Isfahan is a desert city in the middle of the Iranian plateau, next to the Zāyandeh Rūd. The paper demonstrates how the planners of Isfahan during the Safavid era were able to inhabit its plain despite the limitations of this desert landscape, such as lack of water, especially during warm seasons, extreme water fluctuation of the river, and poor soil conditions. Through īstīnbāt, or the gradual nurturing of its inherent geological and ecological contingencies and the entanglement of soil, water, and air, as well as the infrastructure and architecture of locks, underground dams, pigeon towers, and gardens, they were able to activate the "latent potentialities" of this plain.@en