This lecture seeks to identify a core set of shared concerns between European and Islamic discourse on city design and the complex social dynamics and economic dimensions of urban life. Specifically, it explores medieval and early modern European and Islamic perceptions of the ideal urban arrangements from a comparative perspective and in the context of the evolution of new imperial cultures and the creation of new capitals and urban centers in the Islamic world.

In light of the ongoing refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe, the ultimate objective of the talk is to identify innovative ways to derive lessons from past imperial experiments designed to shape physical space that could uphold social harmony and cohesion, ensure peaceful coexistence, and meet the competing demands of disparate social groups.

Vasileios Syros (Dr.phil. in Medieval and Modern History, University of Heidelberg/Germany) is a Senior Research Fellow at the Academy of Finland. His teaching and research interests focus on the interaction among the Christian, Islamic, and Jewish traditions of political thought as well as on cross-cultural encounters in the early modern period. He is also engaged in the comparative study of European and Islamic empires, ideas on imperial ascendancy and decline, and pre-modern approaches to the comparative study of diverse forms of political organization and types of government.

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