City

Studies on buildings, whether rural or urban, and on the urbanization of regional centers are at the heart of our programs and have accelerated in recent years, in particular with the survey campaigns of houses in southern Syria by the OrAM team (M. Gelin, F.Villeneuve, P.-M. Blanc, Th. Fournet, etc.), the IFPO and the French Mission in Southern Syria directed by P. Clauss-Balty.

This research on rural housing has also been carried out by F. Villeneuve in southern Syria and in Khirbet adh-Dharih (Jordan).
We also work on the processes of urbanization, especially during the imperial era, through fieldwork in Palmyra, Shahba-Philippopolis, Bosra, Petra and Hegra-Meda’in Sâlih.

How is the urban core formed? Can we speak of “new towns” or the regularization of previous organizations during the imperial period? What is the role and impact of politics on these urbanizations?