The city of walls: how military architecture has shaped Baghdad and the citizens

Starting from an overview of “The Magnificent Baghdad” the narrative of “A thousand and one night” tells a city of controlled spaces embodying an artificial construction. The history of the changing urban and social construction can be read taking the walls as reference objects that can explain how the city's configuration was reshaped after the conflict. Having this object as a guideline, the focal point will be comprehending the main reason that leads to adopting a walled city in modern time. From that, several urban and social questions will emerge. The wall itself is just an architectural element, but the use that men made can lead to different purposes: if on one side can protect the other can divide. Struggling with Baghdad's emerging context, how the presence/use/imposition of the new walls affected the citizen and the city's urban configuration. Action and their reaction on the form of the city will be the addressed point. How the changing of urban configuration also changed the use of the space? Moreover, the subtext considers the effect of the walling policy in the sectarian conflict and the peace bring promoted by the US, maintaining a direct relationship between urban change and political choice.