Spared the same degree of civil unrest as its neighbours elsewhere in the Middle East have witnessed, Doha is part of Qatar's push to become an urban exemplar for the region, diversifying away from an oil-based economy by investing in education, enterprise, sport, transport and the quality of the public realm.
In the first of three articles, Tanya Gallo explores the capitalist redevelopment of downtown Beirut, and how it is threatening to create new segregations between the wealthy and the general public.
Alan Gilbert doesn't believe there is one, but if one must speak of a global urban agenda, he would point to local private sector lobbies as the common force driving similar agendas in cities around the world.
...but with the Al Maktoum International Airport, the logistics centre in Jebel Ali, and a flourishing of small-scale economic life, evidence would suggest otherwise, as Michele Acuto observes.
Oli Mould reflects on the tendency for policies that seek to boost a city's ranking on 'creative city' league tables to paper over the people and processes responsible for creativity.
Zoe Green is a chartered planning consultant with Atkins Ltd, with experience in policy and masterplanning projects for both private and public…
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The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
