Strategic urban planning of religious cities: the case study of Karbala city in Iraq

Introduction. The issue of choosing the strategic development vector becomes key to the sustainability of cities that have great cultural and historical significance and serve as religious centres. The religious factor produces a high effect on all urban processes and has to be considered whenever urban development is planned. This issue is particularly relevant for Iraqi cities, as they have suffered greatly over the past years. Materials and methods. The article offers an urban planning approach to assessing the current situation in the urban environment in order to determine the strategic vector of the city’s future development. We used the SWOT analysis method that allowed us to apply a systematic approach to assessing the strengths and weaknesses that determine the current situation, and to identify development opportunities and threats that may act as hurdles. The SWOT analysis is applied to transportation planning in Karbala, Iraq. Results. Principal theoretical and experimental results, relevant data, relationships and regularities, identified in the course of the research, are presented in the article. At the same time, new results and data of lasting significance, important discoveries, conclusions that overturn existing theories, as well as the data that, in the co-authors’ opinion, are of practical importance are preferred. Conclusions. The data, obtained by the co-authors, should serve as the basis for a strategic plan of urban development of Karbala city, Iraq. Also, the approach and method of urban research, used there, can be applied to other religious cities that face similar problems affecting their sustainability and the quality of their urban environment.