Officials during the press conference to announce the launch of the book.
DOHA: Qatar University (QU) has launched a new book that explores the evolution of Doha from a tiny fishing village to an emerging regional metropolis.
The book Demystifying Doha: On Architecture and Urbanism in an Emerging City is authored by QU professor of architecture and chair of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning (DAUP) Dr Ashraf Salama and Dr Florian Wiedmann, research fellow at the department, and published this month by Ashgate Publishing, UK.
Product of a three-year effort (2010-2013), the book was partially funded by a grant from the National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) under the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).
At 276 pages, the book looks at the pre-oil picture of Doha rooted in the desert, tribal tradition and the sea, and follows its urban evolution from vernacular settlement to an emerging service hub.
It goes on to discuss the decentralisation of urban planning and the implementation of an holistic urban development vision in Qatar, regional pressures and global influences, and the advent of urban space diversity in Doha.
Further, the book considers the economic consequences and potential environmental challenges, and provides an outlook for sustainable urbanism in Doha. The authors conclude with a theoretical discourse on space production and an analytical framework for investigating the production of urban qualities in the city.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Salama and Wiedmann explained that Demystifying Doha investigates the complex nature of the city’s contemporary urban structure by exploring its evolution from a tiny fishing village to a major regional and international hub. “
Salama noted the timeliness of the book’s publication in a period when Doha is burgeoning with construction, development and re-generation projects but a lack of in-depth debate on architecture and urbanism in the rapidly growing city.
“This book we hope will begin the dialogue and prompt questions and solutions on the future direction of urban development in Doha and in growing cities in the GCC and Middle East region”, he said.
Wiedman said: “We hope to expand the research to include parameters that enable future comparisons with other Gulf cities now that we have introduced the preparatory discussions that highlight the various interdependencies between the built environment and emerging society of Doha”.
Reviewers from North Carolina State University, the US, Albert Speer & Partner, Germany, and Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy, have called Demystifying Doha “a necessary guide for Doha’s decision makers in the public and private sector as well as design and planning educators and professionals,” a “valuable source for every planner and architect working in Doha as well as those working in neighbouring countries of the Arabian Peninsula”, and “a great addition to the library of architecture and urbanism in the Middle East”.
The Peninsula
