Special Sessions/Forums/Side Events Machine Room
Oct 05, 2022 11:15 AM - 12:45 PM(Europe/Amsterdam)
20221005T1115 20221005T1245 Europe/Amsterdam The street as a barrier to better health on Middle Eastern Cities

Middle Eastern and particularly Gulf cities are fast growing cities supported by resource consumption (i.e. land and oil) and road infrastructure. However, when compared to the United States of America, Europe or China, there are fewer academic discussions of how infrastructure and urban development interact, and how these impact on those living in this region of the world. Cities of the Gulf are founded on similar characteristics, despite their subtle approach differences. Fossil fuel revenues, abundant land, automobile dependency and top-down governance have led to "tabula rasa" urbanities of extremes, such as densities, sprawl, architecture, infrastructure. The urban form and car dependency still form a vicious circle that is too solid to break. It is embedded in socio-spatial daily practices and urban development processes, from decision and policy-makers to consultants of mushrooming neighbourhoods. Amidst this urban spectacle, the street has transitioned from the Arabic to the modernist and to the neoliberal one, in constant reflection of the aforementioned circle. However, the evolution of the spatial, social and technical properties of the street and its impact at the urban form and human behaviour remains an open question. Furthermore, the Pandemic condition has assisted in highlighting many of those pathogenies at the urban and the architectural scale. The Panel participants are encouraged to submit and present research papers on the relationship of the street and the urban form on the Gulf Cities. Cities with particular context and behavioural patterns. This panel aims at initiating an international discussing questions – but not limited to – the following: 

How can we (re)think streets in low urban densities?  ...

Machine Room 58th ISOCARP World Planning Congress in Brussels, Belgium congress@isocarp.org
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Middle Eastern and particularly Gulf cities are fast growing cities supported by resource consumption (i.e. land and oil) and road infrastructure. However, when compared to the United States of America, Europe or China, there are fewer academic discussions of how infrastructure and urban development interact, and how these impact on those living in this region of the world. Cities of the Gulf are founded on similar characteristics, despite their subtle approach differences. Fossil fuel revenues, abundant land, automobile dependency and top-down governance have led to "tabula rasa" urbanities of extremes, such as densities, sprawl, architecture, infrastructure. The urban form and car dependency still form a vicious circle that is too solid to break. It is embedded in socio-spatial daily practices and urban development processes, from decision and policy-makers to consultants of mushrooming neighbourhoods. Amidst this urban spectacle, the street has transitioned from the Arabic to the modernist and to the neoliberal one, in constant reflection of the aforementioned circle. However, the evolution of the spatial, social and technical properties of the street and its impact at the urban form and human behaviour remains an open question. Furthermore, the Pandemic condition has assisted in highlighting many of those pathogenies at the urban and the architectural scale. The Panel participants are encouraged to submit and present research papers on the relationship of the street and the urban form on the Gulf Cities. Cities with particular context and behavioural patterns. This panel aims at initiating an international discussing questions – but not limited to – the following: 

  • How can we (re)think streets in low urban densities? 
  • How can we (re)think of healthier lifestyles within low density suburbs in the GCC? 
  • How will urban development changes reflect the sociocultural context? 
  • Why is policy change in the Gulf so difficult to achieve? 
  • Can public engagement methods support behavioural change and a policy shift? 
Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism
,
Abu Dhabi University
Associate Professor
,
Khalifa University
Professor of Architecture and Urbanism
,
HBKU
Independent Researcher
,
Public Health Consultant
Research Fellow
,
London School of Economics
Assoc. Prof Apostolos Kyriazis
Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism
,
Abu Dhabi University
Head of Care Design Lab
,
L'Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique
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