Includes bibliographical references

Acknowledgements; Contents; Introduction; 1 The Model of 'Islamic City'; 1.1 Emergence and Reproduction of Clichés; 1.1.1 First Phase; 1.1.2 Second phase; 1.1.3 Third Phase; 1.1.4 Demand for New Perspectives; 1.2 Imagined Morphology of 'Islamic City'; 1.2.1 Physical Layout of the City; 1.2.2 Iranian Cities; 1.2.3 Exclusive Attributions; 1.3 Labyrinthinity of 'Islamic Cities'; 1.3.1 Labyrinth and Urban Form; 1.3.2 Labyrinth and Iranian Cities; 1.3.3 'Islamic Cities' through Eyes of Travellers; 1.4 Necessity of New Conceptualisations; 2 The Idea of Labyrinth

2.1 The Labyrinth in the Pre-modern World2.1.1 The Prehistory; 2.1.2 The Classic Era; 2.1.3 The Christian Age; 2.1.4 After the Renaissance; 2.2 The Labyrinth in the Modern World; 2.2.1 First Approach: Labyrinth as a Form; 2.2.2 Second Approach: Labyrinth as a Metaphor; 2.3 The Labyrinth: Manifestations and Interpretations; 2.3.1 Patterns of the Labyrinth; 2.3.2 Interpretation; 2.4 Labyrinth and Labyrinthine; 3 Discovering the City; 3.1 Isfahan by Safavids (17th-18th); 3.2 City Analysis Method; 3.2.1 Particularity of Safavid Isfahan; 3.2.2 Safavid Isfahan in Maps; 3.3 Isfahan Seen from Above

3.3.1 Geometric-Form Layers of the City3.3.2 Historical Evolution; 3.3.3 Mega-Nizam and Nizams of the City; 3.3.4 Simultaneous Presence of Nizams; 3.4 Isfahan Perceived from Inside; 3.4.1 Why this Route?; 3.4.2 The Journey; 3.4.3 Revealing but Hiding; 4 Towards a New Terminology; 4.1 'Islamic City' and the Concept of Labyrinth; 4.1.1 Isfahan: a Labyrinth-like City?; 4.1.2 Isfahan: a Labyrinthine City?; 4.1.3 Is an 'Islamic City' Labyrinth-like or Labyrinthine?; 4.2 Complexity in the City; 4.3 Towards a New Terminology; 4.3.1 The term 'Hezar-Too'; 4.3.2 Different Types of Hezar-Too

Somaiyeh Falahat investigates the spatial and morphological logic of pre-modern Middle Eastern and North African cities, so-called "Islamic cities". She bases her argument on the fact that the city and consequently its form and structure, similar to other human products, have deep roots in the thought-structure of the people. Thus, to know such places properly, one has to refer to this life-world and use it as a structure to observe the city. This approach aims at opening new levels of understanding of the city by grasping indigenous concepts and structures; it puts forward claims for the poss