This dissertation aims to critically analyze the causes and consequences of the transformation of urban housing typologies from state-subsidized housing to privatized gated communities in Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq. Methodologically, it will examine and compare the typologies of urban housing in Baghdad under different political regimes, from the initiation of urban housing programs during the mid-1950s until the present day. Therefore, the analysis of urban housing typologies is chronologically divided into four phases based on shifts in political regimes that have ruled Iraq: the monarchy (1921--1958), the communist-allied Qassim regime (1958--1963), the Ba'ath socialist regime (1963--2003), and a federal democratic regime (2003--present). In order to provide a deep look into the characteristics of urban housing, a case study has been selected from each political phase. The analysis will emphasize their physical characteristics, spatial organization, safety, and socio-economic characteristics. Additionally, the analysis will go beyond the architecture and spatial characteristics of urban housing projects to include housing provision approaches, policies, and financial programs during each of the four political phases in order to trace and decode the context of urban housing projects.

Through the exploration of these phases, this dissertation will examine the impact of the various economic systems in Iraq that have influenced urban housing provision approaches as well as urban housing typologies. It will explore the connection between socialism and the rise of state-built urban housing in Baghdad during the second half of the 20th century, and the connection between neoliberalism and the rise of market-provided, gated communities after 2003. Although both the socialist and the neoliberalist approaches of housing provisions in Iraq have been addressed in scholarly work, the urban housing typologies that have resulted from these approaches are understudied. This research aims to fill this gap in the body of knowledge. The significance of this research therefore lies in its comparison of urban housing typologies in Baghdad, and the identification of ways in which the various trajectories of the political economy in Iraq have transformed the conceptual and physical design values of urban housing. This dissertation argues that the urban housing typologies in Baghdad have been a reflection of, and a spatial translation of, political and economic aspirations and that a shift in these aspirations has resulted in the transformation of those typologies.