ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the influences of Medieval Muslim Spain on the urban and physical layout of the Medina. It discusses ahistorical readings of the Islamic City, and argues that the pronounced distinction between mallas with and without balconies correspond to Medieval Islamic Spanish influence not colonial influence. The chapter suggests that unlike the rest of the Medina’s urban layout and built environment, the Jewish quarter’s urban layout attests to the cultural memory of Medieval Spain preserved by the Jewish communities of Moroccan cities. It explains some of the influences of population movement on the built form of the urban outline of the North African city. The chapter shows that the emergence of the balcony feature in the Medina could be perceived as one way the New Spanish immigrants were remembering or reinventing their Iberian communities. In the theoretical framework of the Maliki School of Islamic Law, a corpus of guidelines is identified as vital to building activity.
