire by centralizing its historically semi-independent regions, the reforms called for the redefinition of the relationship between the center and the peripheries and the absorption of the margins into a uniform Ottoman modernity. The long-time neglected Arab provinces were privileged, especially in the framework of Abdülhamid II’s (1876-1908) pan-Islamist policies that brought a new twist to the ideology of modernization. 

The dramatic institutional transformations were reflected on the physical forms of cities that ranged from Damascus to Aleppo, Beirut, Baghdad, Mosul, Jidda, Sana, and Tripoli (Libya). While infrastructure projects (land roads, railways, ports, waterways, telegraph and postal service) created communication networks that united the empire, the cities acquired regular street networks that accommodated technologically advanced transportation systems, modern municipal services, and a new array of public spaces (squares and parks); they were dotted with secular public buildings and monuments. Differing from the earlier religious complexes as government palaces, headquarters of various administrative units, modern hospitals and schools, the nineteenth-century structures in European architectural styles represented the changes in the political climate. The interventions to urban fabrics and the insertion of an unprecedented repertoire of buildings affected urban images, endowing them with a contemporary look.

Ottoman modernity has not only been overlooked by historians, but also has been abstracted from public memory in the Middle East—despite the continuing and prominent presence of urban forms and monuments in all cities (which have not been subjected to scholarly research until now). Deriving material from my forthcoming book, Public Space, Modernity, and Empire Building (University of Washington Press, 2007), and focusing on selected case studies, I propose to examine buildings, urban spaces, and spatial relationships as social-political documents, investigating the roles they played in the restructuring of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. Simultaneously, my paper will address questions related to the forgotten status of this episode, considering the significance of the European mandates in the region after World War I and the subsequent nation building projects. Finally, I will make a case for the significance of understanding the historic context of modernity in the Middle East today, as well as its past links to imperial agendas.

About Zeynep Celik

Zeynep Çelik is distinguished professor of architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Her publications include The Remaking of Istanbul (Washington, 1986; California, 1993), Displaying the Orient (California, 1992), Urban Forms and Colonial Confrontations (California, 1997), and Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space (California, 1993—coeditor), as well as articles on cross-cultural topics. She served as the editor of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2000-2003) and is currently completing a book, titled Public Space, Modernity, and Empire Building: Ottoman Syria, French Maghrib, 1830-1914 and co-editing an interdisciplinary collection of essays, Walls of Algiers: Artistic, Cultural, and Urban Forms in the Colonial and Postcolonial City. Dr. Çelik is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, most recently a Guggenheim Fellowshipand an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship.

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