DA on the spot
“Containing” Baghdad: Constantinos Doxiadis’ Program for a developing nation
LEFTERIS THEODOSIS
Ciudad del Espejismo: Bagdad, de Wright a Venturi
“Containment” was the one of the key words that appeared on the political stage after the announcement of the Truman Doctrine, on 12 March 1947, referring to the development strategy of the United States aiming to stop the political alignment of the “free” nations with the Soviet Union and the embracement of communism. The Undersecretary of State, Dean Acheson, portrayed the so-called ‘domino effect’ like “apples in a barrel infected by the rotten one”, fearing that “the corruption of Greece would infect Iran and all the east” carrying “the infection to Africa through Asia Minor and Egypt and to Europe through France and Italy.”[1] Following the “containment policy”, the United States launched financial aid programs that extended its political influence outside the confines of the Iron Curtain; the European Recovery Program, commonly known as Marshall Plan was initially granted to Greece and Turkey, and the Point Four Program was destined to the “unstable” region of Iran.
No doubt, this was a turbulent period in the Middle East, as the escalation of the Cold War and the growing influence of the Pan Arab movement of the Egyptian President Gemal Abdel Nasser swayed the national policies of the neighbouring countries. In 1955, Britain, Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, signed the Central Treaty Organization (CTO), broadly known as Baghdad Pact, in order to prevent the infiltration of the Soviet Union and retain the influence of the British in the Middle East. Iraq, as the par excellence Arab member of the CTO, became the main rival of Nasser’s Egypt in the Middle East and West’s rampart in the fight for the containment of Communism.[2]
Against this background, in 1950, the Prime Minister of Iraq, Nuri al-Said, created the Development Board, a governmental organization that undertook the implementation of an extensive program of modernization. The program comprised of infrastructure, housing and public facilities projects, channelling the oil revenues that flowed into the country after the agreement with the foreign petroleum companies to share the oil profits with the State. The Board’s vision initiated modernization along Western standards,[3] effectively challenging the developmental model of Nasser and claiming the representation of the Arab world in the Middle East. Architecture and urbanism provided the means to face the nation’s housing crisis, while attempting to forge a modern identity able to incorporate the regional elements of postcolonial Iraq.
Among the western architects that were summoned for the reconstruction of Baghdad and the fulfilment of King Faisal II’s vision, the Greek planner Constantinos Doxiadis is the best example to represent the “vicissitudes” of urbanism and architecture in the context of the Cold War era.
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Yosko Navarro Arquitectura 