Arab Sustainable Urbanism: Worlding Strategies, Local Struggles

• Main Author: Eric Verdeil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies 2019-06-01
• Series: Middle East : Topics & Arguments
• Subjects: Green Urbanism; Climate Change; Megaprojects; Rentier States; Arab Cities
• Online Access: https://meta-journal.net/article/view/7935

Unlike many metropolises that use green urbanism as a worlding strategy, Arab cities seem reluctant to embark on ambitious schemes addressing sustainability issues. To explain this situation, the article highlights three arguments. Firstly, as state-led governance prioritizes social stability, existing green plans have been scrapped in the face of political threats. Second, large, allegedly sustainable projects such as Masdar should not hide ongoing unsustainable urbanization features. Thirdly, the dominant framings of sustainability tend to focus on global issues (greenhouse gas emissions and low carbon energy), hence neglecting local claims for sustainability that do not fit into global environmental narratives.