A Reappraisal of the Principles and Indicators of the “Sustainable Community” to Apply It to the Urbanism of Islamic World in the Age of Globalization

In the historical study of the Muslim urban tradition, a primary features is the physical manifestation of Islam’s “social dimensions” and, in particular, the key concept of “the Ummah.” In the process of transformations induced by “globalization,” the so cial layer of cities and the physical implications of it appear to be among the layers affected by several factors. In the last two decades, the social aspect of the sustainable development, termed as “social sus tainability” and deemed by experts as the most im portant dimension and the ultimate goal of sustainability, is a concept that through a more pre cise understanding of its indices one can achieve the characteristics of a “sustainable society” to apply it to urban planning and designing. This article seeks to redefine indicators of the concept of “sustainable society” by studying the social dimensions of the tradition of urbanization of Muslims in a compara tive approach, while analyzing the “social’ effects of globalization on the city, and defining a “local” and “strategic” framework. The main research questions were: What are the most important social challenges of globalization in cities? How can the social princi ples of Islam and its emergence in the tradition of Muslim urbanization, on the one hand, and sustain able local community indicators, on the other, be used to meet the social challenges of globalization in cities? In addition to these two main questions, an other sub-question was raised: To what extent are the social principles of Islam and the principles of a sustainable local community analogous in the con ceptual framework of sustainable development? The study adopts an “interpretative” approach and uses the “quality” strategy and the “content analysis” method and “rational reasoning” to analyze the data deriving from documentary studies. After reviewing the social dimensions of globalization in cities, while adapting the spatial indices of the “sustainable community” and the socio-spatial aspects of the ur banization tradition of Muslims, a conceptual and strategic framework in line with the social challenges of globalization for use in urban design guidance documents was presented. To answer the second question, scholarly views on the principles and indi cators of a sustainable community, on the one hand, and the social principles of Islam and its manifesta tion on the historical tradition of Muslim urbaniza tion, on the other, were studied. Meanwhile, in order to answer the research sub-question, the two conceptual areas were aligned. According to this analysis, Islam’s recommendation of “strong social relationships” has the most to do with sustainable community indicators. Also, “Strong neighborhood relationships”, “Social supervision” and “Practicing Islamic social rules” as the most important social principles of Islam in exposure with social challenges of globalization was explained. This paper presents a conceptual and strategic framework for addressing the social challenges of globalization in cities using the corresponding social principles of Islam, as well as relevant indicators of sustainable local commu nity, for application in urban design and planning. In future research, quantification of these strategies will be followed up by quantitative methods of field and case studies.