The Islamic Urbanist Tradition Is in Danger of Going Extinct

Imran Aukhil describes himself as "a Muslim and a committed urbanist." Those things, he says, should be complementary rather than contradictory. And yet Aukhil, who tweets as @UrbanMuslim, says that when it comes to the way urban communities are being built in the 21st century, he is often dismayed by what he sees happening in Muslim cities around the world – and in in the United States as well.

A native of North Carolina whose parents immigrated from India and Pakistan, Aukhil has studied architecture and urban design. Now he has gone on to get his MBA so that he can put his urbanist ideals into practice in the real world, as an entrepreneur. He plans to start up an Urban Muslim blog soon; we met on Twitter and continued the conversation by phone. Aukhil says the intersection between his faith and urban design is a passion.