The Role of Vernacular Architecture & Urbanism in Mitigating Heat

July 04, 2020 by AbdulRahman Al-Mana

Vernacular architecture is often appreciated for the historic aesthetic value that it presents. Preservationists and activists argue on the importance of preserving historic structure from a cultural angle: its unique character, the story that it tells, the memories people associate with a particular building. States and institutions may feel inclined to preserve such structure, to instill a national identity. To frame the nationalist state as an idea and concept much older than it is. Preservation vernacular architecture could also be argued for in economic terms. The Qatari state has begun heavily investing in heritage tourism as an alternate source of revenue. Yet, it is not often that preservation is argued for under an environmental lens.

We view the humanmade, the cultural, as something that is inherently opposed to the natural: but should that be the case? We understand and perceive the urban and urban spaces as something that is not natural. If anything, urban environments are seen as antithetical to the environment. Nature was seen as something to be conquered by humans. Nature was scary. It's home to beasts and fauna that could potentially be hazardous and poisonous. Moreover, nature was something to be exploited. It was through the exploitation of natural resources that man was able to build and create robust economies. This point draws an essential question to our understanding of urban spaces and where they stand in relation to the natural environment and requires a fundamental change in that understanding.

Dubai, UAE

Dubai has become a poster-child in the region of building with little regards to environmental context.

There is an underlying foundational issue with how urban spaces are being built and manifest themselves in the 21st century in the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Peninsula more broadly speaking. Does it make sense for architects, engineers, and urbanists to import architectural and urban styles and building methods in a region where the very environment rejects it? Urban heat islands have been written about extensively in academia and the press, how glass towers and wide avenues of asphalt heat our cities are well documented and understood. In a region where the natural climate is already naturally hot, it is vital to mitigate the urban heat island effect as much as possible when designing our cities.

The most critical factor in giving architecture a distinct look and feel is the environment and climate. Legendary architect and scholar Hassan Fathy writes in his book Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture that "Climate, in particular, produces certain easily observed effects on architectural forms." Whether in the deserts of New Mexico or the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, architectural principles follow very similar patterns: smaller windows, flat roofs, mud bricks, and projecting wooden spouts to collect water. Despite the geographical distance and the lack of communication modes between the two regions, it is surprising to see how similar these indigenous styles of architecture genuinely are.

Wadi Daw’an, Hadhramaut Governate, Yemen

The manners in which we have constructed our buildings, and by extension, our cities are mostly void of these environmental contexts. Architects and preservationists have long made an argument against the "International Style" where it is not suitable for the climate. Hassan Fathy writes on the adoption of the International Style in the tropics:

“Changing a single item in a traditional building method will not ensure an improved response to the environment or even an equally satisfactory one. Change is inevitable, and new forms and materials will be used, as has been the case throughout history. Often the convenience of modern forms and materials makes their use attractive in the short term. In the eagerness to become modern, many people in the Tropics have abandoned their traditional age-old solutions to the problems presented by the local climate and instead have adopted what is commonly labeled “international architecture,” based on the use of high-technology materials such as the reinforced-concrete frame and the glass wall. But a 3 x 3-m glass wall in a building exposed to solar radiation on a warm, clear tropical day will let in approximately 2000 kilocalories per hour. To maintain the microclimate of a building thus exposed within the human comfort zone, two tons of refrigeration capacity is required. Any architect who makes a solar furnace of his building and compensates for this by installing a huge cooling machine is approaching the problem inappropriately, and we can measure the inappropriateness of his attempted solution by the excess number of kilocalories he uselessly introduces into the building. Furthermore, the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Tropics are industrially underdeveloped and cannot afford the luxury of high-technology building materials or energy-intensive systems for cooling. Although traditional architecture is always evolving and will continue to absorb new materials and design concepts, the effects of any substitute material or form should be evaluated before it is adopted. Failure to do so can only result in the loss of the very concepts that made the traditional techniques appropriate.”

— Hassan Fathy, Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture

However, it is not enough to adopt these ideas in the architectural context; we must study and understand this ideology on a grander scale. The past 50 years of urban development in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula have primarily been motivated by the luxury, spectacle, and above-all: capital. It is not surprising that the lands that were stricken with the harshest levels of poverty and one of the worst qualities of life would want to free themselves from that life and adopt the new and modern. The tradition was a reminder of darker days. The people of the Persian Gulf embraced the new because it brought forth a better quality of life. Knowledge and expertise were outsourced to Europe, in the Khaleeji context, primarily to the British and Americans, who modeled our cities and capitals after their own. The automobile was embraced in the design, and wide avenues had to be built to accommodate more vehicles. Naturally, cities became covered in asphalt. Zoning codes mandated that buildings had to have sufficient parking spots for automobile drivers. Our new urban environment could only be described as an asphalt desert.

The impact asphalt has on the heat island effect is well documented. Dubai, one of the fastest developing cities in the region, has seen a 64.8% change in land cover and a 1.5 degree C rise in land surface temperature. Projects like the Blue Road on Abdullah Bin Jassim Street by Souq Waqif are certainly exciting in that aspect in mitigating this effect. But is this A) Enough? B) Actually helping? While the street has seen a decrease in temperature, it ignores the issue at large: Our urban design does not make sense in our environmental context.

Our forefathers built verandas by mosques and commercial areas, had narrow streets that gave shade to pedestrians, and created a scale in which people felt more comfortable walking. Moreover, despite the propagation of the idea that Khaleeji Urbanism was built with little regard to proper city planning measures is a false notion. A study that compares temporal variations 'organic' and 'structured' urban configurations in Dubai shows that the "organic" historic neighborhood of Al-Bastakiyah was "cooler in summer and autumn" than the 'structured' Orthogonal and Volume Orthogonal configurations. The configuration of the streets contributed to a smoother distribution of temperature throughout the entire site by directing the wind. Street and building orientation were built in terms of wind direction. This shows that a great deal of thought went into planning the streets and sikkak in Khaleeji towns before any colonial planning practices and that the supposed 'organic' structures were far better organized and structured than the modernist principles enforced by British engineering and architectural offices. Additionally, that same study concludes that the Bastakiyah street configuration should be selected as the recommended configuration not only for its thermal behavior, but also for the other sustainability dimensions it promotes.

“This type of configuration allows for higher levels of privacy and in other instances increased social interaction. It responds best to the cultural aspect of the society and at the same time to the climatic conditions of the city.”

— Dana Taleb & Bassam Abu-Hijleh (2012)

Snapshot of the Al-Bastakiyah Neighborhood in Dubai, UAE

Perhaps the best example of cooling technology in the Middle Eastern context is the wind catchers or the wind towers, also called barajeel (sing. barjeel), malaqif (sing. milqaf), and badgir. Wind catchers have come in an array of styles across the Middle East and South Asia, including Egypt, the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (It very common in the Sindh Province, where it was called Manghu) . A masterpiece of mechanical engineering developed thousands of years ago, architects and engineers were able to bring thermal comfort into their homes through these vertical wind channels. It is based on the principle of cold air suction from higher elevations into buildings. It acts as a natural solution developed in a pre-mechanical air conditioning era in hot desert climates. Residents of these hot climates were forced to adapt to their natural environments, and through that, they were able to innovate. The crucial underlying point here is that this technological innovation was spurred about by necessity, due to its geographic and climatic situation. Towers can vary in design, height, and depending on whether the climate of specific geography is dry or humid, the technology can vary slightly.

Milqaf (Cairo, Egypt)

One-Sided Badgir (Mehriz, Iran)

Octahedral Badgir (Yazd, Iran)

Manghu (Hyderabad, Pakistan)

One-Sided Barjeel (Dubai, UAE)

Two-Sided Barjeel (Manama, Bahrain)

Manghu (Hyderabad, Pakistan)

For thousands of years, barajeel provided natural ventilation of air that is free from pollutants and dirt due to the elevated air source. This air flows into the interior spaces of the house, such as a living room or a bedroom of sorts. Regardless of the building's orientation and its relation to the wind direction, the barajeel were still able to cool down buildings. In dryer climates, the airflow can be directed through a water source such as a fountain to increase humidity. It is astonishing today to look at these technologies, as most people today cannot fathom how to live in our environment without mechanical air conditioning, and considering how four of the ten highest countries in electricity consumption are situated in the Persian Gulf, we should consider how to reduce electricity consumption to become environmentally sustainable. Dr. Ayman Alsuliman at the University of Jordan (2014) has written on the merits of wind catchers as an environmentally friendly technology for cooling. He cites that mechanical air conditioning relies on Freon gas, the cooling agent used in most air conditioning systems, extremely harmful to the environment, while wind catchers don't. He also notes that the higher oxygen levels in the air with the guarantee of continuous ridding of CO2 and ensures higher productivity levels. The study also concludes that natural underground ventilation systems result in 60% savings in energy consumption compared to mechanical cooling. Technological innovation and mechanical cooling systems do not call for the riddance of traditional cooling methods; instead, we should embrace and innovate new technologies and build on cooling methods used in vernacular architecture.

So, what does this mean? Where do we go from here? Should we return to building houses from mud bricks and tear down our roads? Not quite. However, when designing new neighborhoods or retrofitting current suburbs in our cities, we should perhaps embrace traditional building methods and philosophies. Why turn to European expertise and philosophies in our city building when our builders had the right idea for centuries? Earlier in this article, I called for a radical change in our understanding: but these fundamental ideas are not radical. These were ideas that are tried and true, age-old and have worked for years. This idea is not at all revolutionary, it's common-sense. If it responds best to our climactic condition and the cultural elements of society, why should we not adopt it?

This article was inspired by the brilliant Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy. I wholeheartedly recommend reading his books if you are at all interested in vernacular architecture. Both Architecture for the Poor and Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture, although the latter maybe hard to find.

Articles Referenced:

Alsuliman, A. (2014). Wind Catchers and Sustainable Architecture in the Arab World. Journal of Civil and Environmental Research, 6, 130–136.

Taleb, D., & Abu-Hijleh, B. (2013). Urban Heat Islands: Potential effect of organic and structured urban configurations on temperature variations in Dubai, UAE. Renewable Energy, 50, 747–762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.07.030

The Destruction of Mecca & Medina's Historic Landscapes

October 03, 2019 by AbdulRahman Al-Mana

“La Mecque” - Louis-Nicolas de Lespinasse, circa 1787.

In a cultural landscape class which discusses issues of historic preservation, I introduced myself as a student interested in issues of historic preservation in the Arabian Peninsula, and how cities of the past are being destroyed across the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula. My professor responded: “Islamic cultures have never been particularly great at preservation”, this throwaway remark by my professor struck me. As different students in the class introduced themselves and their interest, I couldn’t help but stay stuck on that remark the professor had made. I had always attributed the lack of historic preservation in the Middle East to the modernist movement and capitalist motives. The sudden influx of wealth from fossil fuels demanded a lot of new development that came at the cost of our urban heritage. Looking at historic preservation practices under a religious lens could help us better understand the attitude on preservation in an Arab-Islamic context. Islam is an innately urban religion, Mecca & Medina are the cradles of Islam and are cities that have existed for millennia, and yet today it is dominated by massive skyscrapers, hotels, malls, and cranes. The Gulf Institute in Washington D.C. estimates that 95% of 1000-year-old structures in Mecca & Medina have been demolished, but what forces are to blame for this destruction?

The need for conservation in Islamic cities is often drawn to individual monuments, mosques, mausoleums, fortresses, palaces, etc. But, what is of greater importance and a subject of emphasis is the historic city centers. Conservation within Islamic cities does not only pertain to saving important monuments, which provide plenty of architectural elements unique to Islamic traditions and culture, but also to safeguard the settings of these important monuments and to improve the environment of these urban areas. The rapid pace of development in the Middle East has perpetuated a false narrative that the Arab-Islamic urban is as new as the oil boom, whereas Islamic traditions since the time of the prophet have been rooted in cities.

The prophet himself lived in the city of Mecca and spent the last decade of his life in al-Medina al Munawara (The Illuminated City), otherwise referred to as Medina. Islamic civilizations have always been urban in character and nature, the mosque requiring a permanent population and a fixed location demanded them to be as such. The social and communal solidarity based on religion was ingrained in the fabric and development of Islamic civilizations. Mecca and Medina are the two holiest cities of Islam, effectively being the cradle of the religion. One is the birthplace of the Prophet while the latter is his burial place. Muslims are commanded by God as part of the five pillars of Islam to perform Hajj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage to the Holy Mosque and Kaaba in Mecca where a series of rituals are performed. Many pilgrims will choose to visit Medina as part of their Hajj, to visit the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (Mosque of the Prophet), which contains Muhammad's tomb. The Quba Mosque and Masjid al-Qiblatayn are also usually visited as well. While both of the cities are of great spiritual and religious value to Muslims, its historical importance to the planning practices of Islamic civilization has been understudied in Western literature. The layout of courtyards in residential neighborhoods of Medina within narrow alleyways in relation to wider avenues that lead to mosques has major implications to the way we understand the Islamic planning process and the legacy of these traditions remain alive in the historic center of early Islamic cities such as Basrah, Kufa, Fustat, Kairouan, and Wasit. These planning processes were led under the Prophet’s guidance and followed by the Caliphs. The loss of historic monuments and structures in Islamic cities, particularly in Mecca and Medina, has always been attributed to economic development and rapid urbanization. Business and capital interests demanded a substantial amount of construction of infrastructure. The destruction of heritage necessitated by development and modernization can be understood as a legacy of colonialism. In a conference on the preservation of Islamic urban heritage in Istanbul, the chairman of the Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI) was quoted: “... What continues to be the greatest threat and what had spurred the destruction of Islamic urban heritage in the Middle East and beyond are the forces of westernization overtaking the Islamic world”. What is ironic about this statement is that the chairman of the AUDI, who is Saudi, and the AUDI, which is housed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, neglects that much of the destruction in Mecca and Medina was encouraged by the hardline Wahhabi doctrine which is practiced and forced in Saudi Arabia.

“Medina, showing the ancient wall of the city” - King Abdulaziz Public Library, circa 1890s(?)

The Saudi dynasty and the Wahhabi religious movement are intimately tied into the unification of Arabia, as well as the Al-Saud’s rise to power. The Wahabbi doctrine is a puritanical and literal interpretation of Islam and a return to the sunna, the traditional portion of Islamic Sharia based on Muhammad's words or acts. The religious movement sees its origins in the late 18th-century where Islamic scholar, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, forms an alliance with Prince Muhammad bin Saud, to create unified Arabia and to fight Ottoman rule. Arabia would be unified by the ‘true monotheist doctrine of Islam’ and to purify the Muslim Empire from Shirk (idolatry). The strict forbiddance of idolatry presented a threat to historical structures in Mecca as structures became focal points for prayers, particularly mausoleums and burial sites that housed the prophet and his companions. With the advent of the first Saudi state following the Wahhabi-Saudi alliance taking over Nejd, Wahhabi forces sacked the Shiite holy city Karbala in modern-day Iraq, killing over 5,000 people and plundering the Place of Al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib. This is mainly because Shia practices and beliefs violated what Wahhabis believed to be the fundamentals of the religion – “the Quran, the Sunnah, and the Hanbali school's legal positions”. Wahhabi forces successfully take over Mecca in 1805, where they began their campaign of destruction in numerous sacred sites and proceeded to level all the existing domes, including the ones built over the well of Zamzam, where it is believed that God miraculously generated this water for Abraham’s son Ishmael and his mother Hajar while starving and thirsty in the desert. In 1806, Wahhabi forces took over Medina where they razed all domes and structures within, and outside, of the Baqi cemetery. Noteworthy sites that were destroyed include the Mosque of Fatima al-Zahra, the Mosque of al-Manaratain, and Qubbat' al-Thanaya. The Wahhabis and the Saudis intended to demolish the grave of the Prophet Muhammad many times, but would repeatedly change their minds. The Ottoman caliphate would then defeat the Wahhabis in 1818 and reclaim the two holy cities, and they would begin renovating and building the domes and mosques in a splendid aesthetic style. The Ottomans also built a dome on the Baqi’ cemetery over the graves of the prophet’s daughter Fatima al-Zahra, Zainul 'Abidin ('Ali bin al-Hussain), Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Baqir and Ja'far al-Sadiq.

Jannatul-Baqi before Demolition - Unknown Author, circa 1910s.

The destruction of holy sites would continue into the 20th and the 21st century as the unification of Arabia begins to take place and the Ottoman empire begins to crumble. The House of Saud regained control of Mecca and Medina in 1924 and carried out the second campaign of demolition in the Baqi’ cemetery. On April 21, 1925, King Ibn Saud granted permission to destroy the Baqi’ cemetery. Mausoleums, domes, and even the simplest of gravestones were destroyed by Wahhabi militias. The cemetery which honored Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib and Aminah, Muhammad's father and mother, as well as other notable family members and Imams, was now a complete wasteland. British convert Eldon Rutter describes the destruction as a natural disaster:

“All over the cemetery, nothing was to be seen but little indefinite mounds of earth and stones, pieces of timber, iron bars, blocks of stone, and broken rubble of cement and bricks, strewn about.”

The practice of justifying the destruction of historical and religious sites in the two holy cities continue to be justified by Wahhabi clerics of Saudi Arabia. Wahhabi clerics who play a major role in deciding the kingdom’s politics and religious life have vigorously opposed structures devoted to mortals as it diluted the worship of a single and unique God. A fatwa issued by the official Saudi body responsible for religious rulings states:

“It is impermissible to exaggerate the importance of historical sites and buildings because this might lead to Shirk [idolatry]. The laypeople may be tempted to believe that such places are blessed, and be driven to commit acts of disbelief. The Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade building over graves and performing Salah (Prayer) by them, for that is a means of Shirk. It is, therefore, obligatory to neglect and abandon such a deed and to warn against it.”

Mecca_prayer,_1889.tif.png — **Mecca, a millennium-old city, lacks its millennium-old buildings.**

“View of the mosque, while congregational Çalat [i.e., Salat] are being held inside” - ʻAbd al-Ghaffār al-Sayyid, circa 1889.

In place of shrines and sites that honored religious figures stand entirely new sites and shrines dedicated to commerce. Around 70 years ago, the site in which the prophet was believed to be born in was turned into a cattle market close to the Grand Mosque, where the Ka’aaba is. In 1989, Ahmed Zaki Yamani led a team that excavated the alleged home of the prophet and his first wife, Khadijah, near the Grand Mosque. They worked for twenty-four hours to unearth the house and proceeded to take photographs of the structure but then filled it with sand, knowing that powerful clergy would consider the entire site blasphemous and would tear it down. The structure has since then been converted into a library Maktabat Makka al-Mukarrama, which houses many historical texts and archives on the prophet and the holy city. The library had come under threat of demolition with the Jabal Umar project, the largest real estate development projects near the Grand Mosque and in Mecca. The project has been described as a: “a sprawling complex that will eventually accommodate 100,000 people in 26 luxury hotels-sitting on another gargantuan plinth of 4,000 shops and 500 restaurants, along with its own six-story prayer hall”. Other real estate development projects would encompass and encircle the Grand Mosque. Skyscrapers and malls would tower over the holy site, mocking its ‘grand’ title. In 2002, the Ottoman built Ajyad Fortress which sat atop the Bulbul hill was demolished after 222 years. The landmarks were replaced by the Abraj al-Bait complex, which included the Mecca Royal Clock Tower, six skyscrapers, and a large shopping mall developed in partnership with foreign hotel chains. These commercial developments are subsidized by the Saudi government King Abdul Aziz Endowment for the Holy Haram, as an effort to commercialize and make a profit off of the Hajj and religious tourism.

The destruction of the Ajyad fortress spurred international and domestic protests and fueled further outrage on the destruction of heritage sites within the international Islamic world. The Turkish foreign minister attempted to stop the demolition, along with the Turkish Culture Minister has asked UNESCO to protest to Saudi Arabia, describing the demolition as a “crime against humanity and UNESCO should expose this disgraceful and ugly destruction and cultural massacre". Rallies and protests are held annually against Saudi sponsored destruction globally, most notably in Iran, India, Pakistan, and the United States. The day is known as Yaum-e Gham/Rooz-e Gham ("Day of Sorrow") by many Shiite Muslims. The Saudi government’s destruction of historic sites has largely targeted sites that are important to Shia Muslims, further fueling the sectarian conflict in the Middle East and the proxy war between Saudi and Iran.

Abraj Al-Bait looming over the Grand Mosque.

The question of ownership of historic sites in Mecca and Medina becomes an incredibly difficult question to answer. Islam has 1.8 billion adherents to the religion, all of which have some claim to make on these sites. Islamic history and the history of Mecca and Medina are not exclusive to Arabs and the settlers of Arabia. The region has a long history of Persian, Turkish, and other peoples living and traveling to the region. Every adherent to the religion of Islam could make a spiritual claim to this site. Moreover, Ottoman heritage and architecture is important to the region as it marks the long rule of the Ottoman empire over the Hejaz, as well as provide a visual and aesthetic mark in history on the development of Islamic architecture. There is very little room to contest the claims of the Saudi, during the demolition of the fortress the Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs was quoted that "no-one has the right to interfere in what comes under the state's authority", and that these commercial developments have the Muslim world’s best interest as it is an effort to accommodate more pilgrims.

This conflict of ownership of Islamic cultural landscapes is extended to Islamic theology and culture as a whole. The ownership of heritage sites in Mecca and Medina is a lense on a much broader issue which is the growing influence and spread of Wahhabi ideology sponsored by the Saudi government. Wahhabi clerics see their message as the only ‘true and pure’ interpretation of Islam, and any other form of worship is heresy, completely invalidating the diverse forms of worship found across the Muslim world and its different sects and schools. Mosques and Islamic schools are built across the Muslim world in Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia which preach this hardline puritanical version of Islam, and as clergy are continued to be pushed and promoted through Saudi media and broadcasting on radio and television, their sphere of influence continues to grow. The way in which the Wahhabi narrative operates seem to conflict with Islamic ideals, Islam as a faith was sent to all people, regardless of race and ethnicity.

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; a white has no superiority over a black, nor does a black have any superiority over a white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.”

As the cast of luxury hotels and apartments, perched above a complex of shopping malls and large cranes cast their eerie shadow over our cities that once was, all that remains the singular Ka’aaba, dwarfed by the commercial complex. The Wahhabis have destroyed historic landscapes as the act of preservation in and of itself privileges the land as something holy, and is therefore considered an act of idolatry and apostasy. In a fatwa issued by Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz, then the kingdom's highest religious authority: "It is not permitted to glorify buildings and historical sites, such action would lead to polytheism. … So it is necessary to reject such acts and to warn others away from them." Yet, what they fail to recognize is in its place we have built temples to capital, temples dedicated to Mammon. The chase of greed and capital and profiting off of holy sites goes against Wahhabi ideals. The double standards the Saudis have committed on the preservation, or lack thereof, of religious and historical landscapes is a disservice to the entire Muslim world. The destruction of holy lands was justified by the Saudis as an act done on behalf of all Muslims, yet all Muslims can make a claim and have made a claim to these religious sites as a place to be preserved.

Evaluating Urban Heritage In Doha

June 15, 2019 by AbdulRahman Al-Mana

Historic urban cores are the backbone of a city’s cultural identity. London; Rome; Istanbul; and Tokyo are all cities that have existed for centuries, and are places that have captured the eyes and hearts of the world. These cities all share something in the fact that they have a defined cultural identity that survived through the preservation and maintenance of the socio-cultural, environmental and economic characteristics of their built heritage. The preservation of built heritage represents a collection of ‘local memories’ that allows citizens to interact, share, and experience urban history as the city lives and breathes. In an age where cities all over the world compete to attract global markets, cultural heritage acts as a magnet for tourists and investors. It is no surprise then that there is a great deal of interest for cities that seek to penetrate the global stage such as Doha, to market themselves not only as new and cutting edge but as centers of culture and history.

Souq Waqif circa 1967. Taken from Anne Elliot’s Flickr page.

Jane Jacobs writes extensively in The Death and Life of Great American Cities on preservation issues and the need for old buildings: “Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them. By old buildings I mean not museum-piece old buildings, not old buildings in an excellent and expensive state of rehabilitation–although these make fine ingredients–but also a good lot of plain, ordinary, low-value old buildings, including some rundown old buildings”.

Doha in 1956