Hybrid Urbanism: On the Identity Discourse and the Built Environment

Despite strong forces toward globalization, much of late 20th century urbanism demonstrates a movement toward cultural differentiation. Such factors as ethnicity and religious and cultural heritages have led to the concept of hybridity as a shaper of identity. Challenging the common assumption that hybrid peoples create hybrid places and hybrid places house hybrid people, this book suggests that hybrid environments do not always accommodate pluralistic tendencies or multicultural practices. In contrast to the standard position that hybrid space results from the merger of two cultures, the book introduces the concept of a "third place," arguing for a more sophisticated understanding of the principal.

NEZAR ALSAYYAD is Professor of Architecture and Planning and Chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California—Berkeley. He has been director of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments and chief editor of its journal, Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review since 1988. His published books includeCities and Caliphs (Greenwood, 1991) and Forms of Dominance (1993).