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AuthorSalama, Ashraf M.
AuthorAzzali, Simona
AuthorWiedmann, Florian
Available date2020-08-27T12:05:52Z
Publication Date2017
Publication NameCity, Territory and Architecture
ResourceScopus
ISSN21952701
URIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40410-017-0061-5
URIhttp://hdl.handle.net/10576/15832
AbstractPreventing the complete social restructuring and the relocation of migrant communities from traditional cores in Gulf cities to newly urbanized areas is a rising urban and social challenge. The Al Asmakh district in the old centre of Doha is an important example that manifests the current encounter between rising investment pressures and preserving the local identity including the particular urban life and spatial settings that have evolved over several decades. This paper presents key research findings with respect to the lived urban spaces of the Al Asmakh in order to exemplify the potential loss of very distinctive neighbourhoods and to introduce particular characteristics of urban spaces and the way migrant communities appropriate them. As part of a learning experiment undertaken at Qatar University in 2014, structured field surveys, systematic observations as well as behavioural mapping techniques were adopted as important approaches to investigation. The outcomes reveal stimulating dynamics between migrant communities and their environments. It also postulates that city residents have the capacity to recover swiftly from difficulties and resilience in spite of an impeding and hampering context. The paper concludes with projections of how contemporary transformation processes in Gulf cities will have to be based on diversity and social inclusion. Such a transformation should stem from the recognition that migrant communities need to have access to develop their own settings that relate to their routine spatial practices while securing the economic basis of many migrant labourers. - 2017, The Author(s).
SponsorKey components of this paper are developed based on an earlier comprehensive funded research project of the National Priorities Research Program, QNRF-Qatar National Research Fund (NPRP 09-1083-6–023). Thanks are due to the class groups of ARCT 420: Environment-Behaviour Studies, delivered as part of the professional five year program in architecture, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Qatar University. In particular we acknowledge the work of Al Amira Ebtissam Al Bash, Areej Radwan, Hadeel Saleh, Heba El-Gahani, Kholoud Soliman, Sania Fatima, Sara Abdulrahman. The authors acknowledge the resources offered through the leadership fund of the Department of Architecture at the University of Strathclyde toward developing this work.
Languageen
PublisherSpringer
SubjectDoha
Environment-behaviour studies
Everyday urbanism
Gulf cities
Migrant labourers
Socio-spatial practice
TitleThe everyday urban environment of migrant labourers in Gulf Cities: the case of the old centre of Doha, Qatar
TypeArticle
Issue Number1
Volume Number4
dc.accessType Open Access


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