Post-Soviet Central Asia
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the disappearance of central planning has brought new interest in traditional housing forms by a rising bourgeoisie. Islam, too, has risen from the ashes of the Soviet Union and acting under both religious and esthetic impulses, concerned Muslims have resurrected and renovated centers of worship, mosques and shrines in particular. In addition, private property, outlawed under Soviet rule, has been revived. Those with the resources have refurbished or built from scratch old howlis (courtyard houses) still to be found in the older sections parts of Central Asian cities and formerly rental apartments have been turned into condominiums.
On the other hand, many Soviet social practices and priorities have been preserved. The celebration of jubilees (anniversaries of the births or deaths of historically significant figures) remains an occasion for restoring or upgrading some element of the built environment. To celebrate the 666th anniversary of Tamerlane’s birth, for example, Uzbek authorities invested millions in refurbishing his tomb, the Gur-i Amir, which also meant tearing down residences surrounding the building and displacing their inhabitants. In the commercial sphere, an initial openness to capitalist investment led to the building of a handful of Turkish-owned supermarkets in Tashkent, for example, but that moment quickly passed and the old Soviet view of the inherent evil of capitalism reasserted itself and such buildings soon disappeared.
To the south, after Soviet armies withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, the region was torn by internal conflict and civil war. The human tragedy was accompanied by a general deterioration, if not complete destruction in some urban (most notably the city of Kabul), and rural areas of the built environment.