Theorizing Climate Change and the Built Environment in the Islamic World

Abstract

This special issue of IJIA focuses on the impact of the current climate crisis on built environments in the Islamic world. Covering a diverse number of chronological and geographical contexts, the articles herein consider the effects of climate change on structured landscapes through the lenses of material, design, and architectural practice. They also address the numerous cultural, sociopolitical, and economic discourses that inform the ways in which societies over time and space have solved the complex problems of living in a climatically unstable world. Utilizing architectures of the past, present, and future as spaces of discussion, this special issue highlights the complexities of living in conditions of climatic precarity. In doing so, it demonstrates that built environments can provide important discursive terrains in the Islamic world for understanding the interconnected nature of concepts like ‘climate’, ‘nature’, and ‘environment’ as contextually specific ideas that reflect individual, climate-informed identities.