Courtyard neighborhood

[1] The inward-facing and defensible traditional urban housing of the Near East, ordinarily occupied by an extended family, was adapted in these cases to serve a close-knit but genealogically unrelated community.

The courtyard typically holds a neighborhood cistern.

Such neighborhoods reflected the residents' communal organization.

Typically, the apartments surrounding the courtyard were small (usually a studio apartment for each family), pushing many household tasks into the courtyard.

In Tel Aviv the classic example is the neighborhood of Neve Tzedek.