al-Asad...
numerous urban centers in the region, such projects were overdue. Important examples of them have taken place in
Sana’a, Aleppo, Cairo, Jerusalem, and Hebron.
Interestingly, even Cairo, which has been suffering from extensive urban stress, particularly since the 1970s, has quietly
undergone a gradual, though limited, process of rehabilitation. A subway system was introduced as early as the second
half of the 1980s. Unleaded gasoline has replaced the leaded variety, thus helping soften the problems of air pollution.
The city’s endless decline seems to have been arrested. In fact, 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 city’s rapid growth and to address the problem
of urban sprawl, incorporating principles such as multi-use zoning and increased densification. In addition, a light-rail
line has been conceived to connect ‘Amman to the nearby industrial city of Zarqa and to eventually serve various parts
of ‘Amman itself. Similar plans are taking place elsewhere, as in Damascus, where there is talk of developing a new mas-
ter plan for the city.
Tourism also emerged as a main generator of projects on the urban scale, whether in creating new towns or affected
parts of existing ones. Initially, these were carried out mainly in Egypt, primarily in the Sinai Peninsula and along the
shores of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Others soon followed, as with the Jordanian port of Aqaba along the Red
Sea.
Although there has been an increasing emphasis on issues of urbanism in the past 15 years or so, interesting devel-
opments related to architecture also have been taking place. A number of unabashedly avant-garde architects have
emerged in the region, such as the Lebanese Bernard Khoury and the Jordanian Sahel Al Hiyari. These architects, who
have assumed a level of international recognition, have no place for historic or regional nostalgia in their work, but
emphasize creating novel modernist solutions. Their sources of inspiration interestingly enough are found in local con-
ventional low-tech industrial practices.
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The city of Dubai has come to best exemplify the second narrative. A series of themed districts, each referred to as a
“city,” have been built there; they include “Media City,” “Internet City,” “Motor City,” “Studio City,” and even “Culture City.”
Each of these high-end developments features a combination of housing units, recreational facilities (e.g., golf courses,
hotels, retail and office space), and specialized facilities relating to the theme of the district. Other urban-scale projects
include developing the now world-famous massive man-made islands in the shape of palm trees and a map of the earth,
all of which have been part of an effort aimed at “branding” Dubai on the global level.
A number of Dubai’s dazzling plans were initiated before the spike in oil prices that began around 2003 and took hold