ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR WESTERN ASIA (ESCWA)

7/29/2019 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR WESTERN ASIA (ESCWA)

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ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR WESTERN ASIA (ESCWA)

STATUS AND PROSPECTS OF THE ARAB CITY:

THE REALITY OF THE CONTRADICTIONS AND DIFFERENCES

BETWEEN ARAB CITIESA CRITICAL VISION AGAINST THE BACKDROP

OF SELECTED URBAN PATTERNS

United Nations


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Distr.

GENERAL

E/ESCWA/SDD/2009/8

15 December 2009

ENGLISH

ORIGINAL: ARABIC

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR WESTERN ASIA (ESCWA)

STATUS AND PROSPECTS OF THE ARAB CITY:

THE REALITY OF THE CONTRADICTIONS AND DIFFERENCES

BETWEEN ARAB CITIES

A CRITICAL VISION AGAINST THE BACKDROPOF SELECTED URBAN PATTERNS

United Nations

New York, 2009

09-0559


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Preface

Arab cities undergo many changes in their economic social and constructional structures that interact,

interfere and contradict in their characteristics. Such contradictions, disparities and interests are reflected in

different urban forms and urbanite patterns, due to internal factors or external impacts stemming from

globalized economic relations. Those transformations are diversified and interfering governed by economic,

social, cultural and political circumstances of different societies facing different governance and

administrative systems in each country. This report studies the case of three cities namely Beirut, Cairo and

Dubai, as it sheds the light on contradictions and disparities within and between these cities on the backdrop

of urban patterns.

This study is based on the explanation of political, social and economic transformations as well as the

urbanite fields in modern cities on the one hand and on the concept of urban fragmentation as an analytical

framework in understanding urbanite patterns affected by such modifications through linking the spatial

particularity (through the social and cultural facets) with the temporal particularity (modernity crisis and

passage to the economic globalization) procedural systems (governance and administration), and urban

sphere (through urban patterns).


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CONTENTS

Page

Preface ............................................................................................................................................. iii

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1

Chapter

I. PROBLEMATIC OF ARAB CITIES................................................................................ 2

II. GENERAL FRAMEWORK: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ............................. 3

A. Transformation of cities ................................................................................................. 3

B. Cities under formation .................................................................................................... 3

III. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK: FRAGMENTED CITIES .......................................... 3

A. Beirut .............................................................................................................................. 5

B. Cairo ............................................................................................................................... 8

C. Dubai .............................................................................................................................. 10

IV. ANALYSIS OF THE URBAN FRAGMENTATION PATTERNS ................................ 12

V. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 13

References ....................................................................................................................................... 15


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Introduction

The twenty first century is by excellence the era of urbanism, as more than half of the world

population live in cities. In 1970, 38 per cent of Arabs were living in urban realms. This rate increased to

55 per cent in 2005, and may exceed 60 per cent in 2020 (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Arab human Development Report 2009).

Cities are expanding, so is their influence (World Bank, 2000). Experts, researchers and decision

makers agree that cities and urban agglomerations have become the basis of economic and political forces on

the expense of Nation-States (Sassen, 2000). Nation-States are undergoing plural pressures from higher

forces namely international organizations dealing with environment, trade, economic and security affairs on

the global level; or lower ones from local authorities as to their competency to deal with different issues such

as local participation and protecting local cultural heritage. The city becomes therefore an experimental field

for the adequacy of political institutions, the effectiveness of governments and governance as well as

urbanite planning.

No doubt this situation provides opportunities for urban development (World Bank, 2000). Although

cities store energies as the drivers of economic development, through creating working opportunities andcreative urban cultures, such opportunities face major challenges namely inequality, urban violence,

increasing social marginalization and poverty. However, the main challenge remains the way to deal with

growing urban fragmentation, in particular urban poverty and social marginalization due to urban patterns

impacted by globalization and decentralization.

The Arab Human Development Report 2009 states that the growing urban transformation in Arab

cities adds new burdens on the already critical infrastructure, as it creates in many cities unhealthy situations

aggravated by over-crowdedness and lack of security. The city is no longer merely a material reality, rather

an important social one diversified in its structure. On the one hand, it forms the material conceptualization

based on urban and constructional patterns and on the other hand a social conceptualization based on social

life and ramified relations between individuals and groups.

Some may examine one of these elements alone and link it to one of two fields: tangible manifest

urban field, which organizes the activities of people within constructional, urban and technical elements parts

of this field in a specific time (Grafmeyer, 1994, p. 25), or a non-manifest social intangible field, which

organizes the behaviors, practice and representations of its citizens and groups in a specific period (Bourdieu,

1995, p. 25). The city is, however, an interaction and interference between those two fields in space and

time. It is a place and a surrounding (Le Goix, 2005, p. 7) and forms as well part of a political and

ideological national system with material, cultural and social production and reproduction mechanisms. Such

a system is as well impacted by a global political system with its own ideologies and production

mechanisms. Moreover, all these elements and variables interact, interfere and contradict in the city, whereas

contradictions, differences and interests are reflected as different urbanite forms and urban patterns.

This report presents a critical view of some urban patterns based on contradictions and differencesbetween the above variables and elements as well as their impact within and between Arab cities. The study

covers three cities namely Beirut, Cairo and Dubai. These cities represent three conditions of the Arab city

witnessing structural transformations in its economic, social and urban structures reflected in different

patterns. Those patterns wear different forms impacted by internal factors or external ones resulting from

globalized economic relations. Those diversified and interfering impacts are governed by economic, social,

cultural and political circumstances prevailing in every society which interacts with different governance and

administrative systems. These three cities form different advanced models representing similar

transformations undergone by many Arab cities. Comparison of those urban patterns and their contradictions

paves the way for following diversified in-depth researches dealing with those patterns and their impacts on

the path of Arab cities facing modernization and modernity challenges.


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I. PROBLEMATIC OF ARAB CITIES

The previous decade witnessed a number of theoretical approaches in an attempt to explore the

different models of urban governance, starting with the relation between central and local authorities to the

increasing influence of urban systems and urban alliances and the organization of urban agglomerations.

The concept of government based on considering the community as a unit faces increasing challenges

(Foucault, 1982), namely the emergence of local agglomerations as a new field for the management of

different affairs affecting the lives of individuals and groups on one side, and the interactions of globalized

economic relations on the other. Transformations closely linked to the emergence of these new situations

include the emergence of urban regions and fields semi-independent in their dynamics, particularly as to

economic interaction and political governance on one side, and the active presence of international trans-

boundary organizing institutions (World Bank; international commercial treaties) on the other.

In other words, the authority of the State as a model for central authority is being challenged and

such a challenge is reflected in fields of arbitration in social conflicts in different fields including according

to Jouve (Jouve 2005) ( and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO,

2005) the following: (a) lack of trust in the capacity of the political force to address the problematic ofmodern societies with the emergence of a civil society claiming a bigger role in organizing authority (Keane,

2998); (b) dissociation of decision making systems due to implied or direct decentralized effects and

federalism dynamics (Loughlin, 2001); (c) emergence of new issues such as marginalization, integration and

governance, etc., which can no longer be dealt with by sectoral policies, as they require consolidated and

joint approaches between institutions based on different logic and culture at work (Duran and Thoenig,

1996); (d) emergence of new fields for collective work, particularly in urban areas where different forms of

social movements contradict with upper integration policies (Hamel, 2000).

Arab countries are not immune against these interactions as they go through a phase of slow political

development. Most of these countries are still trying to develop good governance and representation

institutions capable of ensuring balanced participation of all categories, justice in wealth distribution between

different groups and respect of cultural diversity. As a result, groups with different identities in a number ofArab states lacking perfect harmony in their population, such as Iraq, the Sudan, Yemen and Lebanon,

sought to oppose the authority of the Nation-State through the appropriation of fragments of cities (Arab

human Development Report 2009). This situation resulted in destructive effects in the cities of these

countries. On the other hand, the same report considers that conflicts and differences allegedly emerging

from identity-related considerations are frequently caused by the incapacity to reach political authority and

wealth, the absence of representation channels, political participation and the repression of cultural and

linguistic diversification. This problematic leads to a number of conclusions namely:

1. Transformation in the political structure as follows: (a) change in the relation between public

authorities and civil societies; (b) modern transformation of the practice of citizenship in Arab countries as to

claiming political rights; (c) increasing demands of the civil society to participate in the formulation of

public policies.

2. Transformation in the urban environment namely: formation of zonal units separated against the

backdrop of different urban patterns reflecting social situations and agglomerations. These transformations

evoke a series of substantial questions namely: what is the nature of these zonal units? Are they

administrative or political realms? Are they sectarian, ethnic or cultural regions? Are they neighborhoods

with different economic and social characteristics? Are they areas with different functions and activities,

different urban structures, or a combination of these elements? How to identify them and on what basis are

these fragmented areas defined? What are the indicators for identifying and delimiting those areas?


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II. GENERAL FRAMEWORK: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

A. TRANSFORMATION OF CITIES

In brief, the city is no longer what it previously was. Many researches and writings reflect the deep

transformations of the city and review the different phenomena as a pivot for these changes: (a) some

consider these phenomena to be new fields of economic globalization that transform the city into a favored

place for global economic exchange (Harvey, 1993); (b) some consider cities to be new areas for cultural,

ethnic and confessional distinctions (Davie, 1994) or for social distinction with the development of some

walled suburbs for rich people distinguished from the rest of the city (Dear et Flusty, 1998); (c) some see

the emergence of regions with cultural identities such as Beirut in the aftermath of civil war where the

gradual natural development of the city led to: (i) a different pattern based on the change of the features of

the center as a space for social blending; (ii) urban divisions delimited by demarcation lines; (iii) geography

of fear; (iv) service-based matrixes based on self-sufficiency of different groups in their regions (Davie,

1992, 1994; Khalaf, 2002); (d) some see new horizons for urban patterns following the bilateral city (the old

city and the new city); for those, the city does not only comprise suburbs, but includes traditional villages

and secondary cities as well, and they base their analysis on the plurality and diversity of daily practice in

transport from one side, and the tendency of middle classes to live in suburbs adjacent to the center andworking centers from the other (Secchi, 2008); (e) other see an attempt to seek modernity and modernization

through imitation and expatriation (Sheshtawy, 2008).

B. CITIES UNDER FORMATION

All above studies state that the city emerges as a field under financial, economic and social

transformation and formation, whether as a result of global economy and transformation in the social

structure or the search for good governance.

This general approach which pictures the city as a field under formation through specific peripheral

areas, tends to be the most appropriate to understand the reality of contradictions and differences between

Arab cities. Perhaps the best definition of the peripheral area is that of Bernard Debarbieux who considersit a field to coordinate financial and symbolic resources in order to organize the day-to-day life affairs of the

individual and the group as it defines in return their identity and its importance.

This approach enables us to go beyond cognitive and sectoral divisions in economy, sociology and

politics, which burden the global production on the one hand, and keep off the fixed and rigid ideological

frameworks in analyzing and discussing those phenomena on the other hand. The approach is founded on the

changes in urbanite administration, social agglomerations and communities, as well as on transformations in

urban patterns.

III. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK: FRAGMENTED CITIES

The concept of internal social differences that wear different forms in the urbanite field is not new, butthe radicalism that characterizes it incites up to talk more and more about urban fragmentation: differences

are dramatically deepening within urban agglomerations, and the dynamics of the evolution of these regions

seem dependent of each other (Veltz, 1996).

The deep inner differentiations as a context for urban fragmentation in the city puts forth main

challenges and raises questions on the urban surveillance and the tools of management and development of

urban environments. This has led during the last couple of decades to abundant scientific writings on urban

fragmentation and the associated phenomena and factors, including:

(a) The development of new sectors in the city due to the enticements of the global economy with the

support of local and international actors and their networks (Sassen, 1996);


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(b) Reaffirming the impacts of land development strategies, particularly in the field of housing and

accommodation, supported by slack and yielding liberal urban policies that lead to increasing urban

expansion along with the development of new neighborhoods such as social agglomeration, walled cities and

slums (Donzelot, 1998);

(c) zoning approach based on directed uses of lands, such as industrial cities and others, or on the

establishment of modern financial and economic agglomerations (Edwards, 1991);

(d) Reaffirming the cultural and social dynamics and their association with the identity crisis in

developing countries, where administrative, political and economic systems are being modernized

independently from the characteristics of prevailing traditional, social and cultural structures (Navez-

Bouchanine, 1993);

(e) The impact of geographic reliefs and natural phenomena on the different forms of urban

expansion, thus on urban fragmentation ((Piroddi, 1991);

(f) Urban history of the city, as well as the concept of urban fragmentation as a phenomenon

associated with the urban reality rather than a modern one (Topalov, 2000).

Such writings led to a more accurate definition of urban fragmentation on the one hand, and the

emergence of a set of theories covering issues related to this fragmentation on the other hand.

Urban fragmentation is reflected in a weak social relation in the urban field (Navez-Bouchanine,

2002), resulting from weak interaction and collaboration in community, associated with a deficiency in the

representative system and redistribution of services and wealth among citizens. In this framework, urban

fragmentation is completely different from other spatial social differentiation concepts in modern cities, such

as marginalization, discrimination and exclusion. Cases described by such concepts are completely different

although they may contribute to and result in urban fragmentation.

In short, the concept of differentiation indicates the condition of industrial and service-related citieswitnessing the emergence of spatial agglomerations in particular of local or immigrant labor force. The

concept of marginalization refers to illegal regions such as slums expanding on the borders of or even within

cities. Such regions, although they are not linked to the public service network, establish and organize their

own urban services as well as an economy similar and connected to the formal one. The concept of exclusion

refers to social agglomerations focused in specific places. The three concepts put together form the

problematic of social, political and economic urban systems, in their attempt to integrate less fortunate and

weaker groups. From this perspective, urban fragmentation forms a new facet of modern urbanization.

In brief, the adoption of the approach of contradictions and differences between Arab cities, on the

backdrop of urban patterns, according to the concept of urban fragmentation as an analytical framework, is

the capacity of this framework to link the spatial particularity, through the social and cultural aspects, the

temporal particularity, through the crisis of modernity and passage to economic globalization, proceduralsystems, governance and administration and the sphere of the city through those urban patterns.

The analytical framework of the concept of urban fragmentation which will be adopted in the

discussion of urban patterns and their contradictions in the three cities is based on a descriptive pattern that

summarizes the plural approaches of two researchers (Navez-Bouchanine, 1993; Vidal-Rojas, 2002) who

studied the different economic, political, economic and spatial forms of urban fragmentation:


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Overview of fragmentation patterns and forms:

1. Fragmentation of the urban form, the repercussions of this pattern are of two types:

(a) Internal separations and barriers resulting in the loss of urban blending. Different forms include:city made of different fragments; superposition in the planning approach; specific uses of the land;

homogeneous cities (cultural, social, classes, and others); and divisions in regards of infrastructure, highways

and electric and air installations;

(b) Urban scattering, as in the loss of communication and the resulting lack of rapprochement.

Different forms include: new economic approach and logic and new social and living patterns.

2. Socio-spatial fragmentation. Different forms include:

(a) Closed gatherings and walled areas such as: definite populated areas including social groups from

one environment;

(b) Socio-spatial formations, reflected in: fragmentation on socio-economic bases; globalization and

socio-spatial inequality; lack of movement; and specific cultural practice and behaviours.

3. politico-administrative fragmentation. Different forms include:

(a) Fragmentation of authorities in the city, which is reflected in the problematic of citizenship;

(b) Urbanization and divisions, such as: geographic and administrative divisions; levels of

administration; the center in the confrontation of parties; local versus central; providing urban services;

planning public and local policies and urban administration.

A. BEIRUT

1. Urban fragmentation between regional disparities and political crisis

Beirut has developed from a small coastal city on the Mediterranean, with a number of citizens not

exceeding four thousand at the beginning of the nineteenth century, to the faade of modernism in the

ottoman era, to a resplendent capital of culture and the affairs of the Arab world, to a torn city due to civil

war, and finally to a city characterized by large reconstruction projects, growing side by side with popular

neighborhoods and slums as well as confessional and sectarian agglomerations.


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Few cities change so many times in less than one century such as Beirut. Is this the characteristic of a

city that comprises 19 confessions, or rather a general problematic occurring in every space marked with

differences, disparities and a struggle to acquire political rights as well as the right to being different and to

participation?

Beirut suffered greatly the impact of war, which started in the suburbs but soon extended to the center

and turned it into wrecks. The city was then divided into two parts through a demarcation line which some

tangible social effects remain despite its physical annulment. Direct results of the war included the

mandatory movement of Lebanese from one region to another, in a trend that affected hundred thousands of

internal migrants (Nasr, 1984). The war resulted as well in the formation of illegal neighborhoods or their

expansion in different areas of the capital and its suburbs (Bourgey, 1982; Clerc-Huybrechts, 2008).

The political transformation resulting from war was reflected in the absence of the State and

emergence of the fait-accompli powers that imposed their authority, each in its territory. Such authorities

expanded to cover the collection of taxes, providing services and infrastructure (Harb-Alkak, 1996), and

remained openly active until the ratification of the Taif Agreement and the beginning of a new phase in

Lebanon. During this phase, Lebanon witnessed a growing and discrepant decline of this practice paving the

way for the establishment of the Lebanese State. Another result of the war was the fall of the downtown asan economic center and the emergence of different economic centers such as Ashrafieh, Kaslik and Verdun,

and the enhancement of other centers such as Hamra (Boudisseau, 2001), which have undergone

modifications since the beginning of the nineties.

In a true paradox, Beirut witnessed a large construction trend during war, which was. Construction

was aimed to ensure residences for internal migrants and for seekers of residence away from confrontation

lines (Verdeil, 2002). Therefore, the post-war unified Beirut expanded to include what was later on known

as the Greater Beirut (Verdeil, Faour, Haddad, Velut, 2005).

2. Construction

Reconstruction projects started in 1992 were characterized by the wish to recover the pre-war image ofBeirut as the economic center and the cosmopolitan city. The main two challenges resided first in reviving

the trade center in an attempt to establish a central point in which the entire movement of the city would

pour; and second, in opening areas with different confessions and political views through focusing on

different road and infrastructure projects (Verdeil, 2002).

This phase is characterized by the emergence of Solidere project, which aimed essentially to remove

the marks of war. Although the Solidere project eliminated some heritage features such as ancient souks, it

preserved the structure formed during the French colony period, with a change in entertaining and touristic

uses. Main obstacles delaying this project include the persisting political crisis in Lebanon and the Arab and

regional surrounding, as well as the economic crisis started in the mid-nineties.

3. Spatial and social fragmentation

As mentioned before, the main features of the fragmentation of Beirut are reflected in the

contradiction between the center which emerges as an independent space, as well as between the

administrative Beirut and its southern suburb which exceeds Beirut in its space and number of population

(Harb Al-kak, 1996). This region is differentiated from its surrounding from a confessional perspective as the

majority of population is Shiite (residents and migrants from the South and the Beqaa due to the Israeli

aggressions and the civil war). It is also characterized by the concentration of poverty in some of its quarters

especially in slums which occupy large spaces. Despite its stereotyped image, the southern suburb comprises

one homogeneous and harmonious category, but includes as well different political and social categories as

proved by the 1998 municipal elections, when parties resorted to coalitions with families to form municipal

councils (Favier, 2001).


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As for the northern suburb, it cannot be considered as an independent unit comprising a Christian

majority, as it also has ethnic differences in Borj Hamoud which comprises a large Armenian gathering, in

addition to quarters with Assyrian and Chaldean majorities, and other quarters with Shiite majority such as

Rweissat Metn. In contrast with the stereotyped images, this region is characterized by political, economic

and social differences.

4. Urban administration and participation and their impact on the form of the city

There are many actors in the field of public affairs, particularly in Beirut and its suburbs after the war,

including municipalities, economic authorities, civil society organizations and representatives of confessions.

There are as well the fait accompli forces which participated in the civil war, in a way that enhanced their

capacity to pertain their dominance over their private spaces. Such dominance was associated with basic

projects such as schools, universities, hospitals, dispensaries, and cultural, sports and religious centers etc.,

with the support of different entities and through the establishment of housing projects targeted towards

specific confessions, such as the jihad projects of construction and residences for the Orthodox religious

endowments in Hadath in the eastern suburb.

As for economic actors, they also have a main role in impacting the spatial realm in Beirut.Construction is considered to be of the main economic sectors in Lebanon as to the labor force and the

capital. Although it faced a crisis at the end of the nineties, it resurged since 2001 to comprise different

investment projects such as luxurious residences, skyscrapers as well as walled neighborhoods and malls.

Other large projects were built on filled up spaces of the sea such as Lenore, Marina Khoury and others.

Moreover, huge malls which started to emerge on the borders or in the center of the city represent a passage

towards intensive consuming patterns, which leads to the establishment of new centers in the urban context.

As for municipalities, despite their limited budgets, their role in the participation in public affairs is

increasing through restructuring the urban scenery of Beirut. They are building public gardens, providing

infrastructure and entertainment and sport centers and organizing different activities. However, the relation

of these municipalities with the representatives of confessions and parties is a crucial factor that can be

identified in municipal unions, where the public interest is merely linked to the interest of the confession orthe group.

Therefore, Beirut looks like a fragmented city with every fragment having its own characteristics. As

for the public context, it is a reflection of these fragments, where every fragment is characterized by its own

symbols and behavioral and cultural practice. Asaad Asaad crossroad in Chiah municipality in the southern

suburb is a clear example to that, as it was transformed from a military demarcation line during the civil war

into a latent demarcation line between two spaces with different symbols and mottos, although its citizens

belong to the same economic classes and the same municipality (Farah, 2006).

In parallel, a middle class is growing in Beirut, relatively young and cross-areas in post-modernity

regions away from confessional leaderships. This class is dynamic and linked to globalization, as it is rich in

different kinds of organizations (Davie, 2007).

Some would start by saying that greater Beirut which comprises around a million and a half

inhabitants is a series of quarters and confessional and factional agglomerations divergent economically and

socially, in such a way for the city to become no more that a mosaic of contiguous groups. Questions are

raised: do public policies and urban administration of these different fragments form a factor of

fragmentation? Does the cultural and social practice or the interaction with the space give the fragment its

character, and therefore fragments become as diversified as the practice? Is it the globalization and the

resulting differentiation between categories that became integrated in its system whereas other categories

remained marginalized? Is it, as previously mentioned, a unique condition of a city seeking to gather too

many confessions and ethnicities in one space?


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The main question remains: if urban fragmentation is a reflection of the absence of ethnic, cultural and

social homogeneity, how would it be possible to guarantee the right to be different between groups and

individuals and the integration with the space in devising policies, without overlooking the social dimension

and resorting to isolation and marginalization?

B. CAIRO

1. Challenges of globalization between spatial fragmentation and the problematic of social justice

Cairo is expected to include around 43 per cent of Egypts population by 2020. This growth rate is

perturbing, as the city attracts many Egyptians, particularly urban citizens. Around 1000 people are estimated

to come weekly to Cairo looking for a job or residence (Elsheshtawy, 2006). As for secondary surrounding

cities, they are considered to be annexed to it due to a much centralized system. Eight million people, an

unofficial number, out of the overall population of the city live in slums.

2. Economic impact: deepening inequality patterns

Some researchers (Davis, 2008; Lavergne, 2007; Singerman, 2007) consider the changes in Cairofeatures and its urban and social structure to be the direct result of the State policies during the last forty

years, which had led to an economic and social disparity. Around 25 per cent of Egyptians are considered to

be living beneath poverty line, and another 25 per cent on the line of poverty, which means that half of the

population is poor despite the increasing number of rich people.

Current public policies include orientation towards privatization and facilitation of the conditions of

investment for foreign land companies seeking to build luxurious projects, meant for a class of rich people,

as they profit of tax exemption and different facilitations. In parallel, numbers of poor lacking a residence

keep increasing. This policy is much criticized, especially since some of these projects are built on public

lands, or at least benefit directly from services provided by the State (Davis, 2008).

Therefore, the Egyptian community is divided in two: the upper rich class which has moved awayfrom the center of the city to luxurious quarters, and a poor class living in poor quarters, slums and even

graveyards. The upper class frequents schools, clubs and places different from the ones frequented by the

majority of people, in such a way for every class to have its own space, which accentuates the difference

between categories within the same city.

3. Problematic of spatial fragmentation: walled communities and slums

These differences between economic and social levels in Cairo lead to the emergence of separate

spaces for each of the poor and rich classes. Some observers describe Cairo as a large slum including regions

of organized residence. Based on IRIN report (IRIN, 2000), Cairo comprises three of the biggest thirty slums

in the world. The rich moved to cities built specially for them in east Cairo, and are almost totally governed

by the private sector. Mitchell (Mitchell, 2008) sees that this rich class has a network of relations that linksthose walled quarters together. On the other hand, the inhabitants of these quarters have an important mainly

economic authority that enables them of managing and controlling economic affairs, without having to live

in the city. The number of population in Cairo slums is disturbingly growing by a rate three times bigger than

other regions (Singerman, 2007), which incited people to take things in charge, including providing shelter,

services and necessary infrastructure they can provide.

The spread of slums is a proof to the incapacity of successive Egyptian Governments during past

decades to provide the required numbers of decent residences, in addition to the hesitation in allowing

building on agricultural lands. Some observers deem building on agricultural lands the best solution for the

Government to provide shelters for millions of people coming to the city (Davis, 2008). In parallel, attempts

to build shelters in desert regions outside Cairo did not succeed in attracting sufficient numbers of people,


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due to the poor transport system outside Cairo, lack of services and weak facilitations as to launching

workshops or small businesses.

On the other hand, some Governmental projects sought to promote those slums, but registered only

partial accomplishments, whereas private efforts are achieving bigger success. Examples to this success

include the project of reviving and developing old Cairo regions by the Aga Khan organization, and the

project of promoting Manshiyat Nasser with the support of a German institution for development. Within

this project, the State took effective measures by admitting the presence of slums, and integrating the system

for registering the ownership of lands and houses (Elsheshtawy, 2006).

It is possible to consider therefore, that the constructional structure in Cairo is governed by slums, and

old governmental buildings, neighboring many luxurious projects such as malls, information technology

centers, and walled communities of rich.

Obviously, these luxurious land projects are not the solution for the urban problem, they rather

increase the sense of loss of social justice and social exclusion, factors which, if added to political

extremism, may negatively affect the structure of society (Salama, 2007). Official authorities often

encourage these projects considered to yield large amounts of money to the country; however their long-termimpacts are much more complicated. Large investment companies launched luxurious projects in Cairo, in

particular Gulf companies from the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, or even local companies, as a direct

result of the Government policy as to privatization, aimed to attract direct foreign investment.

This type of projects benefits of large promotional publicity promising a unique lifestyle away form

urban problems. Most of these projects seem like different regions secluded from the rest of the city through

doors and walls, as well as through their specific road networks, sidewalks and infrastructure. Yasser

Elsheshtawy (Elsheshtawy, 2007) considers those projects to be projections meant to be similar to Dubai, but

are dispersed in the heart of Cairo without any adaptation to the environment and the community, in the

midst of a falling constructional structure and a poor environment, which paves the way for risky social

disorders.

As for the other problematic, it lies in the impact of these projects on the rise of prices of surrounding

lands, which may become beyond the reach of middle and poor classes. This phenomenon has a fundamental

impact on the constructional and social structure of the city, and thus raises the issue of sustainability. In fact,

land companies, which could transform the constructional shape of city, may in turn lead to social problems

and a deepening gap between categories of the same city.

4. Urban administration and sustainability

The way Governments deal with slums, or old markets, which are often impossible to move to another

place, is not expected to work without taking the plural and complicated social and economic aspects into

account. These slums form living spaces for their residents and include strong social networks that are part of

the social capital, despite extreme poverty and the absence of services. Therefore, policies of moving citizensfailed, and the proof to that is that many of those given new residences resorted to selling or leasing them and

went back to their slums that are closer to working opportunities (Elsheshtawy, 2006).

The Government justifies the severity of its measures in dealing with extremism, crime and factors of

risk to the establishment of security, which leads us into a vicious circle because the failure of State policies

to deal effectively with the deep causes of crises undergone by the residents of these marginalized slums,

contributes to the establishment of an environment that leads to more violence, which constitutes an

argument to increase severity. It is well-known that social justice, good governance and the ability of citizens

to communicate their demands are of the most important factors contributing to the sustainability of cities.


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The limited space to express oneself, in particular political expression, and weak mechanisms of

participation in devising urban policies related to the living space of individuals and groups have a

significant impact on the formation of the public space in Cairo, which has become a weak concept.

Exclusive privatization has transformed the public space into a private one benefitting major investors and

the rich elite, whereas the public space could as well be a walled space limited to tourists (Singerman, 2007).

Spatial and social fragmentation in Cairo is reflected in the weak participation in public and sectoral policies

and the profound contradictions between walled luxurious neighborhoods and slums and old houses

interfering sometimes with graveyards.

C. DUBAI

1. City of immigrants and social and ethnic fragmentation

Every year, Dubai attracts more visitors, customers and workers from all over the world. In view of its

modern infrastructure, strategic seaports and airport, and its luxurious colossal projects, it is expected to

receive over 10 million visitors in 2010 (Davis, 2007).

Dubai is considered unique in view of its demographic structure with 71 per cent of the overallpopulation being immigrants and workers in 2007. Most workers are Indians and Pakistanis, in addition to

other nationalities such as Bangladeshi, Philippine and others. Dubai is successfully seeking to form an

international city through daring achievements in urban planning, and ensuring an attractive working

environment with superior services that would dazzle visitors and observers.

Some describe Dubai as the biggest construction site in the world, with approximately 600 skyscrapers

(Davis, 2007), biggest malls in the world and most luxurious hotels. It is seeking to break all records in this

field, through the biggest mall, highest tower, largest airport, biggest artificial island, first hotel under water

and others. Dubai comprises as well specialized cities such as the city of internet and of media in addition to

other projects under construction (Elsheshtawy, 2006).

2. Historical overview

Some researchers admit that Dubai was established as a city of business and economic profit, and has

been relying for decades on free trade and the policy of annulling or reducing taxes and providing modern

infrastructure, making use of the abundant financial resources, and cheap labour force. It turned in no time

from a desert, with a population living on raising cattle and harvesting palms to a forest of skyscrapers

(Lavergne, 2007). Some observers indicate that the success of the city is largely due to calm and stability.

3. Spatial and social fragmentation

A large gap exists between poor dispersed neighborhoods approximating modern streets with

skyscrapers and luxurious colossal projects. Middle-class people live in regions such as Al-Dira and Ber

Dubai, in addition to Al-Jafiliyya and Satwa.

Poor regions approximate rich regions in a way to accentuate the disparity between humble houses and

the towers of Sheikh Zayed Street. Trees are planted to cover these poor areas.

The social structure is a mosaic of social classes. Far from being a comprehensive society, it is rather

pyramidal with the governing class on the top, followed by a minority of citizens, and thousands of different

nationalities on the basis. The landslide which constitutes the base of the pyramid comprises different classes

of workers, namely Indians, Pakistanis, and Philippine as well as Sri Lankan female workers (Lavergne,

2007). Some observers note that every category has its sphere of work, schools, residence, cafes and

restaurants even newspapers and televised channels. Due to high temperatures and the largeness of the city,


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most of these categories, particularly poor ones, find it hard to move easily, and therefore remain in their

neighborhoods.

Disparity is evident between generations within the same category, youth are raised by foreigners,

whether at home or at school, which leads to the fading of social values disturbingly substituted by foreign

values (Lavergne, 2007). The public orientation and adopted policies can accentuate dissimilarities between

different categories of the city. Critics note that the city may be moving away from its Arab roots to turn into

a picture with no cultural depth looking like Monaco of Gulf, with the aim of attracting a certain elite (Davis,

2007; Lavergne, 2007). Although new orientations are forcing their way through social policies and foreign

acquisition policies, the city remains a combination of human groups governed by clear social distinctions,

where people may interact in order to achieve gains but on very discrepant levels.

4. Problematic of citizenship

The demographic reality in Dubai constitutes a problematic reflected in the clear discrepancy between

citizens forming a minority, and an overwhelming majority of foreigners. This discrepancy defines the role

of each of these two different categories in public affairs and social security. Citizens try not to dissolute in

the waves of immigrants flowing in the city and seek to protect their social and cultural particularities.

5. Central authority and good administration

The government is considered to be the main factor of development in Dubai, despite efforts to find a

conventional private sector independent of the financial support of the government. Therefore, the actual

authority lies in the hand of the governing circle whereas the fate of the city is tightly tied to the personality

of the governor and his assistants. Some may consider that decision makers in the city are present in different

places in global metropolitans and include owners and managers of international companies, and the

government is actually composed of a team of managers. Therefore, the central administration is linked to

three dimensions namely: the tribal authority, the Islamic Shariaa and the culture of companies (Davis,

2007).

From time to time, some initiatives form the nucleus of a civil society trying to claim its political and

social demands, however the city is still far from being a space of democratic representation, and a haven for

full political and civil rights.

6. Dubai the international city

As long as Dubai lacks its personal and independent decision, and depends on the wish of investors

choosing it to be the center of their projects and investments; as long as it lacks the internal social,

demographic and cultural core, it cannot become an international city such as Shanghai or Hong Kong. Some

wonder about the nature of the structure or the institutional and legal basis which would secure the

sustainability of the city and its projects in case factors which have led to its emergence and quick evolution

fade or cease, whereas a general worry stems from the establishment of global economy in Dubai withoutworking on finding a solid basis to secure its sustainability (Davis, 2007). Such concern was surprisingly

reflected during the financial crisis which has exploded lately, and voices were heard calling for the necessity

to find an electoral system, representative councils and wider participation in the management of public

affairs.

We can therefore consider that the challenges of globalization in Dubai, this unique city as to services

and outer shape, as well as to the unbalanced demographic structure, may lead to the fragmentation of the

city reflected on the level of the social structure, which would lead to the multiplicity of dissimilar fragments

as to construction and structure patterns and to the plurality of closed networks thus resulting in diminishing

interaction between different categories living in the same city.


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IV. ANALYSIS OF THE URBAN FRAGMENTATION PATTERNS

The three cities represent different kinds of fragmentation stemming from private interactions and

dynamics, and reflect contradictions, discrepancies and differences within and between them. The results of

this comparison can be summed up in four points:

(a) The following elements have a great impact on urban patterns and fragmentation in the three

cities:

(i) Globalization and means adopted by countries and cities to deal with it: having exposed the

main studies covering the urban problematic of the three cities, it became clear that

fragments of the three cities have become more than ever linked to globalized economic and

cultural dynamics; whereas large parts are still beyond the reach of globalization linked in

their evolution to local dynamics, even if such dynamics are directly or indirectly impacted

by globalization. No doubt globalization has a main impact on the evolution of cities today,

even if such impact is discrepant. Dubai, for instance, is largely based in its urban evolution

on economic globalization dynamics such as colossal land projects, huge foreign

investments, regional an international centers of multinational companies, and infrastructureat the service of globalization (international airport, large seaports and others). In Cairos

example, the urban texture clearly reveals this deep contraction imposed by the impacts of

dissimilarities resulting from globalization. Differentiation is made between categories

getting richer, influenced by globalization, semi-secluded from the city and living in regions

linked through their own networks and channels as well as their own surface, and categories

getting poorer secluded from economic relations and globalization and undergoing exclusion

and marginalization in slums forming the largest part of the city. In the example of Beirut,

although globalization did not have this dramatic role characterizing the urban development

in Dubai and Cairo, it is particularly reflected in the development of consuming economic

structures;

(ii) Changes in means of production, the labor market and labor force: economic transformationsthat have accompanied the decline of the intensive manufacturing phase in the Western

world, represent in specialized western literature the main reason of urban fragmentation in

such societies. The fall of the social contract which used to link production forces, as in

employers, to the State has led to an increase of unemployment, social exclusion and urban

seclusion of large categories of the previous working community. Among the studied cases,

Cairo is the closest to this situation. Egypt is the only case in which industry had a crucial

role in the national economic structure. As for Lebanon, It has witnessed an industrial phase

in the seventies of the last century; however, the economy of profits, particularly in Beirut,

had the main role in planning the Lebanese economy. As for the United Arab Emirates, in

particular Dubai, it has no industrial heritage worth mentioning, although it is witnessing

today an economic activity attracting large numbers of works, which however has not led to

the formation of a social contract such as the western one. Therefore, this dimension has alimited role in urban fragmentation, which emerges mainly in the form of exclusion and

seclusion of large parts of society in Cairo;

(iii) The relation between urban fragmentation and exclusion, among cultural communities and

social classes: the cultural factor emerged as an essential factor in urban fragmentation. It is

crucial as to the integration or seclusion of social categories or individuals in the life of a

certain community through participation in cultural symbols, tools and values. This factor

has two main impacts: emergence of barriers and cultural sections (classes, ethnic and

confessional) and confiscation of the public space. Beirut emerges as the eminent example to

this kind of fragmentation which does not exclude Cairo and Dubai. In Cairo, the factor of

social classes plays the main role in the separation between walled rich neighbors and slums,


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although they are sometimes geographically approximate. As for Dubai, although the

separation factor is weaker, there is clearly an emerging phenomenon of ethnic and

nationalistic neighborhoods;

(iv) Barriers and borders between neighborhoods and regions: the direct result of urban

fragmentation is naturally the establishment of barriers. Such barriers can be material in the

form of gates and fences such as the walled rich neighborhood in Cairo, security-related

such as many large private commercial or residential projects in Dubai, Cairo and Beirut, or

symbolic such as the war demarcation line in Beirut which is still present in some minds

despite its physical termination.

(b) Discrepancy is a permanent characteristic of the city particularly historical cities such as Cairo.

The new phenomenon is not the discrepancy itself but its transformation into a fragmentation factor. The

difference between the two is that although the discrepancy separates neighborhoods of a city on the

backdrop of its social and economic discrepant reality, it does not however cut communication and

interaction between those neighborhoods. In this case, the city remains a social unit with unified interest. As

for fragmentation, it cuts communication lines and disassembles interactive interests which unify citizens,

thus linking some neighborhoods to others in other cities instead of linking them with their own surrounding,whereas other neighborhoods become confined whether out of auto-seclusion or seclusion imposed by the

surrounding;

(c) The inevitable result of urban fragmentation is the emergence of fragments, but the cognitive

problematic for any researcher or observer would be to define those fragments. From a theoretical or

ideological perspective, we see incompatible, sometimes contradicting definitions of these fragments. Some

may look at them from the class or working perspective as a result to globalization, whereas others from

cultural, ethnic, confessional or lifestyle perspectives etc. In view of the reality of the three cities, we see that

these categories contradict and merge in reality, therefore it is useful to study the definition of fragments not

only from the theoretical categories perspective, but also from the expressional dimension and social and

mental representations, from which residents and users express their understanding of the city fragment;

(d) The State plays a crucial role in the establishment of spatial distinctions, preserving or removing

them at all times, which makes its role a crucial factor in implementing what is produced by the labour force,

or by limiting the effect of such production. In times of economic liberal policies globalization and

privatization, actors of the private sector and civil society have an effective role in the governance of the city.

Openness on those circles in the western world witnessed a balance between the role of the private sector and

that of the civil society in formulating modern urban policies, but the withdrawal of the State and the weak

structure of the independent civil society in the Arab world have granted the interests of the private sector the

main role in defining those policies. This sector generally works on securing its personal interests and

isolates the interests of large categories in society. This has led to increasing privatization of service-related

sectors in some countries. With this transformation, companies usually seek quick gain. According to

Graham and Marvin (Graham, Marvin, 2003), we have moved from a unifying infrastructure to an isolating

one. Although this phenomenon is still in its first stages in the three countries, the resulting urbanfragmentation has started to emerge sharply as affirmed by Verdeil (Verdeil, 2008).

V. CONCLUSION

This primary reading of the urban patterns in the three Arab cities and the main questions raised, have

shown that urban fragmentation is a ramified phenomenon with several aspects, impacted by social and

spatial practice and behaviors as well as by the plural political dimensions and radical changes in global

economy and technology.

Some pessimists dont see in the city but an area for the balance of forces, conflicts, contradictions,

marginalization and differentiation, as well as mechanisms to produce spatial agglomerations that coexist


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without sharing. Whereas we adopt a different point of view of the urban reality based on the principle of the

city for everyone, where every individual finds his own place because the city is a political, moral and

esthetic claim, where everybody meet in the frame of urban civilization based on respect (Paquot, 2009).

Where are our Arab cities from this optimist view? Is there any way to connect our fragmented cities to

sustainable development based on equality, participation and justice?

There is therefore an urging need for a critical study that clarifies the urban problematic and develops

monitoring and analysis tools. Urban fragmentation is one of these theoretical tools that aim to real

sustainable development in urban and social policies, in addition to finding means to implement good urban

administration based on the principles of citizenship and political and social rights for individuals and

groups.


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