| Author(s) | Abeer Al-Lahham, PhD |
| Affiliation | Assistant Professor, College of Architecture and Planning, King Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia |
| Title | Freedom and Rights in The Contemporary Built Environment: |
| Source | Journal of King Saud University. Architecture & Planning. Volume 18, No 2. (2006/1426) |
| Abstract | The concepts of freedom and rights in the built environment are strongly associated with the concept of democracy. They constitute its main criteria. But is it possible to achieve democracy in the contemporary built environment? To scrutinize this issue, the research investigates the decision-making mechanisms embodied in the production process of the contemporary built environment in terms of its achievement of democracy as compared to the Islamic built environment. It concludes that democracy (freedom and rights), as delineated by the West, is a utopian concept that cannot exist within the contemporary built environment due to its centralized mechanisms based on the concepts of power and domination. On the contrary, the Islamic built environment had managed through its decentralized mechanisms based on the concept of rights as derived from shari‘a to achieve democracy more than the contemporary built environment. |
