Plurality of hubs and emerging place typologies in Gulf cities

Rulers of Gulf countries have developed a strong interest in establishing and promoting new visions of their capital and major cities over the past few decades. In particular, the new vision to establish hubs in various economic sectors including trade, transit and tourism as well as culture and education have instigated a variety of mega projects and subsequently a diversity of place typologies. This paper explores newly emerging places and their networks rooted in distinctive hub visions, which have resulted in globalised urban spaces as nodal points within international networks

Perceiving urban liveability in an emerging migrant city

Gulf cities have witnessed rapid urban growth where new migrant communities from various cultural backgrounds have been evolving over the last two decades. This paper explores perceptions of liveable urban environments in Qatar's capital city, Doha. An attitude survey of 280 migrant professionals from different cultural backgrounds engaged in the high service sector was conducted. A profile for each cultural group including westerners, middle easterners, Indians and Southeast Asians was developed to analyse the way in which the key liveability factors are perceived. Factors were classified into two overarching categories: urban life and urban spaces. Urban life category included aspects that pertain to traffic and movement experience, residential satisfaction, shopping experience, and satisfaction regarding leisure and service spaces. Urban space category included attractiveness, iconicity and familiarity, which were attitudinally explored in four public open spaces. The inquiry has uncovered a number of concerns related to traffic experience, housing quality, parking spaces, school facilities and shopping opportunities. This may stymie the city's global attractiveness success on the global stage while warranting the need for addressing liveability as a part of future development plans

Socio-spatial practice of migrant communities in Doha's traditional core : the case of Al Asmakh district

This paper is based on an extensive research undertaken at Qatar University in 2014 with the aim of exploring the social-spatial practice of migrant communities in Doha’s traditional core. Since new development strategies have been initiated in Gulf cities, the old historic centres have faced a rapid transformation process. Today, large scale investments in new developments in Doha’s traditional centre have led to a new challenge to prevent the complete social restructuring and the move of all residing migrant communities, particularly those who have settled in Doha for generations, from the centre to other newly urbanized areas. While large-scale projects, such as Msheireb regeneration and redevelopment, have led to the replacement of an entire district, there have been fragmented development initiatives to gradually upgrade existing urban structures in central areas. The district of the Al Asmakh is one of the most important examples that manifest the current conflict to mediate between rising investment pressures and preserving the local identity including the particular urban life and spatial economic settings, which have evolved over several decades. The paper presents new research outcomes with respect to the lived urban spaces of the Al Asmakh in order to illustrate the potential loss of very distinctive neighbourhoods and to introduce particular characteristics of urban spaces and the way migrant communities appropriate them. The socio-spatial practice of these communities is explored to identify their impact on contemporary urban spaces as well as the future challenges of providing efficient urban environments for social groups with limited purchasing power. Methodologically, as part of a learning experiment undertaken at Qatar University, structured field surveys, environmental systematic observations as well as behavioural mapping are adopted as important approaches to investigation. While the investigation reveals interesting dynamics between migrant communities and their environments, it also postulate that city residents have capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness in spite of a domineering and hampering context. The paper concludes with projections of how contemporary transformation processes in Gulf cities will have to be based on social inclusion and the recognition that migrant communities need to have access to develop their own settings that relate to their needs and routine spatial practices while securing the economic basis of many migrants and providing better living standards for all communities. The initiation of holistic and integrated development strategies is of high significance for both the preservation of historic districts in order to secure the roots of Doha as well as for migrant communities, who are facing the potential loss of their businesses and familiar surroundings

The everyday urban environment of migrant labourers in Gulf Cities: the case of the old centre of Doha, Qatar

© 2017, The Author(s). Preventing the complete social restructuring and the relocation of migrant communities from traditional cores in Gulf cities to newly urbanized areas is a rising urban and social challenge. The Al Asmakh district in the old centre of Doha is an important example that manifests the current encounter between rising investment pressures and preserving the local identity including the particular urban life and spatial settings that have evolved over several decades. This paper presents key research findings with respect to the lived urban spaces of the Al Asmakh in order to exemplify the potential loss of very distinctive neighbourhoods and to introduce particular characteristics of urban spaces and the way migrant communities appropriate them. As part of a learning experiment undertaken at Qatar University in 2014, structured field surveys, systematic observations as well as behavioural mapping techniques were adopted as important approaches to investigation. The outcomes reveal stimulating dynamics between migrant communities and their environments. It also postulates that city residents have the capacity to recover swiftly from difficulties and resilience in spite of an impeding and hampering context. The paper concludes with projections of how contemporary transformation processes in Gulf cities will have to be based on diversity and social inclusion. Such a transformation should stem from the recognition that migrant communities need to have access to develop their own settings that relate to their routine spatial practices while securing the economic basis of many migrant labourers

The role of mega projects in redefining housing development in Gulf cities

Since the end of the 1990s large scale mega projects have been initiated in Gulf cities to enable an unprecedented urban growth and the expansion of new economic sectors. In this respect, mega projects have played a key role in redefining housing developments in Gulf cities. This paper explores the newly emerging housing typologies and their distinctive roles in defining new urban environments. The selected case studies are located in the Jumeirah District in Dubai, which can be seen as the first prototype of a large cohesive development area that has been built of nine rather differing mega projects including the iconic Palm project and one of the largest residential high-rise agglomerations in the Middle East. The paper is based on the evaluation of official planning data from each project and field observations. Conclusions are drawn to highlight key implications while identifying housing development tendencies

Migrant Knowledge Workers’ Perceptions of Housing Conditions in Gulf Cities

© 2017, The Author(s). The various efforts in diversifying local economies in most Gulf States led to the emergence of new medium to high-income groups of migrant knowledge workers whose efforts are required to develop various new economic sectors. This paper aims to investigate the current housing conditions and perceptions of these migrant communities to identify key similarities and differences with respect to housing made available to them and depending on their cultural background. To this end, the methodology involves field surveys to explore the three main housing typologies for higher-income groups and a questionnaire with a total of 258 knowledge workers in the city of Doha as a representative case to investigate the associated perceptions of four dominant groups from different cultural backgrounds. The findings reveal that there is a distinct social segregation between cultural groups, which is mainly rooted in varying income levels. Furthermore, the supply-driven market has hardly integrated cultural needs of migrants and thus diversified and inclusive housing has been identified as major planning and design challenge

Knowledge economy as an initiator of sustainable urbanism in emerging metropolises : the case of Doha, Qatar

This paper is a comprehensive coverage of a research project of the National Priority Research Program of the Qatar National Research Fund, entitled ‘Investigating the Qualities of the Urban Environment in Emerging Regional Metropolises’, and carried out between 2011 and 2014 through the joint collaboration of Qatar University and Technische Universität München. Through the shift of global economic forces Gulf cities, such as Qatar’s capital Doha, are developed as central hubs between developed economies in the West and the rising economies of Asia. In the context of international competition between cities new challenges are emerging where cities need to find ways to sustain and extend their position in a globalizing world. Therefore the research process placed emphasis on the complex interrelationship of knowledge economies and spatial developments in the Gulf region. The work is premised on the assumption that non-physical economic aspects and the qualities of the urban environment are interdependent. It analyses the qualities of the urban environment of Doha as an important regional metropolis through a comprehensive investigation utilizing a set of interdisciplinary research methods that include analysis of historic documents, Delphi interview series, company network analysis, GIS analysis, cognitive mapping, behavioural studies, media surveys, attitude surveys, and space syntax analysis. The outcomes promise important results regarding urban qualities in the city of Doha culminating into various recommendations aimed at potential beneficiaries including public sector organizations, private sector and real estate development companies, and academia

Dynamics of populations and the everyday urban environment in the emerging city of Doha

The current fast track urban growth is an important characteristic of the emerging city of Doha. Such a growth is marked by intensive infrastructure projects, high rise clusters of glass towers, new cultural facilities and art museums, emerging residential environments on the periphery of the city, as well as hall mark events. However, very few studies have addressed several important growth aspects, including the examination of the way in which the inhabitants comprehend and react to their built environment and the resulting spatial experience. This paper examines the inhabitants' spatial experience in key urban open spaces in the city by applying cognitive and behavioural mapping procedures coupled with an attitude survey. Applying the cognitive mapping technique, 108 responses were received, analysed, and classified under three categories a) living, working, and visiting patterns; b) comprehension of home range, home zone, and movement; and c) ethnic affiliation: Qataris and other Arab expatriates. Implementing direct systematic observation and behavioural mapping of key urban open spaces reveals important outcomes that include absence of physical aspects amenable for effective use while offering a pleasant experience for visitors. The findings contribute to an in-depth understanding of the inhabitants' spatial experience of the everyday urban environment of Doha. A conclusion is established to emphasise that by developing knowledge generated from research findings that are derived from the direct experience of inhabitants, the various aspects of how certain areas work within the urban structure of the city can be elucidated, while seeking means for improving the qualities of the everyday urban environment

A chronological exploration of the evolution of housing typologies in Gulf cities

This paper traces the evolution of housing typologies in four major cities in the Gulf region, namely Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Manama. The study reviews the formation and historical events in the region, which had a significant impact on new social as well as economic realities and consequently evolving housing types during the last two centuries. The methodological approach is based on reviewing a number of case studies representing local housing typologies throughout distinctive historic periods which were categorized in four periods: the post-nomadic, traditional, modern, and contemporary. The main objective is to identify the process of transformation by applying a comparative assessment of the different periods in order to examine continuities or ruptures between them. Thus, particular layout elements were analysed and compared. Conclusions are drawn to underline contemporary challenges while offering projections for future housing typologies in the selected cities and other similar ones

Fragmentation and continuity in Qatar's urbanism : towards a hub vision

In the past two decades Doha has witnessed enormous urban growth driven by various projects and strategies, which were launched to realise the vision of a hub city within international networks. Successively, the increasing investments in combination with liberalisation strategies have affected the decentralisation of urban governance, while dramatically transforming Doha’s urban structure and built environment. This chapter explores the recent developments in Qatar’s “urbanism”. The impact of large-scale investments of oil and gas revenues on urbanism in Qatar’s capital city of Doha is discussed to offer insights into recent developments by adopting a multi-layered methodological approach that includes two major components. The first is a series of interviews with experts and planners working on strategies and plans within the public sector, while the second is a review of recently published data and figures regarding investments in relation to positioning Doha as future “hub city”. The methodology helps identify investment strategies and aspects of decentralised urban governance within which urban development is undertaken. The chapter concludes with a brief on how a new form of urban governance may enable the effective implementation of a hub vision in the case of Qatar