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Anosmic Aesthetics

Anosmic Aesthetics

Author(s): Marta Tafalla / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2013

Keywords: anosmia; senses; olfaction; aesthetic experience

Anosmia is a sensory disability that consists of the inability to perceive odours. The sense of smell can be lost at any time during life, but people suffering from congenital anosmia, as I do, have never had any experience of smelling. My question is whether such an impairment of olfaction impoverishes aesthetic appreciation or makes it different in any way. I hypothesize that congenital anosmia entails two different kinds of loss in aesthetic appreciation. In order to test my hypothesis, I address modern and contemporary aesthetic theory. Finally, I claim that congenital anosmia constitutes an impoverishment, but also ask whether it can be compensated for by dialogue and imagination. I further inquire as to whether it can foster a more self-critical aesthetic appreciation, more conscious of the powers and limits of our senses.

Autohistorization

Autoistorizacija

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/1995

(Not) Making a Name for Oneself: The Jewish Names of Honza K.

Sich (k)einen Namen machen: Die Židovská jména der Honza K.

Author(s): Natascha Drubek / Language(s): German / Issue: 28/2017

Keywords: Czech literature; samizdat; pseudonym; surrealism; authorship of women; Milena Jesenská; Jana Krejcarová(-Černá); Egon Bondy; antisemitism; Czechoslovak State security; interrogation;delicious corpse;

Even though the anthology Jewish Names, often called the beginning of Czech alternative culture, was published in 1995, several central questions concerning this seminal collection from the early 1950s remain unclear: Who initiated it, when was it assembled, and what is its connection with the causa of the ‘Trotzkyites’ in Prague and later anti-semitic show trials? Answers can be found if one appreciates the pivotal role of Honza Krejcarová in this unique project. The article connects dots between Czech history during the Protectorate when young Honza witnessed her mother Milena Jesenská’s resistance activities, and the late 1940s of Stalinist Czechoslovakia when the State Security started surveilling and persecuting Krejcarová. Based on archival studies the article argues for the parallelism between secret service practices (interrogation, the revealing of names in the form of denunciation) and automatic surrealist writing techniques. Drawing on the example of the name of the Author it analyses the paratextual structure of the anthology connected to its literary models, mainly from France. Jewish Names is a rich collection of fictitious ‘Jewish’ pseudonyms attributed to real Czech writers, stressing the vulnerability of the literary intelligentsia, their mineurité. And it is this paratextual construction which can be considered as the most daring and auto-referential aspect of this illegal publishing project. The article reveals problematic aspects of the chosen path of pseudonymy and anonymity. Changing or omitting one’s name is a common trait of female biographies, complicating the attribution of authorship. The article shows how pseudonymy takes its toll on an existential, gender, political, and historical level — precluding until today the proper names from entering Czech literary history.

Export of experts. Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and Iraq in the 1960s

Export of experts. Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and Iraq in the 1960s

Author(s): Adéla Jůnová Macková / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2018

Keywords: “Third World Countries”; Iraq; Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences; scholars; cultural agreement

This study focuses on one of the elements in Czechoslovak cultural agreements that were entered into with “Third World Countries” from the 1950s. These agreements included training for foreign students, both in the form of grants for studying in Czechoslovakia, and the dispatch of Czechoslovak scholars abroad. These scholars were sent not only from higher education institutes, but also from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CSAS). This study focuses on CSAS scholars who worked in Iraq in the 1960s.

Goffman's Theory as a Framework for Analysis of Self Presentation on Online Social Networks

Goffman's Theory as a Framework for Analysis of Self Presentation on Online Social Networks

Author(s): Šlerka Josef,Lucie Merunková / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2019

Keywords: Dramaturgical Theory; Erving Goffman; Facebook; Impression Management; Online Identity; Online Self-presentation; Online Social Interactions; Online Social Networks; Social Media

To investigate how people form their identity on social networks and control the impressions they invoke in their audiences, we analyzed personal profiles of 50 university student Facebook users using Erving Gofmann´s dramaturgical theory. We identified five basic forms through which users create and present their identities: The Public diary, The Influencer, The Entertainer, Job and education and Hobby, as well as the appropriate secondary roles performed by users who interact with them. These findings are corroborated by 8 semi-structured interviews with respondents, which enable a more in-depth exploration of the way they use Facebook, the social interactions they participate in, their motivation for posting contributions, and how they engage in impression management, perceive privacy and resolve issues caused by multiple audiences. A better understanding of how privacy is conceived and what motivates users to share their personal information online is essential for public authorities’ cooperation on shaping company privacy policies and creation of appropriate legal regulations. The key results confirm the presence of conscious effort to make a desired impression and prove Goffman’s theory of face-to-face interactions to be relevant in the context of online social networks.

“Makó — Not Only Hagyma”?: Competing Histories and Narratives of Onion Production and Spa Tourism in a Hungarian Town

“Makó — Not Only Hagyma”?: Competing Histories and Narratives of Onion Production and Spa Tourism in a Hungarian Town

Author(s): Vivien Apjok / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2020

Keywords: locality; tourism; festivals; history; identity construction

The aim of this paper is to present the role that onions and spa tourism play in local identity in the Hungarian town of Makó, as well as the possible explanations that cause the two phenomena to manifest differently in the local (urban and community) self-image. What the two phenomena have in common is the economic aspect, which in the past and in the present constitutes the main sector of the town, but we can see that this orientation is also perceived differently at many points. The question is relevant from an anthropological point of view because we can witness stacked layers of meaning that in some cases support or conflict with each other, and these affect both the self-image of the locals and the image of the town. The interpretive framework of the article is the theory of competing histories, incorporating concepts of tourism, festivals, identity, collective memory, and narrative research.The field of research is Makó, a small town in southeastern Hungary which is primarily known for its onion production but which a few years ago was also placed on the tourist map, on a national and international scale, in connection with the Hagymatikum Spa. This study seeks to answer the following questions: (1) what is the role of onions (agriculture) and spas (tourism) in the local identity of Makó; (2) how are the narratives of the two phenomena structured socially and historically; and (3) how are they intertwined in the endeavours of contemporary identity-construction? These questions are further interpreted through the theoretical framework of competing local histories and narratives that affect the construction of the local identity.

Year of the Snake: An Analysis of the Polish Urban Legend of the Vistula Python

Year of the Snake: An Analysis of the Polish Urban Legend of the Vistula Python

Author(s): Mateusz Napiórkowski / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2020

Keywords: urban legends; modern folklore; Polish culture; Internet studies; fake news

Stories about wild and domesticated animals are among the most popular categories of urban legends. In modern folklore, they appear mysteriously, often following strange or scary happenings, like a quite recent tale, created in 2018, when the molted skin of a large snake (later identified as an Indian python) was found near the banks of the Vistula River in the suburbs of Warsaw. Owing to the extensive media coverage, the news spread quickly throughout Poland. For obvious reasons, people wondered where the snake was hiding. Several eyewitnesses, who could see the predator (or something that resembled it), wanted to give an account. Such animals then “disappear” forever but leave their mark on pop culture. The snake myth thus gave rise to numerous stand-up comedy acts, amateur music videos, and a comic book. This study analyses a number of such examples, obtained from the Internet. It also focuses on the mechanisms of the formation of urban legends, and their relation to fake news. One of the main questions of the article is therefore: why do these kinds of stories gain such wide popularity? Furthermore, the aim of the study is to analyse the reactions of Internet users to the news about the python. The topic was commented on by people with different world and political views, so it is worth considering whether the message about the python could play an important role in the integration of Polish society, or as a just another platform for the exchange of thoughts.

The Ukrainian Factor of the Prague Spring? Petro Shelest and the Czechoslovak Year 1968 in the Light of Documents of the Ukrainian Security Service

The Ukrainian Factor of the Prague Spring? Petro Shelest and the Czechoslovak Year 1968 in the Light of Documents of the Ukrainian Security Service

Author(s): L'udovít Veselý / Language(s): English / Issue: 8/2020

Keywords: Ukraine; Czechoslovakia; Prague Spring 1968; Petro Shelest; Soviet intervention; KGB;

Petro Shelest (1908–1997), the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was one of the strongest advocates of an armed invasion of Czechoslovakia among Soviet leaders in 1968. The Soviet leadership tasked him to maintain contacts with the so-called healthy forces in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia; in the beginning of August, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Vasil Biľak (1917–2014) secretly handed over to him the notorious “letter of invitation” in public lavatories in Bratislava. The author asks a fundamental question whether it is possible to identify a specific Ukrainian factor which stepped into the Prague Spring process and contributed to its tragic end. He attempts to capture Shelest’s position in the decision-making process and describe information that Shelest was working with. To this end, he has made use of reports of the Committee for State Security (Komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti – KGB) of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on developments in Czechoslovakia and reactions thereto among Ukrainian citizens produced in the spring and summer of 1968, which were being sent to Shelest and other Ukrainian leaders. These documents have lately been made available in Ukrainian archives and partly published on the website of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. Their analysis brings the author to a conclusion that they were offering a considerably distorted picture of the situation. Instead of relevant information and analyses, they only present various clichés, ideological rhetoric, inaccuracies, or downright nonsenses. Their source were often members of the Czechoslovak State Security who were often motivated by worries about their own careers and existence and were acting on their own. The uncritical acceptance of the documents contributed to a situation in which in the leader of the Ukrainian Communists and other Soviet representatives were creating unrealistic pictures of the events taking place in Czechoslovakia, believing that anti-socialist forces were winning, anti-Soviet propaganda was prevailing, and Western intelligence agencies were strengthening their position in Czechoslovakia, and that there was a threat that the events that had taken place in Hungary in 1956 would repeat themselves again. As indicated by his published diary entries and other documents, Petro Shelest was using these allegations both in discussions inside his own party and during negotiations with Czechoslovak politicians. Just like in the case of the leaders of Polish and East German Communists, Władysław Gomułka and Walter Ulbricht, respectively, the principal reason why Shelest was promoting a solution of the Czechoslovak crisis by force was, in the author’s opinion, his fear of “contagion” of his own society by events taking place in Czechoslovakia which the Ukraine shared a border with.

Reflecting on the Efficiency of Design Thinking and Lean Startup

Reflecting on the Efficiency of Design Thinking and Lean Startup

Author(s): Kerstin Bätz,Patrick Siegfried / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2022

Keywords: business model; entrepreneurship; Design Thinking; Lean Startup

When Less Is More, or the Art of Choice: The Poetics of Atwood’s “Surfacing” and Its Transfer in the Russian and Latvian Translations

When Less Is More, or the Art of Choice: The Poetics of Atwood’s “Surfacing” and Its Transfer in the Russian and Latvian Translations

Author(s): Jānis Veckrācis / Language(s): English / Issue: 45/2022

Keywords: poeticity; aesthetic effect; text’s world; implicit information; balanced choices; prose translation

The paper is focused on discussing poetics and considerations related to the requirement of equivalent effect in literary (prose) translation. In order to properly analyze the poetic features of Margaret Atwood’s "Surfacing" and their processing in the Russian and Latvian translations, the concept of literary text and the theory of text poetics are briefly outlined as these are essential aspects of the balance and interaction of explicit/implicit information in Atwood’s text, which may be represented both in the micro-level units and through their integration into the text’s macrostructure. In the context of translator’s decision making procedures, the importance of close reading and competence of translators are emphasized. Respectively, poetics of the novel is described which is, alongside theoretical ideas, further used for translation quality assessment by paying special attention to poeticity and the balance of implicit/explicit information. The study shows that the Russian translation in particular features changes or additions which, though acceptable in general circumstances, are arguable in view of the specific criteria set by the novel’s poetics. Applicability of a relatively literal (close) translation is examined by providing insights into the actual aspects of the technique and criteria for its use. Meanwhile, some translation units indicate the impact of ideological restrictions and censorship.

Domestic Religion in the Southern Levant: A Material Religion Approach

Domestic Religion in the Southern Levant: A Material Religion Approach

Author(s): Jeremy D. Smoak / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: Israelite religion; Israelite house; material religion; sensescape; smellscape; meal;

The present study examines how a material religion approach might be applied meaningfully to the study of domestic religion in the southern Levant. Despite the abundant material evidence from the archaeological record, locating religion in the house continues to pose certain challenges, in terms of both definition and visibility. We see in past studies that much of the larger effort of studying the material culture rests in attempts to explain how materials reflect religious belief or to determine functional meanings. This is particularly the case in the study of those remains from domestic contexts, which are often interpreted as a way to understand how the beliefs and practices of non-official religion differed from that of the picture of belief in the textual evidence. A material religions approach, however, challenges this tendency by arguing that materials should not be interpreted primarily as reflections or expressions of beliefs or ideas. For this reason, the present study gives priority of focus to the many things of religion that have been uncovered in domestic spaces and spaces connected to the lifecycle of the household. This approach also challenges a picture of domestic religion that overemphasizes the walls as boundaries of the house since an emphasis upon food, drink, incense, etc. points to the house’s relationship with and the household’s dependence upon the family field, the natural landscape, and larger networks of sustenance and exchange.

Factors Building Consumer Trust in Instagram Stores and the Influence of Trust in Instagram Stores on Purchasing Intention

Factors Building Consumer Trust in Instagram Stores and the Influence of Trust in Instagram Stores on Purchasing Intention

Author(s): Yesevi Alperen Yasa,RUZİYE COP / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2022

Keywords: Instagram Stores; Instagram Shopping; Online Retailing; Consumer Trust; Social Media Marketing;

That Instagram is one of the most used social media platforms around the world which makes this application also one of the largest global markets in the world. People or businesses may easily set up a virtual store by employing the application Instagram. However, in order to achieve success in Instagram, it is necessary to gain the trust of consumers just like in e-commerce sites. The aim of this study is to determine factors forming the trust in Instagram stores and effect of the trust in Instagram stores on the purchase intention. Within this scope, 439 people were surveyed, which were selected by means of convenience sampling method, are Instagram users. Variance-based structural equation modeling was employed for analyses. In the conclusion of analyses carried out, it was detected that factors pertaining to the propensity to trust, customer endorsement, user likes and the number of followers, the perceived integrity, perceived benevolence, and perceived competence of an Instagram vendor have an effect on the trust of consumers in Instagram stores. Furthermore, it was concluded that the trust in Instagram stores had an effect on the purchase intention of users from Instagram stores.

The Manor House of Jan Tschammer in Dolny Ustroń in the Light of the Posthumous Inventory of 1689

Dwór Jana Tschammera w Dolnym Ustroniu w świetle inwentarza pośmiertnego z 1689 roku

Author(s): Wacław Gojniczek / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2016

The analysis presented in the following article concentrates on the written on August 2, 1689 posthumous inventory of a minor nobleman Jan Tschammer, Sr. from Dolny Ustroń in the Duchy of Cieszyn. Posthumous inventories are the primary source for studies on everyday life and allow researchers to conduct this type of research for the Upper Silesia region at least to the second half of the sixteenth century. Furthermore, they also provide valuable information on the mansions of both great and minor noblemen. The use of a greater number of posthumous inventories of the Upper Silesian nobility will significantly improve the knowledge of aristocratic residences in Upper Silesia. Moreover, it will also give the opportunity to a broader and more precise assessment of possessions of the nobility. This fact is best illustrated by an example of a little-known nobleman’s house in the Lower Ustroń. The preserved source in a fairly precise way allows for the reconstruction of its exterior and interior, including furniture and other utensils, farm, sown grain, crops and livestock, as well as the family archive and austere library.

Occupation as Social Practice and Ambiguous Space: The Lives of Ludwik Hirszfeld and Jan Czochralski in Warsaw, 1939–44

Occupation as Social Practice and Ambiguous Space: The Lives of Ludwik Hirszfeld and Jan Czochralski in Warsaw, 1939–44

Author(s): Katrin Steffen / Language(s): English / Issue: 125/2022

Keywords: Ludwik Hirszfeld; Jan Czochralski; Eigensinn; Nazi occupation 1939–45; Warsaw Ghetto; clandestine teaching;

This article evaluates the situation of two renowned scientists in Poland, namely the microbiologist and serologist Ludwik Hirszfeld (1884–1954), and the metallurgist Jan Czochralski (1885–1953), during the time of the German occupation from 1939–45. Both scientists strove to continue their scientific work even under the conditions of occupation but faced substantially different treatment by the occupiers: Hirszfeld was forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto, while Czochralski was allowed to stay in his home and work at the former Technical University of Warsaw. The article takes a comparative approach and will analyse the life situation of both scientists. This means looking at the limits of action for both scientists on one side, and on the other, at the room for manoeuvre, which, under the conditions of a brutal occupation, either emerged for the two of them or they actively created.

SHRINES OF THE DOMUS IN THE QUARTER OF ST. THEODORE IN PULA

SHRINES OF THE DOMUS IN THE QUARTER OF ST. THEODORE IN PULA

Author(s): Alka Starac / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2022

Keywords: Dionysius; domus shrine, niche; Pula; Salus;

In the quarter of St. Theodore in Pula, next to the public thermae and Hercules' sanctuary, in 2005, most part of the luxurious domus was excavated. The domus was inhabited from the third quarter of the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD, with one major restoration after the fire in the beginning of the 2nd century AD. Architectonic cult indicators are a threshold mosaic with Dionysian motifs of kantharos and wine, niches in the walls and elements of marble architectural decoration of cult spaces, a capital and an architrave. A total of six niches were discovered, one with a white and black mosaic depicting a shell, an altar and containing a dedication to the goddess of Salus. Small finds are represented by various objects used in rituals or objects symbolizing the divine presence. Fragments of the censer with letter-shaped openings, fragments of a large calcite alabaster crater, a clay vessel fragment with a theatrical mask in relief, clay lamps with figures of Minerva and Medusa were found in the triclinium. The finds of Corinthian drinking cups decorated with Dionysian scenes come from other rooms, and from the drainage channel comes a bronze medallion with the Medusa head probably belonging to a carriage. The findings from the domus confirm the presence of cults in every aspect of everyday life. A peculiar niche dedicated to Salus is associated with the neighbouring public thermae and the sanctuary of Hercules built at the sacred spring.

MEASURES AGAINST THE PLAGUE AND OTHER CONTAGIOUS DISEASES IN SERBIA IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

MEASURES AGAINST THE PLAGUE AND OTHER CONTAGIOUS DISEASES IN SERBIA IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

Author(s): Zoran S. Mirković / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2022

Keywords: Principality of Serbia; Plague; Cordon sanitaire; Ottoman Empire; Austrian regulations.

The paper provides an introduction covering the absence of measures against the plague and other contagious diseases in the Ottoman Empire, the measures practiced in the Austrian Empire, the terminology used for measures against the spreading of the disease in the Serbian language, etc. This is followed by a section that covers the plague during the First Serbian Uprising and the remembrance of its disastrous consequences. The central part of the paper focuses on the measures against cholera and the plague taken by the Principality of Serbia, starting the 1830s. Regulations modeled after the Austrian counterparts passed in 1839 and 1841, establishing a cordon sanitaire toward the Ottoman Empire.

Kitchen without the debate: The Yugoslav exhibition of consumer goods in Moscow, 1960

Kitchen without the debate: The Yugoslav exhibition of consumer goods in Moscow, 1960

Author(s): Marko Miljković / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2022

Keywords: Yugoslav-Soviet relations; exhibition; propaganda; soft power; consumer goods

The Yugoslav exhibition of consumer goods in Moscow was the first of its kind organized by Yugoslavia in a communist country. It opened its door to the public on May 25, 1960, amidst the super-heated international political environment after the American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Following the colossal propaganda success of the 1959 U.S. National Exhibition in Moscow, the Yugoslavs managed to deliver yet another propaganda blow to the Soviet prestige, showcasing that even socialism outside the Soviet bloc and in close collaboration with the United States was not only possible but also better.

Purim Gifts from Russian Neighbors: Prewar Identity Formation and Wartime Survival among Young Jews from Soviet Vitebsk

Purim Gifts from Russian Neighbors: Prewar Identity Formation and Wartime Survival among Young Jews from Soviet Vitebsk

Author(s): Jeffrey Koerber / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2023

Keywords: Vitebsk; korenizatsiia; Soviet Union; Holocaust; Soviet Jews;

Life under Stalinism in the 1930s challenged Jews, particularly the young, with innumerable compromises to their religious and ethnic identity, yielding unexpected responses during World War II and the Holocaust. This article analyzes how Jewish youth raised in 1930s Vitebsk in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic acquired firsthand knowledge of the language and customs of their Slavic neighbors, and how some of this cohort harnessed their experiences and understanding in their attempts to survive during the Holocaust. Bolshevik policies unique to Soviet Belarus affected its Jews in ways distinct from their counterparts elsewhere in the Soviet Union. Nationalities and religious policies as well as the Five-Year Plans and the Great Terror served as the context for this situation, shaping and distorting transmission of Jewish traditions along with changing the dynamics of the family and social relationships. Young Jews in Vitebsk learned Slavic languages and culture from their neighbors, in Soviet schools, and through other means. After the German invasion in 1941, the application of these skills and knowledge are a common thread through the survival narratives of young Holocaust survivors from Soviet Vitebsk.

Five Lives of a Holocaust Survivor: On Shifting Identities, the Search for Belonging, and Building Meaning

Five Lives of a Holocaust Survivor: On Shifting Identities, the Search for Belonging, and Building Meaning

Author(s): Diana Dumitru / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2023

Keywords: Holocaust survivor; life story; emigration; identity; memory;

This article examines the life story of Felicia Carmelly, a Holocaust survivor from southern Bukovina, and follows her geographic and demographic journey from Dorna to the deadly camps of Transnistria, to postwar Romania and Israel, and finally to contemporary Canada. By close reading of her two oral interviews and her later memoirs, it reconstructs a particular biography shaped by the violent uprooting of Felicia and her family from the places she called home and discusses multiple shifts in her identity and a changing sense of belonging. Her life offers us a window into the broader questions about Jewish survivors and migrants after World War II, the inherent contradictions surrounding the evolution of modern Jewish identities, and the (non)negotiable boundaries of individuals in various circumstances.

Cities' urban resilience in the face of urban sprawl challenges

Cities' urban resilience in the face of urban sprawl challenges

Author(s): Amer Shakir Alkinani,Zahraa Imad Hussain Al-Hussaini,Marwah Muwafaq Kadhim Alzaidi / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2022

Keywords: flexibility; disaster; risk; agriculture land use; urban sprawl

Motives: The research deals with the issue of urban sprawl on agricultural lands. It is an urban problem caused by rapid urbanization and poor planning. It is considered one problem that threatens cities with environmental and health disasters. It also threatens agricultural life and the green belt surrounding cities. Changes in urban sprawl on agricultural land are associated with complex processes that lead to multiple social, economic, political, and environmental risks and thus pose a threat and an obstacle to the sustainability of cities.Aim: The research aims to study and evaluate the reality of the city of Baghdad and the extent of its ability and flexibility to withstand the disaster of urban sprawl on agricultural lands. The research also the aim of this research to identify the gaps and the reasons that led to this disaster and reach solutions that may reduce this phenomenon that burdens the economy and the Iraqi people who suffer from difficult economic conditions. In addition to raising awareness about the effects of urban sprawl on agricultural lands and the environment, clarifying the role of participation and the limits of responsibility that can be entrusted to government and academic agencies at all levels, individually or collectively, to participate and find solutions to the risk of extensive urban sprawl.Results: In assessing the reality of the study area, the research relied on the city resilience scorecard, which the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and with the support of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European Commission. Field surveys and the opinions of specialists were relied upon to study the reality of the city of Baghdad to determine the extent to which it was affected by the disaster of encroachment on agricultural lands. There are gaps between planning and contemporary challenges among the most important research findings. Planning is increasingly decoupled from the contemporary urban challenges associated with rapid urbanization. The results of the practical study showed that the division of land uses in the city of Baghdad is not deep and incomplete. Also, it is not regularly reviewed according to the map of the expected risks, including the state of urban sprawl on agricultural lands in the city. Consequently, the city’s inability to withstand the disaster resulting from urban sprawl and the problems that result from it in the environmental, health, or social aspects. Based on the results, the research reached a set of recommendations, including the need for continuous updating to detect urban sprawl on agricultural lands. This is done using the latest remote sensing data and taking quick precautions against these expansions, in addition to the importance of updating building controls and standards regularly (or periodically) to take the changing data and evidence about risks to enhance the city of Baghdad’s ability to withstand the disaster of the decline of agricultural lands.