The Evolving Arab City
The Evolving Arab City is an excellent addition to the existing literature on Arab cities. It is an engaging read and invaluable for those who seek a deeper understanding of the massive urban transformations occurring in Arab cities in recent decades. As with Elsheshtawy’s previous edited collection, The Evolving Arab City is a substantial and accessible contribution to the scholarship on contemporary Arab cities and provides fascinating critical insight into a dynamic and rapidly-changing region.
Sarah Moser, Cities
This outstanding collection, written by sophisticated and engaged Arab architects/urbanists, is a stunning sequel to Planning Middle Eastern Cities (2004, 2010) Like its predecessor, it does three things: effectively demolishes the monopoly ‘orientalists’ had over the topic; integrates grounded Arab scholarship with mainstream ‘western’ critical urban theory; and, by detailing the diverse ways Arab cities are responding to globalization, challenges oversimplified debates on ‘The Global City’.
A must read!
Janet Abu-Lughod, Professor Emerita, Northwestern University and The Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research
Yasser Elsheshtawy is Associate Professor of Architecture at the United Arab Emirates University.
Contents
1. Introduction: The Great Divide: Struggling and Emerging Cities of the Arab World
Yasser Elsheshtawy
2. Prologue: The New Arab Metropolis
Fuad Malkawi
Part I: The Struggling Arab City
3. Amman: Disguised Genealogy, Recent Urban Restructuring and Neo-liberal Threats
Rami Farouk Daher
4. From Regional Node to Backwater and Back to Uncertainty: The Refashioning of Beirut, 1943–2006
Sofia Shwayri
5. Rabat: From Capital to Global Metropolis
Jamila Bargach
Part II: The Emerging Arab City
6. Riyadh: A City of ‘Institutional’ Architecture
Mashary A. Al-Naim
7. Kuwait: Learning from a Globalized City
Yasser Mahgoub
8. Manama: The Metamorphosis of a Gulf City
Mustapha Ben Hamouche
9. Rediscovering the Island: Doha’s Urbanity from Pearls to Spectacle
Khaled Adham
10. Cities of Sand and Fog: Abu Dhabi’s Arrival on the Global Scene
Yasser Elsheshtawy
