Abstract
International audience [Whether Najaf (Iraq) is an emerging world city may seem surprising. First, this holy city remains little known outside of this branch of Islam that is Shia. Then, after decades of closure stress on the geopolitical choice of Saddam Hussein, it fails to be able to deploy or redeploy its international attractiveness of holy in the mid-2000s city. In addition, the criteria that lead to designate a world city urban area are mainly based on strong economic incentives not characterized Najaf and often ignore the religious dimension. However, the changing geopolitical context of Najaf, coupled with the globalization of migration and various economic initiatives, make the query based.]