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ViewpointsSpecial Edition

Architecture and Urbanism

in the Middle EastThe Middle East Institute


2/842 e Middle East Institute Viewpoints: Architecture and Urbanism in the Middle East www.mideasti.org

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Cover photos, clockwise rom the top lef hand corner: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Imre Solt; GFDL); ripoli, Libya(Patrick Andr Perron GFDL); Burj al Arab Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Al Faisaliyah ower in Riyadh, Saudi

Arabia; Doha, Qatar skyline (Abdulrahman photo); Selimiye Mosque, Edirne, Turkey (Murdjo photo); Registan, SamarkandUbekistan (Steve Evans photo).

Middle East Institute


3/843e Middle East Institute Viewpoints: Architecture and Urbanism in the Middle East www.mideasti.org

ViewpointsSpecial Edition

Architecture and Urbanism

in the Middle East



Architecture and Urbanismin the Middle East

A Special Edition o Viewpoints

Introduction 6

Essays

Labyrinth: Moroccan Medinas,by Simon OMeara 7

ourism and Preservation in Colonial North Arica,by Brian McLaren 10

Cairos Plurality o Architectural rends and the Continuous Search or Identity,by Ashraf M. Salama 13

Egypt: Modernity and Identity,by Nasser Rabbat 16

Jerusalem Architecture: Old Is Bitter, New Is Ugly,by Annabel Jane Wharton 19

Global Capital, Urban Regeneration, and Heritage Conservation in the Levant,by Rami Daher 22

Te Contemporary Built Environment in the Arab Middle East,by Mohammad al-Asad 25

Conservatism versus Modernism: Hesitant Urban Identity in Saudi Arabia,by Mashary A. Al-Naim 28

Old Heritage, New Heritage: Building in Sanaa, Yemen,by Michele Lamprakos 33

all Identity...Lost Sustainability,by Yasser Mahgoub and Anas Al-Omaim 37

Doha: Between Making an Instant City and Skirmishing Globalization,by Ashraf M. Salama 41



Te Reconstruction o Abu Dhabis Central Market,by Yasser Elsheshtawy 45

Dubai: Selling a Past to Finance the Future?,by Kevin Mitchell 49

Modernizing and De-Modernizing: Notes on ehran,by Mina Mareat 52

Bam: Rebuilding a Historic City,by Mina Mareat 57

From the op Down: Aerial and Satellite Views of the Middle EastsBuilt Environment

angier, 2001 62

Algiers, 1996 63

Cairo, 2000 64

Jerusalem, 1999 65

Beirut, 2000 66

Amman, 1999 67Damascus, 2000 68

Kuwait City, 2001 69

ehran, 1998 70

Dubai, 1973 and 2006 71

Kabul, 2001 72

Te Gul at Night, 1992-2003 73

Selected Bibliography 74



MEIs special edition o Viewpointson Architecture and Urbanism in the Middle East is an opportunity to cel-

ebrate the beauty, diversity, and vitality o the built environment o the region. It is also an opportunity to consider the

challenges acing architects, designers, and developers in their efforts not only to preserve the rich cultural heritage o

Middle Eastern cities but to shape these urban spaces in ways that address the physical and socioeconomic pressures

occurring within them.

Indeed, as the contributors to this volume demonstrate, the Middle Easts built environment is at an important junc-

ture. Tere are major choices to be made i the regions urban development is to meet the needs and expectations o its

peoples. Te 15 essays comprising this volume are snapshots o the built environment arcing rom the Maghreb through

the Levant to the Gul.

aken together, the essays suggest the need or a new paradigm o designing Middle Eastern urban spaces or sustain-

ability comprehensive in that it encompasses all physical components o human settlements such as buildings, streets

public spaces, and inrastructure; balanced in that it supports physical and economic growth while accommodating the

traditional and cultural needs o the local community; responsive in that it protects and enhances the health, saety, and

general wellbeing o inhabitants; and innovative in that it incorporates new technologies into designs so as to reduce

the stress on the natural environment.

Introduction



Labyrinth: Moroccan Medinas

Simon OMeara

Simon OMeara is Assistant

Proessor o History o Art

at the American University

of Kuwait. He researches

the sociological dimensions

o Islamic art and architec-

ture, with a regional focus

on North Africa.

By anyones estimation, the medinas o Morocco are singular. Much is uncommonabout these gated and walled premodern cities that today orm just one part o a numbero Moroccan municipalities (e.g., Fez, Marrakech, etouan, and angiers). And much is

evocative about the word medina itsel, connoting, or example, o blind walls, hidden

lives, and orbidding, twisting passageways. Nevertheless, it is important to understand

that these medinas are the ruition o a long experiment in Arab-Muslim urban design

that has its roots in the pre-Islamic past and its decline in modernity. 1In other words,

or all their apparent inscrutability and potent connotations o traditional Muslim lie,

these medinas are neither timeless nor an immutable expression o Arab-Muslim, in-

cluding Moroccan, civilization.

Te duration and number o mor-

phologies in this urban experiment is

debatable, but not the act that todays

medinas belong to the final stage. For

the urban historian Andr Raymond,

this culminating morphology dates to

approximately 1500-1800 and is best

reerred to as la ville traditionelle,the traditional city, as opposed to la ville classique, the classical city, the stage that

preceded it.2Following another historians chronological model, this earlier stage dates

to the beginning o the 11thcentury,3when it in turn was preceded by another, slightly

1. Key articles in English on this subject include Hugh Kennedy, From Polis to Madina:Urban Change in Late Antique and Early Islamic Syria, Past and Present,Vol. 106 (1985),pp. 3-27; Jere Bacharach, Administrative Complexes, Palaces and Citadels: Changes in theLoci o Medieval Muslim Rule, in Irene Bierman et al.,eds., Te Ottoman City and its Parts:Urban Structure and Social Order(Rochelle: Caratzas, 1991), pp. 111-28; Donald Whitcomb,An Urban Structure or the Early Islamic City: An Archaeological Hypothesis, in Amira K.

Bennison and Alison L. Gascoigne, eds., Cities in the Pre-Modern Islamic World: Te UrbanImpact of Religion, State and Society(London: Routledge, 2007), pp. 15-26.2. Andr Raymond, Arab Cities in the Ottoman Period: Cairo, Syria and the Maghreb(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), p. 35.3. Jean-Claude Garcin, Le moment islamique (VIIe-XVIIIesicles) [Te Islamic Moment(7th-18thCenturies)], in Claude Nicolet et al., eds.,Mgapoles mditerranennes: Gographieurbaine rtrospective. Actes du colloque organis par lcole franaise de Rome et la Maisonmditerranenne des sciences de lhomme (Rome, 8-11 mai 1996)[Mediterranean Megacities:Retrospective Urban Geography. Minutes from the Colloquim Organied by the French Schoolo Rome and the Mediterranean House o the Sciences o Man (Rome, May 8-11, 1996)](Paris/Rome: Maisonneuve et Larose/cole ranaise de Rome, 2000), p. 99.

Figure 1: Fez, Ras Aluyun neighborhood



OMeara...

different morphology, and so orth.

Space prevents the enumeration o each stages defining characteris-

tics (supposing this even could be done ully, given the incomplete

evidence or the pre-traditional stages), but with reerence to Moroc

can history it seems clear that the earliest phase was rudimentary

ortified townships built by the warring Idrisid dynasty (789-949) in

their efforts to colonize and Islamicize the western Maghrib.4And

although all subsequent stages were complicit to some degree in this

hegemonic program, what we find today in a traditional medina such

as those in Fez and Marrakech is evidently a ar cry rom these basic, essentially militarist beginnings with at least

one important exception. At the heart o each stage stood or still stands a Friday mosque (jami), also known as the

cathedral mosque. In other words, the centripetal organization o the traditional Moroccan medina, whereby botheconomic activities and domestic residences were, broadly speaking, arranged in ascending order o religious and mon-

etary value respectively, rom periphery to center, likely has been ollowed rom the start.5Certainly, with regard to the

orthodox doctrines o Islam current at any one period, as one headed inside a medina o whatever stage, so one headed

towards a moral center, i not themoral (and also economic) center.

Tis sense o journeying towards something o exalted value allows

me to venture the ollowing: It might prove productive or compara-

tive scholarship6to revive inormally the notion o the traditional Mo-

roccan medina as a labyrinth (as stated above, we cannot be certain

o the earlier stages streetscapes), provided we do not simultaneously

revive the pejorative connotations o disorder, irrationality, and civic

incompetence which the notion requently had in Orientalist litera-

ture.7Guillermo del oro, the director o the 2006 film Pans Labyrinth,

expresses well much o the meaning I intend here by the word: [A] labyrinth is essentially a place o transit, an ethical

moral transit to one inevitable centre.8Missing only rom this definition is the act that once at this center, transit com-

4. For a clear exposition o this period in Moroccan history, see Michael Brett, Te Islamisation o Morocco: From the Arabs

to the Almoravids,Morocco: Journal o the Society or Moroccan Studies, No. 2 (1992), pp. 60-1.5. For urther discussion o the traditional medinas centripetal structure, what Andr Raymond calls radio-concentricity, seeAndr Raymond, Urban Lie and Middle Eastern Cities: Te raditional Arab City, in Yousse M. Choueiri, ed.,A Companionto the History o the Middle East(Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2005), pp. 214-17.6. As outlined, or example, in Lindsay Jones, e Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture: Experience, Interpretation, ComparisonVol. 2: A Morphology of Ritual-Architectural Priorities (Cambridge: Harvard CSWR, 2000).7. Te notion also holds true or a number o non-Moroccan, traditional medinas. See, or example, Roberto Berardi, TeSpatial Organization o unis Medina and other Arab-Muslim Cities in North Arica and the Near East, in Salma K. Jayyuset al., eds., Te City in the Islamic World, 2 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 2008), pp. 1, 282, and 292-3.8. Cited in Mark Kermode, Girl Interrupted,Sight & Sound 12 (December 2006), http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/eature/49337/. For a different usage o the term, see the authors Space and Muslim Urban Lie: At the Limits o the Labyrinth

Figure 2: Fez, Ras Aluyun neighborhood

Figure 3: Fez, Oued Chorfa neighborhood



OMeara...

mences anew: a return exit or a departure or a new center, one im-

material and spiritual, apparent solely rom where the traveller now

stands. []he labyrinth, writes the historian o religion Philippe

Borgeaud, is both the path which leads toward a center, toward a new

mode o existence, and the enchanted artifice which prevents any exit

i one has not taken care to leave path marks ... When he comes to

the end o his quest the pilgrim sees the desired center transormed

into a conusion which conceals rom him the new center toward

which he must now direct himsel, retracing his steps. Te labyrinth always has two centers: where one is and where one

desires to be. ... o emerge rom the labyrinth is equivalent to entering a new labyrinth. Te labyrinth itsel is the place

o its own passage.9

Te architecture o much o the traditional Moroccan medinas streetscape enhances this illusion o perpetual transit.Better illustrated than described, this phenomenon is shown below in photographs o the medinas o Fez and Marrakech

Essentially, the impression is that as you walk through the medina, primarily via the secondary and tertiary routes that

weave in and out o the residential quarters, your gaze is drawn ahead to the sky-lit breaks in the walls and ceilings enclos-

ing your passage. But as you reach any one o these openings, its quality as a one-time ocal point o your path disappears

and another near-distant opening draws your gaze again. As in an ever-receding desert, your arrival seems deerred.

o Fez(London: Routledge, 2007).9. Philippe Borgeaud, Te Open Entrance to the Closed Palace o the King: Te Greek Labyrinth in Context, History oReligions, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1974), p. 23.

Figure 4: Fez, Bab Jedid



ourism and Preservation in Colonial North Arica

Brian McLaren

Brian L. McLaren is an

Associate Proessor in the

Department o Architec-

ture at the University o

Washington, where he

teaches architectural his-

tory, theory, and design.

he tourist development o North Arica during the period o colonization is one othe most interesting and least examined influences on the architecture and urbanismo the region. Seeking to create a well-organized and efficient tourist system, French

and Italian colonial authorities made a considerable investment in the preservation o

the Islamic architectural heritage a building tradition that was the most important

attraction or oreign tourists. In visiting the region today, many significant historical

sites as well as much o the tourist inrastructure rom the colonial period reflects the

contemporary European attitudes towards Islamic architecture and urbanism. Accord-

ing to this view, the Islamic heritage o North Arica was seen as inerior to and deriva-

tive o Western building traditions.

European colonization was, however, not the

first external influence on the architecture and

urbanism o North Arica, which had or many

centuries been a place o international trade

and exchange. Islamic North Arica was un-

der the control o the Ottoman Empire, whose

presence in the region dates back to 1519.

Te nature and extent o oreign interventionchanged decisively with the French invasion o

Algeria in 1830, which was ollowed by Frances

colonization o unisia in 1881 and Morocco

in 1910. Afer the Italian invasion o Libya in

1911, the region reached a new phase in which

all o its territories were treated as being under

European economic organization and politi-

cal values. In part due to the importance o an

emerging tourist system to the local economies o these colonies, the preservation o

local culture began to be an important consideration in the regions architecture and

urban planning.

In the French colonies o Algeria, unisia, and Morocco, the private steamship com-

pany, the Compagnie Gnrale Transatlantique(CGI), created a coordinated network

o transportation services as early as 1918. Tis modern tourist system grew rapidly

through the creation o a network o accommodations linked by scheduled bus and

Figure 1: Map of Tourist system in Algeria, Tu-

nisia, and Morocco, from North African Motor

Tours of the Compagnie Gnrale Transatlan-

tique(London: Hill, Siffken & Co., 1928).



McLaren...

auto transportation. By 1928 this system included 43 hotels and 19 automobile

itineraries that covered some 25,000 kilometers. Te result was a continuous net-

work o travel under the direction o the CGI that connected Bordeaux and Mar

seilles with major centers like Marrakech, Casablanca, angier, Algiers, and unis

as well as more remote locations like the oases o imimoun and Ghardaia in the

Algerian Sahara. Te publicity material that advertised this system speaks o a

unique chain o modern hotels that allowed or travel into the interior o Algeria

unisia, and Morocco.

A similar though later development took place in the Italian colony o Libya, whose

earliest tourist improvements began under the direction o Governor Giuseppe

Volpi (1921-25). Tis progress culminated during the Governorship o Italo Bal-

bo (1934-40) with the oundation o the Ente turistico ed alberghiero della Libia(EAL) in May o 1935. As a state-sponsored corporation, this group provided the

services o a travel agency, acted as tour operator, managed a network o hotels, and

supervised a group o entertainment acili-

ties that included a theater and casino. By the end o the 1930s, the tourist system

o the EAL was comprised o a network o 18 hotels located throughout Libya,

as well as numerous affiliated entertainment and tourist acilities in ripoli and

Benghazi and several travel offices in Italy and Libya. Te combination o activi-

ties and resources not only allowed the EAL to provide an inclusive package o

services or a tourist audience, but also enabled it to provide a tourist experience

that extended the comorts o European

travel to the colonial context.

Despite the importance o tourism in

North Arica being connected to an e-

ficient and modern system o travel and

accommodation, the tourist experience

o the native culture was the prime mo-tivation or travel. It was largely in support o this experience that the colonia

authorities in the French and Italian colonies put considerable effort into a sys-

tematic study o the local culture. Not only were numerous books published

on this material, but additionally many indigenous buildings were preserved

Te results o such preservation programs include the Dar Adiyel Palace in Fez

Morocco and the Qaramanli Mosque in ripoli, Libya both o which were sig-

nificant historical buildings that became an important part o the tourist itiner-

Figure 2: Map of road system in Libya

from Tripoli: Piccola guida pratica e pianta

della citt(Tripoli: Unione Coloniale Itali-

ana Pubblicit & Informazioni, 1938).

Figure 3. Interior courtyard of Dar Adi

yel Palace (17th century), Fez, Morocco

[DedaloVol. 9, No. 12 (May 1929), p. 743].

Figure 4: Interior of the Mosque of

Ahmad Pasha Qaramanli (1736), Trip-

oli, Libya. [DedaloVol. 7, No. 8 (January

1927), p. 501].



McLaren...

ary. Even though these projects were directed by the most respected

scholars in the field, their preservation emphasized the impact o Eu-

ropean building sources and craf traditions on the Islamic heritage

an emphasis that was a subtle validation o the French and Italian

colonial mission in the region.

What is similarly interesting about the tourist system in North Arica

during the colonial period is that its architecture and urbanism quite

ofen ollowed a preservationist approach in an effort to reerence the

existing environment and indigenous building traditions. Projects

such as the Hotel de la Mamounia in Marrakech, Morocco and the

Hotel Ain el-Fras in Ghadames, Libya, exhibit a contemporary archi-

tectural language that is deeply indebted to the Islamic heritage. In thiscase, however, this approach created a tourist environment that obscured the distinction between the historic architec

ture and the contemporary colonial presence. Te blurring o boundaries between the existing building traditions and

the European colonial impact conuses any real sense o the local

cultural identity in its own time. In addition, these tourist projects

and the related enhancements o the urban and physical landscape

gave an ambivalent status to the historic traditions o these newly

independent nations during the postcolonial period and continue

to shape the tourist understanding o the local culture today. As a

result o the French and Italian preservation efforts which were

conducted or the purposes o providing an authentic tourist expe-

rience the Islamic cultural heritage o North Arica continues to

be read through the lens o European colonial domination.

Figure 5 View of Hotel de la Mamounia, Marrakech,

Morocco (1923, Henri Prost and A. Marchisio). [Henri

Descamps, LArchitecture moderne au Maroc, II Con-

structions particulires(Paris: Librairie de la Construc-

tion Moderne, 1931), Plate 15B].

Figure 6: Postcard view of courtyard, Hotel Ain el-Fras,

Ghadames, Libya (1935, Florestano Di Fausto and Ste-

fano Gatti Casazza). [Authors collection].



Cairos Plurality o Architectural rends and the Continuous Search or Identity

Ashraf M. Salama

Egyptian politics, knowledge, and culture are rooted in the modern physical, socio-cultural, and socio-economic realities o Cairo. History reflecting the intersection oplace, society, culture, and technology adds another dimension to Cairos architecture

and urbanism. As a result, Cairo today is a complex and diverse city o over 18 million

inhabitants with a range o well-established traditions and an array o ofen competing

symbols o religious, political, institutional, and economic powers.

Te Egyptian economy has unquestionably influenced the process o urbanization in

Cairo. Te Open Door Policy (1974-1981) placed emphasis on encouraging the private

sector, at both regional and international levels, to develop and implement new invest-

ment plans. Laws pertaining to taxes and trade were tailored to acilitate oreign investment

and international trade. During the 1980s, a period o economic reorm, the governments

policy was to develop plans geared towards both economic and social development and

to encourage international investment in several development realms. Te privatization

era, which started in 1991, emphasized effective interaction with market dynamics, the

aim being to transorm government projects into private ventures and to minimize and

limit the role o the public sector and

its involvement in strategic projects

crucial to the national economy. Tistrend, which maniested itsel in in-

tensive industrial development and

a withdrawal o investment rom the

agricultural sector, has had a marked

effect on the urbanization process.

Te repercussions o these policy phases on Egyptian urbanism are evident, especially

when one looks at private sector investment in mass housing and industrial develop-

ment around greater Cairo. A redistribution o powers has been conceived in which the

government role is supposed to be minimal in the areas o production and develop-

ment and maximal in environmental protection. Te governments role was to provide

security, saety, and public services; to direct the activities o the private sector or the

benefit and welare o the general public; and to create employment opportunities. Te

ailure o the government to ulfil this role resulted in a private sector monopoly in the

delivery o these services, which became subject to market speculation. Te aggressive

participation o the private sector in housing and service delivery led to inflation and

Figure 1: The Supreme Court of Egypt, designed by Ah-

mad Mito. An explicit example of historical revivalism.

Dr. Ashraf M. Salama holds

BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees in

Architecture. He is Professoro Architecture and currently

holds a Reader in Architecture

Position at Queens University

Belast, and has held academic

positions in Saudi Arabia and

Qatar. He was the Director of

Consulting at Adams Group

Architects in Charlotte, North

Carolina (2001-04).



Salama...

an overheated real estate market. Clearly, the private sector targets

strategic locations inside the urban perimeter o Cairo or develop-

ing large-scale luxury commercial and office buildings. It also aims

at housing projects in the new cities around Cairo, at the affluent

population and the upper middle class.

Within the economic context o Cairo, several architectural and

design positions have emerged to deal with these issues. However,

many o the projects that were created lef the city to suffer in ug-

liness, which lef the public starving or visually appealing envi-

ronments. Although ew attempts were made to create built envi-

ronments that addressed the practical realities o the time, there was a search or a contemporary Cairene identity. A

diversity o architectural theories has emerged, resulting in a ertile soil that encourages new attempts at all levels, romthe construction o individual houses to large-scale public projects. One such theory is Postmodernism.

Postmodernism in Cairo is within the ramework o international

postmodernism. Yet the local movement has ailed to offer an alter-

native vision. It has not provided a remedy or problems resulting

rom thoughtless appropriations o Western and modern architectura

trends. And it has not gone ar enough in acknowledging the needs

and aspirations o Cairene society. Postmodernism has not addressed

the aults implicit in modernist architectural practices, but rather, has

tacitly accepted them. It is merely an adjustment rom ollowing the in-

ternational modernism to ollowing the international postmodernism.

One major position that exemplifies contemporary Cairene archi-

tecture and urbanism is historical revivalism. Tis has materialized

with clear reerences to the mix o Egyptian heritages. While many

insisted that simulating history in contemporary buildings would

oster a sense o belonging and strong emotional ties between soci-ety and the built environment, the license to blindly select, borrow,

and copy rom the past has become acceptable. Tere are several

examples o historical revivalism using the architectural ideology

o a certain period. For example, the Supreme Court o Egypt, de-

signed by Ahmed Mito, employs eatures o Pharonic architecture but with different proportions. In the Oriental Weav-

ers headquarters, Farouk El Gohary incorporates arches and an inner courtyard and openings covered with stucco

screens in an attempt to produce a new image o Cairene architecture. Some other architects have gone to extremes

Figure 2: Original Weavers Company Headquarters by Farouk

Al Gohary. An implicit example of historical revivalism.

Figure 3: Integrated Care Society by Magd Masarra.

An example of surface treatment architecture that

makes little reference to anything but the creative

impulses of the architect.

Figure 4: Khan Al Aziza. An example of straight copying

from the past.



Salama...

and allowed themselves essentially to copy and paste rom the past.

Te Khan Al Azizia project eatures such superficial copying o ancient

designs that are completely at odds with both unction and context.

Critical Regionalism is another position that attempts to read the history

o Cairo and extract its essence while adapting it to suit the spirit o the

times. It is a way to show cultural, economic, and political independence.

In the Nile Art Gallery, Halim Ibrahim considers pre-modern heritage

in a building that serves a modern unction. His concern was to connect

the current art movement in Egypt with the Islamic and Arabic cultural

heritage. Te project is a thoughtul effort aimed at the development o a contemporary Cairene cultural identity. Gamal

Bakrys work is based on proound interpretations o history and culture. In his design or the commercial and tourist

center near the Pyramids, he reflected on the cultural rich-ness o Egypt, with a yellowish acade that reerences the

nearby desert. Hierarchical masses are used to simulate the

idea o a pyramid. Openings are designed with motis that

reflect Egyptian culture and a conscious attempt is made to

link the building with the pyramid platorm, using it as a

panoramic view.

Movements toward a more culturally and environmentally

responsive architecture are now underway. Public participa-

tion, adaptive reuse, and urban intervention in historic Cairo are relatively new approaches to architectural practice. A

Azhar Park illustrates the practice o culturally responsive architecture. It was envisioned by H.H. the Agha Khan in the

1980s as part o a larger program or the development and upgrading o theAl Darb Al Ahmararea o Old Cairo. Under the

direction and management o the Agha Khan rust or Culture, Sites International was selected as a local consultancy to

develop the final designs o the park together with other consultants. Tis project is another thoughtul attempt to improve

the quality o the built environment and retrieve some o what Cairo has lost over the past 30 years.

Contemporary Cairo is a collection o planning and architectural posi-tions that search or an identity. Few cases correspond to the history and

economy o Cairo while many dey Cairene culture. Although there are

honest attempts to tame the urban development process, and Egyptian

architects manage individual buildings well enough, Cairos overall built

environment is increasingly mismanaged. Nevertheless, there is hope

ound in a ew designs that Cairo can produce a solid architectural trend

and planning direction.

Figure 5: Nile Art Gallery. An example of Critica

Regionalism a conscious attempt at reinterpret

ing the heritage of Cairo.

Figure 6: Commercial and Tourist Centre by Gamal Bakry. An ex-

ample of Critical Regionalism a conscious attempt at reinter-preting the heritage of Cairo.

Figure 7: A view of Al Azhar Park: An example of cul

turally and environmentally responsive architecture.



Egypt: Modernity and Identity

Nasser Rabbat

Nasser Rabbat, B. Arch(Damascus), M. Arch(UCLA), PhD (MI), is

the Aga Khan Professor ofIslamic Architecture at theMassachusetts Institute oTechnology. He is the au-thor o several books, includ-

ing Te Citadel o Cairo:A New Interpretation oRoyal Mamluk Architecture(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995),Taqaat al Bina wa Binaal-Taqaa [Te Culture

o Building and BuildingCulture] (Beirut: RiadAlrayyes Publisher, 2002).

Steeped in history and tradition, but also open and cosmopolitan, modern Cairo de-veloped an expansive yet distinct sense o identity. Starting rom the middle o the 19thcentury, the city went through a series o political, cultural, and economic transmuta-

tions that were reflected in its First was the invasion o Napolon Bonaparte in 1798-

1801, which jolted the country to rise rom its medieval stupor and ace up to this early

colonial threat. Second was the reign o Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805-48), who sought

to modernize the country in an ultimately unsuccessul effort to catch up with the West.

Tis became sadly clear during the reign o his grandson, Khedive Ismail (1863-79),

the most ambitious, most progress-minded, and most Europeanized member o the

dynasty. He visited the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867 and was ascinated by the

bold plan o Baron Haussmann, which transormed the city o Paris. Upon his return, he

Haussmannized Cairo and drastically altered its size, layout, and uture development.

Ismails economic policies proved disastrous. Te British landed in 1882, afer he was

replaced by his son, awfic, in 1879 and subjugated Egypt to colonial rule. Tey also

opened the country to their vast imperial network. Within 20 years, Cairo became a

cosmopolitan city tied to the inter-

national economic system and teem-

ing with a multitude o migrant ad-venturers and persecuted minorities

that sought her as a new home. Tis

was the peak architectural moment

o the city. Scores o buildings were

built in hybrid styles that borrowed

reely rom the varied repertoires o

the past and blended them with vari-

ous European styles, especially the Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Neo-Baroque styles. But

the one distinguishing invention o the period, and the one adopted as the semi-official

style o the country, was the Neo-Mamluk style.

Te most majestic Neo-Mamluk example is the Mosque o al-Riai (1869-1911), which

stands opposite the Mosque o Sultan Hasan (1356-61) as an attempt by the Khedival

amily to measure up to the Mamluks. (Figure 1) Other notable examples are the Dar

al-Kutub, built in 1904 by the Italian Alonso Manescalo (Figure 2), the Awqa Ministry,

built between 1898 and 1929 by Mahmud Fahmi, and the Egyptian Engineers Society

Figure 1: Mosque of Sultan Hasan



Rabbat...

Headquarters, built in 1930 by Mustaa Fahmi. A counter-style, the

Neo-Pharaonic, was limited to mostly Art-Deco commercial build-

ings, except or the Mausoleum o Sad Zaghlul, the leader o the

1919 revolution against the British, which was designed by MustaaFahmi in 1928 specifically to express an Egyptian identity that united

Muslims and Copts. (Figure 3)

Another historicist, though less localized, and hence less nationalistic,

style, the neo-Islamic, was adopted or many o the commercial build-

ings in downtown, probably as a means to give the city a special character as a modern metropolis with an Oriental geneal-

ogy. Tis is exemplified by many o the oeuvres o the Slovenian architect Antonio Lasciac, such as the Bank Misr building

(Figure 4) and the Assicurazioni Generali rieste Apartment Building. Te style dominates the commercial and civic center

o a new suburb, Heliopolis, which was built in the 1910s by the Belgian industrialist Baron Empain as an Oriental garden-city or a new, select, and mostly oreign proessional class.

Te Revolution o 1952 that toppled the monarchy gave rise to the

more outspoken categories o modernity, nationalism, and socialism as

ramers o the image and the architecture o the recently independent

republic. Te new ramework engendered some important modernist

civic projects ranging rom entire new satellite cities, such as Nasr City

planned by Sayyid Kuraim in the 1960s, to government offices, acto-ries, hospitals, schools, and pub-

lic housing projects. Simultane-

ously, and somewhat in opposi-

tion to the modernist emphasis, a number o outstanding architects, such as Hassan

Fathy and Ramses Wissa Wase, advanced vernacular architecture as the most au-

thentic representation o the peoples architecture o Egypt. Teir buildings, such as

New Gourna village (1948-1961) by the ormer and Harraniyya village (Figure 5) by

the latter (1957-74), cast the vernacular through a mixture o objective social and

environmental experiments and lyrical interpretations o traditions. Teir ollow-

ers continued to use their ormal language but did not develop its socioeconomic

content. Instead they brandished it as a kind o indigenous post-modern response to

the blandness o modernist architecture and, in some cases, such as the work o Abd

al-Wahid al-Wakil in Saudi Arabia, exported it as an expressive regional style.

Te last three decades have witnessed the resurgence o the discourse on Islam as a cultural identity, which translated in

architecture into a massive revivalist movement. Sincerely at times, but opportunistically at others, many architects en-

Figure 2: Dar al-Kutub

Figure 3: Mausoleum of Sad Zaghlul

Figure 4: Bank Misr



gaged in the design o various historicist styles to satisy the growing

demand or a contemporary Islamic architecture. Te examples range

rom romantic mlanges, which reely re-interpret historical motis, to

the ofen arbitrary usage o orms detached rom their historical andgeographic contexts, to the rational, abstracted, and at times minimal-

ist projects o architects trained in the modern tradition.

However, the most significant and alarming recent development is the

citys ruralization, which gives the old metropolis the appearance o a

conglomerate o contiguous villages, cut off rom civic authorities and

living by their own economic rules and behavioral codes. (Figure 6) Te

cosmopolitan quality o the architecture o modern Cairo has been slow-

ly deteriorating under the pressure o a severe population explosion and

heavy rural emigration accompanied by a mixture o official neglect and

corruption, a greedy and speculative real estate market, and chaotic zon-

ing and overbuilding practices.

(Figure 7) Te other side o the

coin is represented by the numer-

ous New Cities growing around Cairo on the edge o the desert and catering to a new

class o entrepreneurs and beneficiaries o the unrestrained laissez aire policies initiat

ed by the late President Anwar Sadat and continued by President Husni Mubarak. Teirarchitecture displays an eclectic collection o post-modern or revivalist motis distorted

through a Disneyesque vision o contemporary suburban living in the West. (Figure

8) Tus as the city loses its modern and slowly evolved architectural identity, its new

suburbs acquire a con-

sumerist, neo-liberal, and

globalized new identity

that has no local flavor.

(Figure 9)

Rabbat...

Figure 5: New Gourna village

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9



Jerusalem Architecture: Old Is Bitter, New Is Ugly

Annabel Jane Wharton

Dr. Annabel Jane Whar-

ton is the William B.

Hamilton Proessor in the

Department o Art, Art

History, and Visual Stud-

ies at Duke University.

Her most recent book is

Selling Jerusalem: Relics,

Replicas, Temeparks

(University of Chicago

Press, 2006).

Jerusalem is a golden bowl filled with scorpions. Tose scorpions are architecturalas well as human, modern as well as ancient. Such is the ate o a city considered holyby Jews, Christians, and Muslims and possessed episodically by the theocratic states o

all three. At the core o Jerusalem is the Old City, defined by the imposing 16thcen-

tury walls built by Sulayman the Magnificent (Figure 1). From the 1860s, Jerusalem,

like many cities in the Middle East as well as in the West, developed suburbs. East

Jerusalem, with its largely Palestinian population, includes the northeast section o the

expanded city as well as the Mount o Olives. It is divided rom the Palestinian com-

munities o the West Bank by the Israeli deense barrier and rom West Jerusalem, with

its largely Jewish population, by the north-south Road 1 (Figure2).

OLD ARCHIECURE

Te Old Citys

most prominent

ancient buildings

are burdened by

old age and by the

various, and alwaysexclusive, religious

claims made upon them. Many sites excite vicious rivalries. Best known o these con-

tested places is al-Haram al-Shari/the emple Mount. Herods grand successor o Solo-

mons emple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Te great podium on which the

emple stood (the Wailing Wall or Kotel is the southern part o this platorms west-

ern retaining wall) was lef in ruins by the Romans and the Christians. Te sanctity o

the site was put back to work only

afer the seventh century Islamic

conquest o the city with al-Aqsa

Mosque and the great Dome o the

Rock, which marks the tradition-

al location whence Muhammad

made his night journey to heaven

(Figure3). Now, Jewish and Chris-

tian extremists or very differ-

ent reasons seek to clear the site

Figure 1: General view from the Mount of Olives

Figure 2: View of Route 1 from the south (road as bar-

rier). Route 1 follows the Seam, the pre-1967 divide

between Jordan and Israel.



Wharton...

o its Muslim buildings or the rebuilding o the emple.

Other sites o contention are less amiliar. Te occasional eruptions o

violence between the traditional Christian sects (Greek Orthodox, Cop-tic, Roman Catholic, Armenian, etc.) in possession o various parts o the

Holy Sepulchre are symptomatic o the continued rivalry o their spatial

claims (Figure4). Te hostilities at the Holy Sepulchre always elicited dis-

dainul comments rom Protestant Christian travelers, who in the 19th

century sought and ound their own, alternate tomb o Jesus Gordons

Garden omb. King Davids omb stages another example o spatial jeal-

ousy. Zion (probably the Jebusite term or ortress) or the City o David was the locus o the kings burial (I Kings 2:10)

it is authoritatively located by archaeologists on the southeast hill o Jerusalem. But in late antiquity, the southwest hill

o the city was misidentified as Zion. On it, in the later ourth cen-tury, a large five-aisled, two level basilica, known as the Mother o All

Churches was constructed. Te church was rebuilt in much the same

orm first by the Crusaders and then, in the 14th century, by the Fran-

ciscans. Tis last, Gothic structure incorporated many o the religious

narratives o its predecessor as well as its surviving oundations. It was

identified by pilgrims as the site o Jesus flagellation, the washing o

the Apostles eet, the Last Supper, Pentecost (when the Apostles re-

ceived the Holy Spirit 50 days afer Jesus resurrection), and the deatho Mary. In the 16th century, the Franciscans were expelled rom the

site afer the Jews identified it to the Ottoman rulers as Davids omb.

At present, the surviving ragment o the great Gothic complex is a

two-storied room, with the Cenacle the place o the Last Supper above, and the omb o David below (Figure 5)

Te ormer is thoroughly secularized and the latter thoroughly sacralized. Men and women have separate entrances to

the omb; men who wish to visit it must wear yarmulkes. Te Roman Catholics contest

Israeli control o the site, just as they did its Ottoman possession.

NEW ARCHIECURE

Te old buildings o Jerusalem may be violent, but they are solemn and handsome. Teir

ancient walls and vaults were solidly constructed by local masons rom the pink-gold

local limestone. Te structures were built with traditional methods and in time-tested

orms. Tey age well. Even the buildings o the 19th and early 20th century like the old

Jewish, Muslim, and Protestant neighborhoods ounded outside the walls o the Old City

the commercial structures built by the Armenian Patriarchate on Jaffa Road, or the Rock-

Figure 3: Dome of the Rock

Figure 5: Cenacle and Tomb of

David, exterior

Figure 4: Holy Sepulchre, plan of the church showing

its sectarian divisions. From C.R. Ashbee, ed.,Jerusa-

lem, 1920-1922(1924).



eeller Museum designed in the 1930s acknowledge the local scale and orms even when they introduced modern

European styles and technologies. During the British Mandate (1918-1947), regulations imposed green space around

the Old City and restricted buildings height and construction materials. Buildings had to be aced in Jerusalem stone

corrugated iron was banned.

At least one o those regulations is maintained. New buildings are

inevitably sheathed in a thin veneer o Jerusalem stone. But most

o the old regulations are ignored. Green space is disappearing. Te

parkland opposite Jaffa Gate has been occupied by grotesque park-

ing decks and architecturally offensive luxury accommodation or

the very wealthy (Figure 6). Te condos there are largely abandoned

by their rich, non-resident Jewish owners or most o the year, con-

tributing to the death o the economy in the part o the city that should be most vital. Te Jerusalem Hilton (now theCrowne Plaza), which annulled the city code on building height in 1974, initiated the meaningless western skyline o Je-

rusalem, punctuated ungrammatically by characterless monoliths (See Figs. 1 and 7). Unortunately, cheaply constructed

pomposities, built without reerence to the scale o their neighborhood and with no conscience about their affect on dis-

tant views o the city, characterize post-1967 building in the city. Who could possibly find a particle o aesthetic pleasure

in the twin tour group hotels, the Olive ree and the Novotel, looming over St. Georges

Cathedral in East Jerusalem? Indeed, state construction (e.g., the Ministry o Justice), as

well as speculative Israeli ventures in East Jerusalem seem intentionally ugly.

Jerusalem has at least one good postmodern building: the Supreme Court, designed by

Ram Carmi and Ada Carmi-Melamed, opened in 1992 (Figure 7). Te plan and scale

o the building were inspired by the Alhambra and the Rockeeller Museum: at its core

is an elegantly proportioned courtyard bisected by a narrow stream running almost its

entire length. Te structure is less aboutgravitas than about intimacy. It provides the law

a deeply human habitat, whether or not it deserves it.

Jerusalem is a place to eel passionate about architecture about its beauty, about its

aura, and about its abuse. For those who are moved by architecture, Jerusalem offers a remarkable roller-coaster ride.

Figure 7: Supreme Court, court-

yard.

Wharton...

Figure 6: View from Jaffa Gate to the west.



Global Capital, Urban Regeneration, and Heritage Conservation in the Levant

Rami Daher

Dr. Rami Daher is a prac-

ticing architect and the

head o his own firm, U-

RATH. He is also an asso-

ciate proessor o Architec-

ture at German Jordanian

University in Amman.

Property is the new consumer good par excellenceand real estate development isthe new religion in the Middle East. Cities across the region are competing or interna-tional investment, business, and tourism. Developments in Dubai are setting the prec-

edents and models to ollow. Tis reality stands in stark contrast to the 1960s, when cities

like Cairo and Beirut represented cutting-edge urbanism to the rest o the Arab world.

Te circulation o global capital (such as surplus oil revenues) in search o high yielding

investments, combined with excessive privatization, has transormed urban reality, inflated

property values, uelled speculation, and altered the nature o public lie in cities through-

out the Arab world. It is estimated that between 2005 and 2020 the Arab Gul states likely

will have invested about $3 trillion in the Middle East and North Arica. 1Te intense urban

restructuring spurred by this investment renzy poses challenges or heritage conservation

and urban regeneration in historic city cores in the region. Among these are a lack o inter-

est, inadequate unding, and inappropriate approaches to urban regeneration due to lack o

expertise and the need or more critical and sustainable practices.

PRIME CAPIALS AND NEOLIBERAL URBAN RESRUCURING

Several urban mega-projects in Beirut, Amman, and even Damascus have been orches-trated by partnerships between multinational corporations and the state. Tese part-

nerships have culminated in the establishment o new regulating bodies SOLIDERE

(Socit Libanaise de Dveloppement et de Reconstruction) in Beirut andMAMARED

(National Resources Investment and Development Corporation) in Amman).

Te Beirut downtown reconstruction project ashioned by SOLIDERE was presented

to the public as the main post-war reconstruction effort. Urban critics and academ-

ics presented an interesting critique o the project. While affirming its importance as

a symbol o Lebanons emergence rom its 15-year civil war, they still considered the

project as simply a real estate development where history and heritage are but themes

incorporated through Disneyfied pastiche representations. It is true that the project

included thepreservationo older buildings and urban spaces rom the traditional and

French Mandate periods, but it is important to mention that the final outcome resulted

1. Yasser Elsheshtawy, Te Great Divide: Struggling and Emerging Cities in the ArabWold, in Yasser Elsheshtawy, ed., e Evolving Arab City: Tradition, Modernity, and UrbanDevelopment(New York: Routledge, 2008), pp. 1-26.



in a very exclusive urban setting where the whole notion o urban memory and property ownership was expunged.

Tis reconstruction is creating a collaged urban morphology that is designed or consumption and linked with enter-

tainment geared or rich Arab Gul tourists and the local elite.

Te SOLIDEREmodel o urban restructuring was adopted in Amman as well. In act, the two cities share similar globa

investors. Tis neo-liberalization o the creation o public space is leading to the dilution o local differences and the

circulation o corporate urban realities and images. Te Abdali Project turns its back on Ammans original downtown

which is only about 1.5 kilometers away rom the Abdalisite, and is expected to lead to urban geographies o inequality

and exclusion as well as spatial and social displacement.

Ammans Abdaliis promoted by MAWARED as the New Downtown or Amman. However, the project will in act in-

tensiy the socioeconomic and spatial polarization not only between East and West Amman, but also between this new

elitist urban island and the rest o the city.3Te AbdaliProject has led to the displacement o the nearby existing Abdal

transportation terminal, together with its drivers, inormal vendors, and occupants, to the outskirts o Ammans city

center. Te project also will present fierce competition to the existing downtown area, which is gradually disintegrating

and is already suffering rom a lack o economic vitality.

Although Damascus has not yet undertaken a major urban flagship project, several neoliberal real estate developments

already have had a considerable effect on the authenticity and sustainability o the citys cultural heritage. Significant

transormations include the development intended or the historic Hijaz Railroad Station and the newly erected Four

Seasons Hotel. Other projects are anticipated along the Barada River.

COSMEIC URBAN REGENERAION IN SECONDARY PROVINCIAL CIIES

Jordan, Lebanon, and other countries in the region have received international unding rom the World Bank and other

donor agencies to boost their national tourism strategies and development in the orm o tourism/urban regeneration

in secondary cities and smaller towns. Such international aid has targeted cities such as ripoli, yre, Baalbeck, Sidon,

and Byblos in Lebanon, and Kerak, Salt, Jerash, Amman, and Madaba in Jordan.

Comparative research and fieldwork analysis has concluded that the various components and the nature o the endproduct o such projects are very similar across the two countries. aking Salt, Jordan as an example, it is obvious that

the project mainly concentrated on the physical aspects o urban regeneration (e.g., tourist trails, pedestrianization o

public plazas, panoramic lookouts, streetscape, and signage). Te intervention in the public urban space centered on

stone pavement or plazas, streets, or steps, outdoor urniture, and signage. Essentially, this is a one-time limited inter-

2. Doris Summer, Neo-Liberaliing the City: Transitional Investment Networks and the Circulation of Urban Images in Beiruand Amman(Master Tesis in Urban Planning, American University o Beirut, 2005).3. Rami Daher, Amman: Disguised Genealogy and Recent Urban Restructuring and Neolibral Treats, in Elsheshtawy, ed.e Evolving Arab City: Tradition, Modernity, and Urban Development, pp. 37-68.

Daher...



Daher...

vention in the orm o architectural cosmeticsaffecting the historic urban tissue o the city without a serious attempt to

address the establishment o heritage tools, systems, or sustainable institutional practices at the municipal level o these

towns that insure the continuity o urban regeneration and community involvement in the long run.4

Furthermore, these projects lead to the circulation o different orms o urban and heritage projects and o a prototypi

cal tourist experience within the region. Gradually, not only are local differences between these cities disintegrating, bu

the urban experience also is being confined to consuming the same manuactured version o heritage and to gazing a

the same urban urniture detail, lamp fixture, or floor pattern.

HE CHALLENGE OF CONSERVING HE REGIONS HERIAGE OF MODERNIY

One o the problems acing heritage conservation in the region is the absence o a critical definition o its cultural heri-

tage which would incorporate marginalized realities such as the regions heritage o Modernity. Te middle o the 20 th

century in the region centered on a critical and inormed public opinion in different walks o lie and actually produced

an architecture that was dynamic, avant-garde, and progressive. An interesting local version o Modern architecture

emerged between the 1940s and the 1970s, signiying a society that was open to different positive cultural changes and

progressive transormation. Beirut was the heart o the regions Modernity. Whether it was the Hotel St. Georges, the

Shams Building, the Pan American Building, or the various cinemas and cas on Hamra Street, the buildings o that

era signified an enlightened architectural practice that is local and global, yet critical and exceptional. Examples rom

Damascus and Amman included the National Museum in Damascus, several buildings belonging to the University o

Damascus, and finally, the Insurance Building, the Intercontinental Hotel, and the Youth Sport City in Amman.

Unortunately, the regions growing consumer-based and uncritical public lacks a genuine appreciation o its heritage o

Modernitydue in certain cases to being unconscious o its value and significance, and in other cases, to the dominance

o the dollar on peoples value systems. Tis is leading to the destruction and disfiguring o the valuable heritage that

once represented a true testimonial to the regions temporal depth and critical public sphere.

CONCLUDING HOUGHS

In the midst o intense neoliberal urban restructuring, there is a need or research that goes beyond the classical analysiso the traditional Arab city, and that ocuses instead on current urban transormations, the flow o global capital, and

its effect on the realities o cities, urban structures, and polity, the metropolitizationprocesses rom below addressing

issues o historic cities core conservation and regeneration, sustainable and environmentally conscious urban growth,

the migration and circulation o humans and capital, the ormation o slums, and the details o social lie vis vislines

o inclusion and exclusion.

4. Rami Daher, ourism: Heritage and Urban ransormations in Jordan and Lebanon: Emerging Actors and Global-Local Juxtapositions, in Rami Daher, ed., Tourism in the Middle East: Continuity, Change and Transformation (EnglandChannel View Publications, 2007), pp. 263-307.



Te Contemporary Built Environment in the Arab Middle East

Mohammad al-Asad

Dr. Mohammad al-Asad is aJordanian architect and archi-tectural historian. He is cur-

rently the ounder and direc-tor o the Center or the Studyof the Built Environment. Dr.al-Asad earned his bachelorsand masters degrees in archi-tecture rom the University oIllinois and his PhD in archi-tectural history rom Harvard

University.

With the advent o the 1990s, a new phase affecting the development o the builtenvironment in the Arab Middle East commenced, when urban rather than purelyarchitectural concerns gradually began to attract increasing attention rom decision-

makers and members o the architectural community, and the emphasis o the 1970s

and 1980s on developing architectural vocabularies that express local and historical

specificities gave way to a preerence or internationally-prevalent models, particularly

relating to high-tech and deconstructivist architecture. Since then, two interconnected

narratives have defined the evolution o the built environment in the region, with one

being prevalent in the areas middle and low-income countries o, and the other in the

affluent, oil-rich countries o the Gul Cooperation Council (GCC).

An important project signaling the initiation o the first narrative is the redevelopment

o the Beirut Central District (CBD), which began as Lebanon emerged rom its gruel-

ing 15-year civil war (1975-1990). Te project illustrated a newly emerging emphasis

on urbanism rather than on architecture. In this instance, the Lebanese government

granted authority to a public share-holding company to assume ownership o the CBD

(by providing shares in the company to preexisting property owners) and to develop

it into a multi-use high-end urban district. Although controversial in socioeconomic

terms, the project has been carried out according to very high architectural and urban

standards and has managed to transorm the area into an urban showpiece, not only

or Beirut, but also or the region as a whole. Whereas the project included buildings

by world-amous architects, its individual works o architecture clearly are subsumed

in an overall urban vision that emphasizes pedestrian connectivity, mixed-use districts,

continuities in building scale, conservation o an architectural heritage (a good part o

which dates back to the 1920s), and a generous provision o public spaces. Te Solidere

model initiated a new approach that has become popular in the region and that has con-

sisted o reconfiguring complete urban districts through large investment companiesworking in coordination, and ofen partnership, with governmental authorities.

While the Beirut CBD project included a conservation component, it remained pri-

marily an urban development project. In contrast, a number o projects in the low and

middle-income countries o the region emerged during the 1990s that dealt primarily,

i not exclusively, with issues o heritage conservation and addressed the urban scale

rather than merely that o individual monuments. Considering the historical wealth o



al-Asad...

numerous urban centers in the region, such projects were overdue. Important examples o them have taken place in

Sanaa, Aleppo, Cairo, Jerusalem, and Hebron.

Interestingly, even Cairo, which has been suffering rom extensive urban stress, particularly since the 1970s, has quietlyundergone a gradual, though limited, process o rehabilitation. A subway system was introduced as early as the second

hal o the 1980s. Unleaded gasoline has replaced the leaded variety, thus helping sofen the problems o air pollution

Te citys endless decline seems to have been arrested. In act, minor but clearly evident improvements have taken place

regarding issues such as overall cleanliness, the visual pollution caused by commercial signs, and traffic congestion.

Even in middle-income cities such as Amman, there has been a new emphasis on projects that address the urban scale

An ambitious master plan has been put in place to control and direct the citys rapid growth and to address the problem

o urban sprawl, incorporating principles such as multi-use zoning and increased densification. In addition, a light-rai

line has been conceived to connect Amman to the nearby industrial city o Zarqa and to eventually serve various partso Amman itsel. Similar plans are taking place elsewhere, as in Damascus, where there is talk o developing a new mas-

ter plan or the city.

ourism also emerged as a main generator o projects on the urban scale, whether in creating new towns or affected

parts o existing ones. Initially, these were carried out mainly in Egypt, primarily in the Sinai Peninsula and along the

shores o the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Others soon ollowed, as with the Jordanian port o Aqaba along the Red

Sea.

Although there has been an increasing emphasis on issues o urbanism in the past 15 years or so, interesting devel-

opments related to architecture also have been taking place. A number o unabashedly avant-gardearchitects have

emerged in the region, such as the Lebanese Bernard Khoury and the Jordanian Sahel Al Hiyari. Tese architects, who

have assumed a level o international recognition, have no place or historic or regional nostalgia in their work, but

emphasize creating novel modernist solutions. Teir sources o inspiration interestingly enough are ound in local con-

ventional low-tech industrial practices.

Te city o Dubai has come to best exempliy the second narrative. A series o themed districts, each reerred to as acity, have been built there; they include Media City, Internet City, Motor City, Studio City, and even Culture City.

Each o these high-end developments eatures a combination o housing units, recreational acilities (e.g., gol courses

hotels, retail and office space), and specialized acilities relating to the theme o the district. Other urban-scale projects

include developing the now world-amous massive man-made islands in the shape o palm trees and a map o the earth

all o which have been part o an effort aimed at branding Dubai on the global level.

A number o Dubais dazzling plans were initiated beore the spike in oil prices that began around 2003 and took hold



al-Asad...

about 2005. Since then, colossal projects inspired by the Dubai model have been conceived throughout the region

Complete new cities are being planned or are already under construction, including the City o Silk in Kuwait, Saadiya

Island in Abu Dhabi, and the King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia on the coast o the Red Sea. In these proj

ects, the issue o identity, so prominent in the regions first construction boom o the 1970s and 1980s, is all but absent

or they are intended to express a global sense o belonging rather than a specific regional identity.

Economic developments in the countries o the Gul generally have a strong impact on their less affluent neighbors. As

the region is becoming more riendly to oreign investments, and as investors rom the region have preerred to keep a

larger portion o their investments in the region close to home ollowing the events o September 11, 2001, they are car

rying out numerous large-scale projects in neighboring countries, primarily consisting o high-end residential, office

retail, and tourism developments. Considering the significant financial resources being poured into these projects, there

is serious concern that they will divert the considerable, and ofen productive, energies that so ar have been placed into

initiatives that have included historic conservation and overall urban upgrading into high-end luxury projects, many owhich very well may end up as white elephants.

Over the past decade and a hal, there has been a proound change o emphasis rom the micro-scale o architecture

to the macro urban scale, and rom the search or localized architectural identities to an attempt to fit within overall

global developments. Another issue that needs to be seriously addressed is that o sustainability in the built environ-

ment. Tis is particularly crucial in the Gul zone, which is dominated by the automobile, depends on the mechanica

air-conditioning o massive interior spaces, and has expansive, lush landscapes irrigated by water primarily obtained

through energy-intensive desalinization plants.

I any level o sustainability in the built environment is to be achieved in the Gul, there will be a need to seriously re-

configure its cities. Amongst other things, planners and policy makers will have to drastically rethink movement in the

city to more effectively incorporate public transportation, pedestrianization, and an increased dependence on telecom-

muting. Dubai, or one seems to have begun to realize this. It is currently developing an extensive light-rail system to

help ease its notorious traffic congestion problems. Perhaps this marks the beginning o a broader acknowledgement

that the prevalent urban models that have been developed in the cities o the Gul over the past ew decades are not

sustainable, and thus constitutes the first step in that part o the world in a long journey towards developing new models

or urban living.



Conservatism versus Modernism: Hesitant Urban Identity in Saudi Arabia

Mashary A. Al-Naim

Dr. Mashary A. Al-Naim,

Associate Professor, King

Faisal University, Vice Rector,Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd

University

What do people think about their urban identity and what needs do they identiythemselves with? What role do traditions play in a society, and why do people createnew traditions? Every society has a continuous flow o traditions, changing and taking

on different orms, which are essential or societal survival. As Rapoport states, or any

group to survive there must be continuity at some level.1raditions, even changing

traditions, offer a certain continuity within a group.

Efforts in Saudi Arabia to maintain a continuity o tradition are strongly linked to the

impact o religion within Saudi culture.2Tese traditions can be linked with what Rapa-

port calls the cultural core. He differentiates the cultural core rom peripheral values,

which are modified according to changes in lie circumstances. Unlike these changing

peripheral values, Rapaport argues

that the cultural core continues as

a determining actor in the cre-

ation o individual identity and as a

mechanism by which members o a

group communicate their collective

identity.3

In this sense, a change in liestyle

may influence and modiy the val-

ues which help people to cope with a new way o living, but those values which enable

people to generate meaning in their built environment will continue in their unction.

Te continuity o identity o any society stems rom these core values.

Te strength o these core values depends on the degree o resistance shown by any

society towards change, and the ability o its members to preserve their cultural core.

Tis is not to say that the existence o these values ensures ull continuity o identity,

but rather that they play an essential role in using a new identity. As Bloom states, in

a change o lie circumstances, individuals may make new and appropriate identifica-

1. A. Rapoport, Culture and Built Form-A Reconsideration, in D.G. Saile, ed.,Architecturein Cultural Change, Essays in Build Form and Culture Research(Lawrence, KS: University oKansas Press, 1986), pp. 157-175.2. S. Hamdan, Social Change in the Saudi Family, Unpublished Ph.D. Tesis, Iowa StateUniversity, Ames, Iowa (1990), p. 149.3. Rapoport, Culture and Built Form-A Reconsideration, pp. 157-175.

Figure 1: Al-Khalaf Village Asir



Al-Naim...

tions. Individuals may also seek to protect and enhance identification already made. 4

Rapoport presents two definitions or the concept o identity. Te first stresses the

importance o continuity o identity, the unchanging nature o something under

varying aspects or conditions. Te second definition is concerned with the condi-

tion o being one thing and not another.5 Te implicit and explicit resistance to

introduced objects, images, liestyles, etc., plays an important role in the continu-

ity o certain meanings over an extended period o time. Habrakens concept o

implicit and explicit constraints as two mechanisms that enable us to evaluate the

orm assists us here. He argues that during the production o a new orm, there is

an internal mechanism that orces the orm to take certain shapes. Tese shapes are

compatible with peoples past experience, belie system, norms, and liestyles.6

Te tension between conservatism and modernism in urban Saudi Arabia resulted

in a certain social resistance, and it has become necessary to discuss how this social

resistance has been translated into orms. Tis has encouraged many researchers

and architects to search or an identity in the contemporary Saudi built environment. Te ollowing discussion aims to

present a general review o this search over the past two decades, ocusing on two main questions. First, has the need or

identity in Saudi Arabia resulted in society responding, Here we are, despite the drastic changes and oreign influences

this is our identity? Or has this need or identity emerged as a result o a superior Western culture that has directly

influenced the social and physical orders in Saudi Arabia? It is important to clariy here that the ollowing discussion

is not intended to answer these two questions; rather, it will use them broadly as a context or a discussion o the buil

environment.

Rapid changes in the 1970s resulted in a sense o not belonging in the urban environment in Saudi Arabia, since

people suddenly ound themselves in a completely different physical environment. Indicating the loss o traditional

identity in the Saudi built environment, Ben Saleh7(1980) writes:

Recent buildings have lost their traditional identities and have become hybrids o exotic character in their architectura

orm, main concepts, arrangement o spaces, organization o elements, and building techniques employed.8

4. W. Bloom,Personal Identity, National Identity and International Relations (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press1990), p. 50.5. A. Rapoport, Identity and environment: A cross-cultural perspective, in J.S. Duncan, ed., Housing and Identity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives(London: Croom-Helm, 1981), pp. 6-35.6. N.J.Habraken,Te Appearance o the Form(Cambridge, MA: Awater Press, 1985), pp. 63-66.7. Saudi academic and ormer Dean o the College o Architecture and Planning at King Saud University.8. Cited in M. Al-Gabbani,

Community Structure, Residential Satisfaction, and Preferences in a Rapidly Changing UrbanEnvironment: Te Case o Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Unpublished PhD, Michigan, University o Michigan (1984), p. 275.

Figure 2: Al-Mamalka Tower Riyadh



Al-Naim...

Konash9 agrees, criticizing Western firms that practiced in Saudi

Arabia or their lack o knowledge about the local culture while

suggesting more collaboration between Saudi and oreign archi-

tects.10 Afer studying the impact o Western urban concepts in

the contemporary Saudi cities, Al-Hathloul11suggests that Arab-

Islamic traditions which ormulate the needs o Saudi amilies

should be respected in any uture building regulations.12 Fadan13

goes urther, attributing the loss o traditional identity to the social

changes in Saudi society, writing that the attraction[s] to Western

lie-style have drawn Saudi attention away rom developing a clear

and concise understanding o the evolution o a traditional living environment.14Tese studies agree on the negative

impact o Western images on Saudi cities.

At the same time, however, people were ascinated by Western images. Boon comments on the strong influence o colo-

nial villas in the Middle East.15 Al-Gabbani finds that in Riyadh most o the housing units constructed ollow Western

models which symbolize prestige and use costly imported materials.16While indicating that modern architecture in

Saudi Arabia is seen to be culturally destructive, Abu-Ghazzehcriticizes the desire o Saudi architects to reflect images

o economic and technological development through the adoption o Western design due to the disassociation o the

privileged business elite rom their cultural roots.17Tese people tried to express themselves in the urban environmen

through images mainly borrowed rom the West. Tis then encouraged the middle classes to imitate the Western images

that were created by the business elite.18Tis is not to say that people did not express their own socio-cultural values in

their urban areas, but that people experienced new things or the first time. Personal and social identities were expressed

9. Saudi academic working at King Fahad University or Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.10. F. Konash, Evaluation o Western Architecture in Saudi Arabia: Guideline and Critique, Unpublished Master TesisAlbuquerque, New Mexico, University o New Mexico (1980).11. Saudi academic, (PhD, MI, 1980) who worked as Deputy Minister or Urban Planning in the Ministry o Municipal andRural Affairs, Riyadh.12. S. Al-Hathloul, Tradition, Continuity, and Change in the Physical Environment: e Arab-Muslim City, Unpublished PhDTesis, MI, Cambridge(1981).Te study introduces or the first time the impact o Western urban concepts on the Saudi-home environment. Also, it suggests that urban orm within the Arab-Muslim city is to be ound not within the physicaelements themselves but within their system o arrangement (the rules o conduct), then these elements can be adapted or

can even change so long as their system o arrangement or their relationships remain constant, p. 266.13. Saudi academic (PhD rom MI, 1983), at King Saud University, Riyadh.14. Y.M. Fadan, e Development of Contemporary Housing in Saudi Arabia, (1950-1983),Unpublished PhD Tesis, MICambridge (1983), p. 15.15. J. Boon, Te Modern Saudi Villa: Its Cause and Effect,American Journal for Science and Engineering, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1982)pp. 132-143.16. M. Al-Gabbani, Community Structure, Residential Satisfaction, and Preferences in a Rapidly Changing Urban EnvironmentTe Case o Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Unpublished PhD Tesis, Michigan, University o Michigan (1984).17. Jordanian Academic.18. . Abu-Ghazzeh, Vernacular Architecture Education in the Islamic Society o Saudi Arabia: owards the Development oan Authentic Contemporary Built Environment, Habitat Int., Vol. 21, No. 2 (1997), pp. 229-253.

Figure 3: Ministry of Interior Riyadh



through extensive alterations to those houses later on.

In the 1980s things changed. Tere was a mix o Western

traditional, and historical (mostly Arab-Islamic) images in

the Saudi urban environment,19reflecting the conscious e-

ort by designers to create visual identity in the urban en-

vironment. We can see some buildings strongly influenced

by the prevailing global trends in architecture, such as post-

modernism and regionalism. Other examples are extremely

ormal and ar rom local cultural images, such as Greek or Roman classical styles. In the best cases, we can see some

buildings imitating traditional orms or borrowing some orms rom Arab-Islamic traditions such as Mamluk architec-

ture.20On the other hand, Mofi,21or example, criticized these new buildings, which derived their physical orms rom

different resources.

Indeed, most studies o Saudi Arabias built environment have attributed the lack o identity to borrowed physical

elements, and have ocused on the impact o borrowed orms on visual identity rather than paying more attention to

relationships between people and the surrounding physical objects. One local newspaper editorial cried out: Issue: our

contemporary buildings have no identity.22Te editor warned that the architectural crisis o our contemporary build-

ings increases day afer day a conusion o images is the only description or our contemporary buildings.

Most o the suggestions or maintaining identity center on re-using traditional images. Boon, or example, suggests that

in order to have an identity, it is important to revive traditional urban images.23Al-Nowaiser24reaches the same conclu

sion, indicating that, in order to reflect a genuine sense o identity, it is necessary to find valid eatures o architectural

heritage to incorporate into the contemporary Saudi urban environment.25

In act the modernization process in Saudi Arabia was primarily political and tried to re-create physical orms rather

than generating any real change at the socio-cultural level. Saudi cities changed only their appearance, while the cul-

tural values remained conservative and in line with traditional Saudi society. Tis obvious contradiction is reflected in

the urban orm and physical identity, which slowly became very exotic and ar-removed rom the images and practical

19. M. Al-Angari (the ormer mayor o Riyadh) mentioned in 1983 that Riyadh had several architectural styles such asEuropean, Islamic, and vernacular.Assyasa(Kuwaiti Newspaper), June 2, 1983.20. F.A. Mofi, ransormation in the Built Environment in Saudi Arabia, Urban Futures, Vol. 2, No. 4 (1989), pp. 17-26.21. Saudi academic at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah.22. Al-Yaum (Arabic newspaper), No. 8698, February 4, 1997.23. Boon, Te Modern Saudi Villa: Its Cause and Effect, p. 142.24. Saudi academic at King Saud University, Riyadh.25. M.A. Al-Nowaiser,Te Role o raditional and Modern Residential Urban Settlements on the Quality o EnvironmentaExperience in Saudi Arabia: Unyeh and New Alkabra in Alkasseem Region, Unpublished PhD Tesis, Caliornia, Universityo Southern Caliornia (1983), p. 328.

Al-Naim...

Figure 4: Qasr Tuwaiq Riyadh



values o ordinary people.

Tis led to what can be called a hesitant urban identity, exacerbated

in part by governmental planning. Since 1968, when Doxiadis started

planning Riyadh, the Saudi government initiated more than 100 plans

or most o the Saudi city, concentrating on physical planning and pay-

ing little attention to socio-cultural actors. Te resulting conflict in the

urban orms has increased the gap between residents and their urban

environment, a phenomenon which has played a major role in the cul-

tural resistance towards built environments in Saudi Arabia.

Tese recent and continuing shifs o emphasis within the built environment in Saudi Arabia are reactions to this sense

o lost identity.26Borrowing rom the past is used as a tool to maintain visual identity in Saudi Arabia. Al-Shuaibi 2states that designers o various disciplines always borrow rom the past, whether ancient or recent. 28Abu-Gezzeh also

encourages those buildings which he calls hybrid regional architecture. For him, this type o building reflects both

modern and traditional influences.29

Critical to urbanization issues such as this in Saudi Arabia is the role

o public participation in government planning, which mostly has

been minimal thus ar. Although Saudi Arabia has started to elect

municipal councils, the role o these councils is largely consultative

rather than decisive. Tis may change in the near uture due to pub-

lic pressure, but until this changes, responsibility or the urban orm

in Saudi Arabia remains in just a ew hands.

Whether the Saudi built environment will continue in its conserva-

tism, or open its arms to global trends, the identity o the Saudi urban

orm has already been crafed. Change will be difficult. Most important is to what extent Saudi society will absorb global

trends while maintaining its identity, and the uture o the decision making process in urban planning.

26. Early attempts to re-use traditional images in contemporary buildings started in the late 1970s, especially in governmentalbuildings. Tis can be attributed to the worldwide raised consciousness about the local cultures. M. Al-Naim, CultureHistory, and Architecture: Qasr Al-Hokm District in Riyadh,Ahlan Washlan(Saudi Arabian Airline Magazine), Vol. 20, No9, (1996), pp.12-17.27. Saudi architect, widely known and well regarded or interpreting and using traditional orms in the contemporary Saudiurban environment.28. H. Salam, ed., Expressions of Islam in Buildings, Proceedings o International Seminar, Sponsored by the Aga Khan Awardor Architecture and the Indonesian Institute o Architects, Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia (1990), p. 38.29. See . Abu-Gezzeh, Vernacular Architecture Education in the Islamic Society o Saudi Arabia: owards the Developmento an Authentic Contemporary Built Environment.

Al-Naim...

Figure 5: Urban morphology Riyadh

Figure 6: King Abdulaziz Historical Center. Note a

high rise building in the back constructed in the early

1980s.



Old Heritage, New Heritage: Building in Sanaa, Yemen

Michele Lamprakos

In the 1970s, when UNESCOs interest in Sanaa began, the old city with its re-markable tower houses o stone and brick was the city (Figure 1). Adjacent to itwere the walled palace precincts, severa

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