The Department of Philosophy at the College of Arts at the University of Basrah organized a panel discussion entitled “The Identity of Place between Functional and Aesthetic”.

The panel, presented by Lecturer Risal Hussein Abdul Latif ,aims to explain the aesthetic aspects that can contribute to shaping the identity of the place in addition to its functional aspect. These aspects can form the moral presence of the place in addition to the functional physical presence, which gives the place its human character, which is an important part of that identity.

The panel dealt with the elements of place and the nature of those elements that establish the relationship between the building and the human being, as places, in terms of their architectural formations, occupy a basic function that meets the human being’s life requirements. However, the identity of the place is not formed through that function alone, but rather the aesthetic aspect contributes to shaping the moral characteristic of the occupants of the place, such as the memory associated with a certain place and the nature of living within a certain place or the qualities that place can give to its occupants and how they are affected by it.

The panel also addressed the meaning of place and its aesthetic and moral formation, and its connection to traditional architecture and modern architecture, as well as the familiar place and the hostile place, and other details.