Old Islamic Saharan Cities, The Narrative of Space and Environment; Case Study: Old Cities in Southern Sahara of Algeria

During past years, Islamic cities always have been considered as a reference to be follow regarding the new cities or smart cities concept and design. Although we are having this rich heritage and we live inside it but there are no considered researches and practical works established in our societies and Muslim communities regarding this treasure. This paper tries to reach the idea of the relation between urban fabric spaces and environment, this concept or duality is a holy act of architecture and urbanism. To achieve our assumptions, we choose two cities in south of Algeria which are known by their traditional and old Islamic urban pattern and layout (Ouled Djellal and Ghardaia), those two cities have been analyzed through thematic elements of the environmental adaptability design and cites principles of this research towards concluding the guidelines of cities planning and urban design in south of Algeria. The aim of this study and research is to explore the Islamic cities' urban fabric and environment influence on the old Saharan cities' planning in south of Algeria. Which means that the old cities' planning of Saharan cities is a compatible solution for environment such as climate and at the same time this environmental design is suitable with urban fabric and society traditions’ needs. Researches like this benefits the land of new theories of cities and regional planning and allows us as architects and urbanists to reconsider the environment, climate issues and urban fabric thread in cities for the future, especially after new cities' planning issues nowadays.