Towards a holistic interpretation of resilient cities' concept: The case of Doha, Qatar

Authors

  • Ali A. Alraouf image/svg+xml Hamad bin Khalifa University

    Prof. Alraouf is an architect and urban designer with 35 years of academic, research and consultancy experience around the Middle East, and the world. He is interested in research and practice related to architectural, urban and sustainable people-based design and architecture. He was a Visiting Scholar at University of California at Berkeley-USA. Alraouf’ s research interests are post-carbon architecture and urbanism in the Gulf, inclusivity and diversity in contemporary cities, knowledge and creative cities, democratic public spaces and just cities, museums' architecture and Doha's architectural and urban model. He published more than 130 journal refereed papers, critical reviews, essays, in addition to books and book chapters. He serves in editorial boards and acts as a reviewer for international journals and conferences. He has been invited to present his research work at international institutions in over 30 countries such as UC Berkeley, University of Cambridge, Drury University, University of Oregon, International University in Malaysia, American University of Beirut, and American University in Sharjah. He is the recipient of number of awards including Modern Science and Arts University (MSA) Teaching Excellence Award 2004, Best Research Paper in Sharjah International Conference for Urban Planning 2008, Research Publication Achievement Award from University of Bahrain 2009, 2012 Excel campaign at Qatar University, Best Research Paper in IASTE Conference 2018 and Best Book Award by ISOCARP in 2018. Alraouf currently acts as head of research and development at Qatar Urban Planning Dept., a Board member in the international society of city planners and leader of Green Urbanism and Planning Group at Qatar Green Building Council.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47818/DRArch.2021.v2i2016

Keywords:

resilient cities, holistic resilience, Doha, Qatar, urban resilience, Doha sustainable development, climate change urban impact

Abstract

Resilience and resilient cities are heavily used terms in the current architecture and planning discourse. Given the mixed interpretations of the concept of “Resilient Cities”, this paper calls for a more holistic understanding of the concept and its impact on the way cities are designed, planned and developed. By labelled as resilient, cities should transcend the current limited definition of the resilient cities concept which focuses merely on facing environmental challenges and readiness for climate change impact and other forms of natural disasters. Resilience as an attribute for cities and as will be shown in the case of Doha, the capital city of Qatar, should be holistic and inclusive to embrace all aspects of city development including economical base, cultural assets, social structure and urban development. Using the case of Doha, the paper illustrates a new conceptual understanding of cities’ resilience. The paper analyses the contemporary evolution in Doha and highlights the milestones in structuring the new vision for Doha’s development as a resilient city holistically. In the last decade, the city was subjected to several radical transformations started from winning the bid to host the 2022 FIFA world cup, decrease in oil prices and finally the sea, air and land blockade imposed on Qatar by its adjacent neighbors. The paper illustrates Doha’s model in providing a worthy case of resilience which allows the city to successfully cope with the consequences of all the major shocks, stress and unforeseen challenges, the city have faced in the last decade.

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References

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Published

2021-08-30

How to Cite

Alraouf, A. A. (2021). Towards a holistic interpretation of resilient cities’ concept: The case of Doha, Qatar. Journal of Design for Resilience in Architecture and Planning, 2(2), 139–156. https://doi.org/10.47818/DRArch.2021.v2i2016

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Research Articles