The focus of this research is the morphology of the urban form of Erbil city. The research is conducted through three essential stages in six chapters. In the first stage, the factors that could influence the formation and the transformation of urban form are outlined and put together. These include the main focus, the legal factors (in the form of building and planning regulations), and other determinants which include political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental. In other words, the research looks at the formation and transformation of urban form through the frame of building and planning legislation which is supposed to meet inhabitants’ needs in an urban settlement in different periods. This establishes the theoretical frame encompassing the influence and the correlation between the sets of factors on the one hand and the urban form as a variable object on the other. Meanwhile, the many aspects and various understandings of urban form as an accumulative product in cities are outlined. The literature surrounding all these issues is covered in the first and the second chapters.
In the second stage, which is covered in the third, the fourth, and the fifth chapters, the established theoretical frame will be examined through the case of the study Erbil city, because this approach to the study of Erbil has not been undertaken previously and is consequently poorly understood. Although Erbil city is thousands of years old and passed through many different eras, the study’s focus will be on the period starting in 1920 (when the Iraqi State was established) until the present day, because in this period, the city has witnessed its largest growth and expansion and different building and planning legislation has been issued and amended. Different samples from nine different periods of the growth of the city from different quarters (neighbourhoods) will be selected and analysed. A descriptive and interpretative method will be adopted to deal with the data collected on these samples. Maps, photographs, and legislative texts are the main source of the data. The elements of the analysis include street, block plot, and building. Mapping by the use of AutoCAD and ArcGIS software is the essential tool and method adopted. In the fifth chapter the analysed samples will be compared to explore the nature of the change and the transformation of the urban form of the city over time through which those samples could represent the overall image.
The findings and the implications of the research are outlined in the last stage and the last chapter. The research provides significant documentation on the urban form of Erbil, the important area and subject which has been paid little attention. Therefore, the outcomes could inform responsible authorities, designers, and planners working in Kurdistan. In turn, it would have a significant influence on regulations shaping the city’s future urban form. Selecting Erbil city as the case study has a considerable rationale that is incorporated within the research implications. Erbil city provides a typical case for other similar cities in the region. Therefore, there would be a possibility of generalising the methods and the outcomes of this research on many other cases.
