Cities Media Roundup (May-June 2019)

Ramlet El-Bayda, Beirut. Photo by Sean Long via Flickr. Ramlet El-Bayda, Beirut. Photo by Sean Long via Flickr.

Cities Media Roundup (May-June 2019)

By : Cities Page Media Roundup Editors

[This is a monthly roundup of news articles, and other materials related to urban issues in the region, and beyond. It does not reflect the views of the Cities Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send recommendations for inclusion in the Cities Media Roundup to cities@jadaliyya.com, mentioning “Roundup” in the subject line. We also welcome your submissions to the Cities Page: please check here.]

Everyday Life


My House in Cairo
. Peter Hessler from the New Yorker recounts his time in politically unstable Egypt through stories about his house and neighborhood in Cairo. 

Istanbul and the AKP: Springboard, Showcase and Ali Baba’s Cave. The election of Ekrem İmamoğlu, candidate of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in Istanbul City Hall was finally canceled, following incredible pressure from power. It will take place again on 23 June and for economic, political, and symbolic reasons, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided that he could not afford to lose this "Ali Baba cave."

Etude - l’inclusion des personnes lGBTQI+ dans la ville. Comment promouvoir le vivre-ensemble à l’échelle locale ? [French]. In order to highlight the good practices of local governance favoring the inclusion of LGBTQI + people in the city, the Urban School of Sciences Po and the AIMF, with the support of the European Union, present a study which leans on the portrait of four cities: Beirut, Phnom Penh, Ouagadougou, and Mexico City. 

Housing and Planning Issues


تحرير الاراضي في بنت جبيل: ملايين الدولارات إلى جيوب المسّـاحين!
 [Arabic] Al-Akhbar reports on the irregularities in the compulsory real estate survey of the city of Bint Jbeil (Lebanon) pointing to violations on public and private property.

عيتاني يؤكد تغيُر المخطط ويعترف بضرر المشروع.. أهالي عين المريسة وبيروت مدينتي يرفضون "تبليط البحر" [Arabic]. The mayor of Beirut, Jamal Itani, confirmed to the "Legal Agenda" that the "Development of the Beirut Sea Corniche" project has changed completely following the observations of the residents of Ain al-Mreiseh and environmental experts who participated in a debate organized by the municipality to discuss the project.

Nouvelles infractions sur la plage publique de Ramlet el-Baïda [French] Lebanese francophone daily, L’Orient Le Jour reports on a new series of violations recorded on Beirut’s Ramlet al-Baida, public beach. 

Backlash against Beirut beach blitz. Beirut Governor Ziad Chebib is facing backlash over a decision to destroy unlicensed, temporary structures used by locals and NGOs on the Ramlet al-Baida beach while being accused of turning a blind eye to larger encroachments on the capital’s coast.

Trading Long-Term Development of Lebanon’s Built Environment for Shortsighted Gains. Since Lebanon’s cabinet received a vote of confidence on 15 February 2019, its focus has remained primarily on the budget deficit. Under the banner of “austerity,” decisionmakers have sought ways to cut spending, often by digging into the salaries of underprivileged social groups. Concurrently, the challenge of accumulating revenues for empty public coffers has shifted attention toward building violations, specifically concerning structures which break zoning and urban laws (e.g., building taller and/or larger than allowed) or structures illegally situated in the maritime public domain. Imposing fines on owners of these structures is seen as a potentially important source of public revenue.

Oman Has a Strategic Port to Avoid the Ormuz Straits. Duqm, once a modest fishing harbor located on the Arabian Sea is about to become an economic megalopolis—a mammoth project, initiated by the Sultanate of Oman but taken over by the great powers. On 13 March 2019 the United States signed an agreement to make it easier for their warships to access the harbor, but China may well turn out to be a major player in the Sultan’s conception, meant to revitalize and diversify Oman’s economy.

Métro du Caire: bisbille entre Sissi et les fleurons français du BTP [French]. The flagship site of the subway of the Egyptian capital is partly at a standstill. In question, a hidden conflict between the regime and French companies.

Prochaine relocalisation de Souk el-Ahad [French]. Established for twenty-six years near the Beirut River in Sin al-Fil, Souk al-Ahad is to be relocated soon. This is the end of a dispute that has lasted for more than ten years between the two operators of this week-end flea market and the municipality of Sin al-Fil to whom the land belongs, but which had no control over these places, where all kinds of products were sold and which attract a large crowd every weekend. 

Construire trois millions de logements en Algérie (1999-2018) [French]. In half a century, the population of Algerian cities has increased six-fold. Breaking with three decades of hesitation and clientelist relations, the authorities embarked on a bold construction policy from the 2000s. Housing remains a rare, expensive and uncomfortable property, and the methods used by the brutal public authorities.

بلدية الحدت متمسكة بقرارها بقوة "التفّهم" السياسي [Arabic]. This article from the Lebanese daily al-Nahar sheds the light on the Hadath municipality and its unwillingness to sell or rent out real estate to people from a different sect.

War, Conflict, Displacement, and Urban Protests


Australian, Canadian firms pull out of Israeli settler railway
. “The Electronic Intifada can exclusively reveal that Canadian engineering giant Bombardier has pulled out of a bid to expand and operate an Israeli tramway linking settlements in the occupied West Bank.”

Basra’s Political Marketplace: Understanding Government Failure after the Protests. To date, the policy discussion on Basra has revolved around whether or not the newly appointed central government under Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi’s leadership can deliver basic services to a population angered over many years of stalled, failed infrastructure projects. Comparatively little attention has been paid to the impact of Basra’s unique local political dynamics on the challenge of service provision and reconstruction. In what follows it is argued that the failure of reconstruction is a product of this fraught, extractive political marketplace.

Precarious revolution: labour and neoliberal securitisation in Egypt. The article draws on precarious workers’ engagement with the Egyptian revolution between 2011 and 2013. Despite their radical moves—reclaiming land previously appropriated by the state and staging various neighborhood protests—the workers in this ethnography refused to associate with the revolution. 

A Tunis, les chiffonniers sortent de l’ombre [French]. In Ettadhamen, a popular suburb of the Tunisian capital, the waste collectors' corporation is organizing to defend its rights. 

Raqqa is in ruins like a modern Dresden. This is not 'precision bombing'. In her opinion piece for the Guardian, Kate Allen asks, “Thousands of Syrians are dead and their city devastated. How dare the US, UK, and French militaries speak of ‘surgical strikes’?”

Maintaining a Jewish majority: Jerusalem Municipality to demolish entire Palestinian neighborhood, leaving 500 people without a roof over their heads. The Jerusalem Municipality issued demolition orders for all the neighborhood homes so all the families there are facing the threat of expulsion. In late April, the city already demolished two of the houses and displaced two of the families.

Why Syria's territorial divisions complicate reconstruction. Russia’s efforts towards the reconstruction of Syria are hindered by inherent challenges in the territorial fragmentation of the country. 

How a small Turkish city successfully absorbed half a million migrants. Gaziantep has grown by thirty percent due to newcomers fleeing the crisis across the border in Syria, but remains a model of tolerance and pragmatism.

Housing, displacement and the elderly: intersectional spatial narratives from Tareek el Jdeede, Beirut. This short contribution stems from a current research partnership between Public Works Studio and DPU in the remit of the RELIEF Centre Project to study the effects of real estate policy and the financialization of housing markets, which have resulted in the eviction and displacement of the most vulnerable social groups in Beirut turning the capital city into an exclusive, unjust, and vulnerable place.

Culture and Urban Heritage


Shrines, palaces, malls and red buses: A whistle-stop tour of Iraq
. Iraq's tourist industry is largely geared towards religious pilgrims. Robert Tollast from the Middle-East Eye decided to go on a seven-day tour of the country.

A Jewish Shrine inside a Mosque: The History of Ezekiel’s Tomb in Iraq. “Al-Kifl is an ordinary Iraqi town, except for one thing: the synagogue that gives the place its identity. Down the narrow lane of al-Kifl’s bazaar, through a small passageway whose overhang is covered in geometric turquoise tile work, sits the shrine of the Biblical Prophet Ezekiel.”

Le tourisme 2.0 en Iran : déconstruire les clichés et les peurs [French] Iran fascinates, intrigues, awakens curiosity and fantasies. Millennial culture, legendary hospitality, incredible landscapes, the country has more than one asset. Yet, travelers are still few to discover it. To attract them, Iranians have decided to deconstruct fears and clichés.

The SoHo of Beirut: why Karantina is now attracting designers, artists and DJs. “Karantina has a long history as a neighborhood designed for and populated by outsiders–first migrants and refugees and later workers in industries kept out of sight and mind on the fringes of the city. Now it is being enfolded into the fabric of Beirut. In the past few years, it has become a magnet for nightclub owners and creative entrepreneurs seeking alternatives to a city that has priced them out of the market.” 

Memory And The Everyday In Homs, Syria. Ammar Azzouz architect at ARUP. Ph.D. University of Bath, and a former visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge and author of A tale of a Syrian city at war: Destruction, resilience, and memory in Homs interviewed by Debbie Humphry. 

Deir Ezzor’s streets after the war: What do we do with all these memories? Writing for Raseef22, Zeina Shahla recounts the memories left from the city’s destroyed landmarks.

L’Arabie au-delà des mythes [French]. While consulates have texts in European languages already known about the history of the Arabian Peninsula, the book of Louis Blin, Consul General in Jeddah (2012-2015) presents the originality of offering readers a discovery of Arabia through literary texts. The author offers 208 writings composed by seventy-seven visitors from Jeddah. They are happy with their travel memories, among which the story of this terra incognita is traced through thrilling documents teeming with details.

Environment


How Egypt’s water feeds the Gulf
. This story by Nada Arafat and Saker El Nour about the acquisition of Egypt’s natural resources to secure Gulf food.

Growing Link between Lebanon’s Cancer Surge and EU Abetted Corruption. Martin Jay reports on Lebanon’s infamous corruption that is swallowing up EU cash for environmental projects which scientists are now calling a “disaster” for health. 

بعد المنطقة الصناعية: المتين بلا غابة ولا ينابيع! [Arabic]. Al-Akhbar reports on the fears of Mtein’s (Lebanon) residents towards the project of the industrial zone to be built in their town will be completed on the entire "Horsh al-Haya" which is classified as a nature reserve.

انتحار جماعي للمدينة: الهواء الملوث يغطي 76% من بيروت [Arabic]. In this piece, al-Akhbar sheds the light on the worsening air pollution issues in Beirut.

The gardens of Damascus: Can Syrians reconnect with nature? Alex Ray reports on how the Syrian capital's green spaces symbolize how many are trying to revitalize the environment amid the blood of war.

New urban forest planted to save Beirut's river. Sam Brennan for al-Monitor reports on the local and international civil groups coming together in Lebanon’s capital to create an urban forest as part of a larger project to restore the heavily polluted Beirut river.

Arab Sustainable Urbanism: Worlding Strategies, Local Struggles. Despite strong warnings, Arab cities seem reluctant to embark in ambitious schemes addressing sustainability issues. The article draws on a literature review to highlight two arguments. Firstly state-led governance prioritizes in most urban settings social stability and claims to modern and resource-consuming comfort. It tends to favor private interests, which conceives sustainability as a business and marginalizes local authorities and even more, civic movements including green parties and associations. Secondly, the dominant framings of sustainability tend to focus on global transitions (GHG emissions and low carbon energy), hence overlooking local claims for sustainability that do not fit in the global environmental narratives, thus dismissing it. Nonetheless, these issues represent key motivations for the local definition of a sustainable urban future.

The Ababda tribe: Scattered by climate change and development initiatives. This article is part of a joint publishing project under the umbrella of an independent media network in the Arab world that brings together Nawaat, Al-Jumhuriya, Assafir Al-Arabi, Mada Masr, Babelmed, Mashallah News, 7iber and Orient XXI. It attempts to shed light on the phenomenon of migration, but not by focusing on existing definitions, numbers, and established facts. The journalists involved in the project have been following migration from different angles, considering the multiple routes and diverse motivations and causes behind the phenomenon; from travel preparations and detailed journeys to processes of integration and social and economic conditions in host countries. 

Mahdia : Mobilisation citoyenne à Rejiche contre la pollution marine par l’ONAS [French]. The beach was rusty, the water was black, the smell was very strong. Still, they kept saying that everything is fine. "Go ahead, prove it," responded the regional director of ONAS when the inhabitants of Réjiche (Mahdia) denounced the marine pollution caused by the wastewater treatment plant of the town for nearly twenty years. This month of June 2019, the confrontation between citizens supported by the municipality and the National Office of Sanitation has reached its climax. It took an ecological disaster and unprecedented police violence so that the citizens of Réjiche finally get agreements. Back on a mobilization that does not lose its breath.

Resources


Media Roundup: CEDEJ – Revue de Presse, Ville – Mars/Avril 2019 [French]. CEDEJ’s March and April edition of their bimonthly Cities Media Roundup. 

Report: La mise en image du rebut. Matières, corp(u)s et pratiques autour des déchets [French]. Extracted from the traveling exhibition "La mise en image du rebut : matières, corp(us) et pratiques autour des déchets," these photographs result from a reflection on the status of images in research work on waste. This work was put in place by the research network of the Sociétés urbaines et déchets (SUD), which uses various approaches and fields to analyze social, cultural, political, economic and social and special processes that unfold around waste management and affects these workers.

Report: Dynamiques marchandes et nouvelles centralités dans une ville portuaire algérienne : Skikda [French]. The question of redefining urban centralities and the practices of city dwellers is relevant in the context of Algerian and Maghreb cities more widely. In Algeria, numerous publications and theses have shown the emergence of new forms and functions of space, even affecting residential neighborhoods, as a result of the redistribution of oil rents and the rise of the import trade. Based on empirical research in a port city in Algeria, this article examines how the process of commercial expansion affects the system of centrality, as well as the spatial practices and representations of inhabitants. It highlights the strategies of private economic and decision-making actors in this process, as well as the relationship that inhabitants develop with these areas. This research shows that the recent commercial dynamics of initially residential neighborhoods have given rise to new market forms, reorganizing the structure of centrality and renewing the everyday life of the inhabitants.

Report: Remunicipalisation of Local Energy Provision: The Role of Cities and Bottom-up Initiatives. On 29 March 2019 CIDOB held a roundtable on “Local Energy Supplies and Recommunalisation of Utility Providers” to discuss the different ways actors are transforming the traditional schemes of local energy provision. Bringing together practitioners, civil society actors and academics made it possible to shed light on practical cases in European cities such as Hamburg, Berlin, and Barcelona, as well as cases in the Global South such as Hebron in Palestine and Montevideo in Uruguay. This policy brief is a compilation of the opportunities and existing challenges that surround processes of remunicipalisation.

This media roundup has been compiled by Christophe Maroun with the input of Jadaliyya Cities Editors.

  • ALSO BY THIS AUTHOR

    • Extended Cities Media Roundup (January-April 2020)

      Extended Cities Media Roundup (January-April 2020)

      This is a monthly roundup of news articles, and other materials related to urban issues in the region, and beyond. It does not reflect the views of the Cities Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send recommendations for inclusion in the Cities Media Roundup to cities@jadaliyya.com, mentioning “Roundup” in the subject line. We also welcome your submissions to the Cities Page: please check here.

    • Cities Media Roundup (November-December 2019)

      Cities Media Roundup (November-December 2019)

      This is a monthly roundup of news articles, and other materials related to urban issues in the region, and beyond. It does not reflect the views of the Cities Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send recommendations for inclusion in the Cities Media Roundup to cities@jadaliyya.com, mentioning “Roundup” in the subject line. We also welcome your submissions to the Cities Page: please check here.

    • Cities Media Roundup (September-October 2019)

      Cities Media Roundup (September-October 2019)

      This is a monthly roundup of news articles, and other materials related to urban issues in the region, and beyond. It does not reflect the views of the Cities Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send recommendations for inclusion in the Cities Media Roundup to cities@jadaliyya.com, mentioning “Roundup” in the subject line. We also welcome your submissions to the Cities Page: please check here.

Cities Media Roundup (March-April 2019)

[This is a monthly roundup of news articles, and other materials related to urban issues in the region, and beyond. It does not reflect the views of the Cities Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send recommendations for inclusion in the Cities Media Roundup to cities@jadaliyya.com, mentioning “Roundup” in the subject line. We also welcome your submissions to the Cities Page: please check here.] 

Everyday Life


Revanchism entrenched: the case of Cairo’s middle-class street food vendors
. In her working paper, Nada Sallam argues that street vending has historically been associated with Cairo's urban poor; viewed primarily as an impediment to modernization and subjected to harassment and displacement at the hands of the state. More recently, however, the city has witnessed the emergence of many middle-class street food vendors, who instead have been met with significant public encouragement and supportive state rhetoric and policies.  

En Afrique, des lignes de bus cartographiées par les usagers [French]. In Accra (Ghana), Cairo (Egypt), or Nairobi (Kenya), free tools allow citizens to geolocate the transport lines they use, and thus jointly develop the maps that are lacking. 

Élections municipales en Turquie. Un scrutin périlleux pour Erdoğan [French]. The Turkish municipal elections to be held on 31 March could have an effect on the national policy of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Two blocks clash, as in the previous parliamentary elections, with the pro-Kurdish party HDP as possible referee in several cities. Ahmet Insel, professor emeritus at Galatasaray University in Istanbul, currently in France, analyzes these elections for Orient XXI.

La timide renaissance du vieux Bagdad [French]. The Iraqi capital is experiencing a timid rebirth, visible in al-Moutanabbi street and its surroundings. However, the renewal of this emblematic place masks a gradual deterioration of the architectural heritage of the old city that may disappear if nothing is done to preserve it sustainably.

Beirut Madinati and the Prospects of Urban Citizenship. Written by Mona Fawaz, an organizer of the Beirut Madinati campaign that launched in 2016, this report shows how the movement pioneered new avenues for activism by proving the city’s potential as a launchpad for political mobilization. 

Inde. Quand le Golfe ne fait plus rêver. Les nouvelles aspirations des jeunes et des femmes [French]. As a labor exporter to the Arabian Peninsula since the early 1970s, the Indian state of Kerala is facing a major turning point in its history, with dwindling departures to the Gulf. Yet, the local economy continues to live off the income from emigration.

Housing and Planning Issues


Book argues sectarianism key player in Lebanese urban development
. “In her new book, “For the War Yet to Come,” presented during an event Thursday at the American University of Beirut, [Hiba Abou Akar] the assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia University argues such spaces have become “post-conflict” battlegrounds for political and religious groups seeking to gain control of what they see as potential future frontiers.”

Quelle place pour les femmes dans l'aménagement des villes marocaines? [French]. “The rate of governance of cities by women does not exceed 12%, only 21 women are in command of communes, mostly rural, out of a total of 1,538, and no large city is managed by a woman. With regard to the legislature, only 10 out of a total of 81 women MPs were elected to local constituencies in 2016.” 

Au Mipim, à Cannes, l’Egypte cherche des fonds pour ses villes nouvelles [French]. Grégoire Allix reports on Egypt, which has launched several major projects, and its presence for the first time at the international market of real estate professionals to meet and seduce investors. 

La Smart City de Doha passe à la vitesse supérieure [French]. The German giant Siemens, already well established in the small emirate of Qatar, has announced its desire to make Doha one of the most advanced smart cities on the globe.

Falsifying Property Ownership in El Mina, Lebanon (Part I). Nizar Saghieh explains how the case of the fake property in al-Mina, North Governorate, Lebanon, is one of the best examples of encroachment on maritime public properties or, rather, their abandonment. 

Turkish Airlines is switching to a new Istanbul airport – all in 45 hours. In Erdoğan’s latest high-stakes megaproject, ten thousand pieces of equipment will be relocated in a single weekend.

Transforming Riyadh: A New Urban Paradigm? Yasser Elsheshtawy argues that through a series of megaprojects aimed at beautifying the city, Riyadh has the potential to offer a unique model of urbanity that can be a counterpoint to the more speculative trends pervasive in the region.

« Sissi City », un refuge « contre les citoyens » égyptiens ? [French]. “At the same time, a political consideration seems to underpin this decision to build an epicenter of power ex nihilo. This future capital, which some call "Sissi City", is the political and symbolic project of the Egyptian head of state.”

War, Conflict, and Urban Protests


Civil Society Actors’ Downhill Struggle: Preserving the Lebanese Coast.
Writing for the Issam Fares Institute Op-Ed, Alexi Touma explores the difficult task that Lebanese activists face when it comes to protecting their coast. He puts an emphasis the importance of unity in forming a common strategy rather than competing strategies and on the need to adopt a long-term mindset rather than merely reacting to violations as they happen.

Après huit ans de guerre, l’impossible reconstruction de la Syrie [French]. Benjamin Barthe reports for Le Monde on the strenuous reconstruction of battle-ridden Syria. After eight years of a conflict that has cut the country by half of its population, Bashar al-Assad remains in power. In a context of disenchantment from his own side, it is now an economic war he must wage. 

Strategic destruction to make way for exclusive reconstruction in post-war Syria. Andrea Olea argues that the Syrian regime has used the war as an urban planning tool, allowing it to design a country tailormade for the victors: the Bashar al-Assad regime and its cronies.

Syria’s Land-Looting Campaign for Reconstruction. Mansour Omari describes how a series of laws implemented by the Syrian government are used to confiscate land and facilitate the plans of Russia, Iran, China and gulf investors and their role to play in Syria’s reconstruction. 

Culture and Urban Heritage


(Re)faire tous les Beyrouth à pied avec Dinah Diwan
[French]. In Wandering City, Dinah Diwan unveils her free and vibrant interpretation of some topographic plans of the Lebanese capital at the Janine Rubeiz gallery.

BeMA : le dernier trait [French]. In this opinion piece written for the Lebanese francophone daily, L’Orient Le Jour, Hala Wardé dissects the controversial decision of the Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA) to retain another architect for the realization of the project, in defiance of the result of the international competition which her agency won.

Cairo Tramways Company. As part of “La fabrique du Caire moderne”, a pilot project about urban development, architecture, Euro-Mediterranean entanglements and global investment in Cairo in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this article investigates Cairo as a connected space of capitalism and urban revolt through its Tramway Company. 

Examining the Suspended Present of Beirut’s Cultural Geography. Judith Naeff argues that Beirut exists in a prolonged state of “protracted ‘presentness’ with limited access to past and future”—specifically, a prolonged state of precarity. 

Cities, Biocapacity, and Trade: The Case of Ma’rib. Karim Elgendy argues that in addition to the need for environmental rationale to exist where they do, Human settlements depended to a large extent on their integration into an efficient trade network in order to become thriving cities. He gives the regional example of the rise and fall of the city of Ma’rib, which is today a settlement of less than twenty thousand people just seventy-five miles east of the Yemeni capital Sana’a, but for almost a millennium, was one of the region’s greatest cities.

Des images aériennes déclassifiées prises par des avions-espions U2 dans les années 1950 ouvrent une nouvelle fenêtre pour l'étude du Proche-Orient [French]. Archaeologists have used declassified images captured by U2 spy planes in the 1950s to locate and study sites of historical interest that have been covered or destroyed. 

Judith Naeff, Precarious Imaginaries of Beirut: A City’s Suspended Now. Jadaliyya interviews Judith Naeff to know more about her book and other projects she is currently working on.

Environment


Water-for-electricity: the Lebanese-Jordanian solution
. Cherine Husseini reports on a meeting between the Jordanian king and Lebanon’s speaker of parliament where a potential deal involving the exchange of electricity and water resources was discussed.

Green Incubators: UAE Rethinks Sustainability with 'Sustainable Cities'. “In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), long plighted by extreme climate conditions and vast resource consumption, there is a new type of city cropping up amidst the sand dunes. These meticulously–and expensively–designed “sustainable cities” are touted as models for green development: examples of how, in an inhospitable environment, humans can live with minimal impact on the earth.” 

Flooding results in road closures, complaints and rescues on Thursday. Heavy rainfall led to flooding, rescues, fears of dams overflowing and complaints from businesses on Thursday as “unprecedented” rainfall led to soil erosion in the capital’s Jabal al-Joufeh area and manhole closures on Quraish Street in downtown Amman.

Roland Riachi : « Le code de l’eau consacre la prévalence des intérêts particuliers sur le bien commun » (Lebanon) [French]. The water code, passed last May, brings together in one document all the rules and principles for integrated water management in Lebanon. But for Roland Riachi, assistant professor at the American University of Beirut and author of a thesis on sustainable management of water resources in Lebanon, this text is not a panacea. It does not guarantee a right of access to water at all. 

Sustainable Urbanization? It is at the city level that sustainability policies need to be defined and solutions implemented. Over the past decade, many Gulf Cooperation Council governments have actively promoted urban environmental projects. Their uneven results reveal objective limits and contradictory trends.

A World Built on Sand and Oil: When natural resources become essential commodities. “The inexorable proliferation of oil and sand on the global circuits of trade tells us about the shape-shifting ways of production, colonial forms of exploitation, and our reckless wrecking of the global environmental commons. It is about how the commodification of prosaic everyday things affects lives here, now, and half a world away.”

Resources


Property Law no.10 and its implications on Syrian cities
. In this video Syrbanism explains the new Property Law No.10 in Syria and its consequences on the reconstruction of Syrian cities. 

Open Meeting "Distressed luxury of infinite spaces: the capital of New Egypt". You can now listen to the full talk that AUC Press author and urban development expert David Sims gave last month at AUC Tahrir, on Egypt's new capital and urban expansion policies, an event organized by Alternative Policy Solution.

Syrian Architect Marwa Al-Sabouni Proposes Designs to Restore Social Cohesion After the War. “Born in Homs, Syria, the architect and urban thinker has been living and working in the war-devastated city, analyzing the modern architectural and town planning conventions that contribute to the fragmentation of society and conflict, and developing alternative solutions for the reconstruction of destroyed neighborhoods.”

Syrian Cities Damage Atlas—Eight-year Anniversary of the Syrian Civil War: Thematic Assessment of Satellite Identified Damage. REACH produced a Damage Atlas of Syrian Cities, using satellite-imagery analysis conducted by its partner: United Nations Institute for Training and Research - Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNITAR-UNOSAT). 

Reconstruction as Violence: The Case of Aleppo. Friday 10 May & Saturday 11 May 2019. A two-day symposium organized by Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Professor, and Deen Sharp, AKPIA@MIT Post-Doctoral Fellow. Sponsored by the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This symposium seeks to address the following questions: How do violence and conflict not only destroy but constitute, design, and organize the built environments and infrastructure? How do we understand the urbanization of warfare in relation to urban theory and reconstruction practices? Finally, participants will be asked to consider the recent warfare in the Middle East, with a special focus on Aleppo, in relation to the built environment and the extent to which reconstruction processes can be weaponized. 

Urban Resislience: The Case of the MENA Region. This policy brief by Jamal Saghir “argues that inclusive and sustainable growth is unattainable without better managed cities. Unprecedented urbanization trends would continue to transform our cities into unique hubs for services and housings, and to fulfil the promise of social inclusion and better social and economic opportunities for all citizen. However, if not properly managed and planned, these same trends can put a severe strain on urban, water, waste, housing, energy unleashing long-term stresses on their basic components and service delivery to the citizens and exposing their weaknesses, particularly during disruptive impacts of multiple internal and external shocks when they occur.”

En images: Urbex au Liban, l’exploration urbaine des vestiges de la guerre civile [French]. In Lebanon, the urban exploration enthusiasts (urbex) allow us to imagine the golden age of the country by starting to discover places steeped in history often abandoned by their owners during the war. 

Exposition: « C’est Beyrouth! » [French]. The Institute of Islamic Cultures in Paris presents a collective exhibition of photographers and videographers on Beirut, which aims to unveil the different facets of the city by avoiding clichés and proposing different representations of those we usually see. Until 28 July.

This media roundup has been compiled by Christophe Maroun with the help of Jadaliyya Cities Editors.