When we visited the mayor’s office during my last trip to Kabul, the deputy mayor, a great fan of Persian poetry, lamented the fact that all the houses currently being built in Kabul are of the ‘international’ (Western) type: a standalone house on a plot of land, surrounded by a bit of garden or walkways, with all windows facing outwards.

Because the need for privacy is a strong feature of Afghan culture, high perimeter walls (often two floors high) are built around these houses. Given the price of land in Kabul, the ratio of built vs unbuilt surface on a given plot of land is often highly skewed in favor of the house, with almost no space for greenery.

Why then not build houses of the traditional type, centered on a courtyard? One could even replicate the model found in the old cities of Kabul and Herat (and other cities) whereby a community is structured around interconnected courtyards, which have only one or a few exits to the street (public space): the ancient equivalent of our gated communities. See the layout of the Muradkhaneh district of Kabul below. This used to be the area where the Shia Qizilbash lived; it was restored in ancient style by the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, who established a handicrafts school in the renovated premises.

It would make so much more sense, from the perspectives of energy conservation, Afghan cultural values such as privacy and community life, and efficient use of the limited urban space. It would be much more beautiful too. This housing type can easily be adapted to accommodate contemporary urban amenities.

But apparently the drive to live in Western houses and be like the rest of the world –  a cultural factor too – is so strong that this discussion hasn’t even been initiated.

A view of Muradkhaneh area from the rooftop