URBAN REGENERATION IN SOCIALLY DISJOINT DOHA

Analysis and development of planning guidelines for urban regeneration strategy for social and environmental sustainability through climate-adequate design solutions.

Qatar’s focus on gaining credibility as a global knowledge-based economy and partake on the circulation of global capital brings about a process of a ‚policy transfer‘ as a reference to importation of innovatory concepts. In order to reach contemporary international standards to attract the work force with entrepreneurial facets, the capital city of Doha adapted strategies of ‚beautification’ of urban quarters to innovate the architectural form.

Such procedure poses a danger to the existing environment by making it obsolete affecting structural integrity, social sustainability and cultural cohesion of the city. With 85% of population being international professionals, the locals often struggle in underperforming urban quarters excluded from urban happenings. The study analyses the possibilities for reconciliation of the disjoint structure and culture of Qatar, and creation of adaptable and future-oriented solution to absorb the influences of the global developments.

Synthesis of the form and the formless

Urban vitality is predominantly influenced, besides the design and the layout, by the character of the social interaction as well as ways of identifying with the environment. The underpinning rationale for a thriving neighborhood development is thus a careful evaluation of the dynamics between the form and the formless, the physical and the non-physical.

Doha’s management has been concerned with achieving high levels of urban vitality and sustainability in urban development and has adopted strategies to address the problem. Yet the image of a culturally vibrant hotspot often clash with the reality, as many international and Arab expats consider the city lacking a true evidence of an Islamic-Arabic city.

While the business aspect referencing the affiliation to culture is already integrated into the urban vision for Doha, there is an imbalance in livability among districts, creating a contrast between the newly built architectural spectacles and declining traditional neighborhoods.

Client undisclosed due to NDA.

The aim of the planning approach is orientation towards breaking away from the modernist Western style-guzzling towers loosely arranged without public realm with clearly identified causes of the unpredictability of the development, with a possibility to return to the traditional urban patterns and textures of historic Arab cities in an integrative manner.