The urban residences were more suited to the Muslim sense of intimacy than rural ones. With their open, porticoed courtyards furnished with a pool or a well, the family had space to gather and spend time together. The courtyard was surrounded by living rooms and sleeping annexes, the kitchen and the latrines, the latter of which would have been placed directly over cesspools or, more commonly, equipped with pipes to carry waste to cesspools in the street.