Nine papers, originally published 1971-92, discuss general themes, specific manifestations, and and regional styles of architecture from the second century B.C. into the later Islamic period of the Middle East.
This is the assumption underlying an ambitious effort to map the field, which consists of a long introduction where "secularization" is analyzed as a deeply problematic concept-of-process and of eight chapters in which several protagonists ...
The volume both offers sector-specific advice and highlights larger areas which should be prioritized in the policy debate (from transport to social capital, R&D and the environment).
An extensive survey of the architecture and decorative features of mosques and other religious buildings in Oman which, Costa argues, contains buildings unlike those found elsewhere in Islamic Arabia.