Contextualizing Global Urban Challenges and Approaches in the MENA Region

Abstract

A more diverse and inclusive scope of urban studies is needed to develop a body of knowledge capable of understanding diverse cities. Motivated by this need, this chapter focus on the MENA region to emphasise the importance of contextualisation, as well as the link between the context’s specificity and global urban challenges and approaches. This is achieved in two parts. The first highlights the implications of the region’s socio-cultural, political, and economic dimensions on the manifestations of urban challenges. The second discusses the impact of the MENA’s context on the practice of urban approaches in the region. The chapter highlights four main issues. First, the urban challenges regarding vulnerability, spatial injustice, housing shortage, and citizens’ weak right to the city are discussed as by-products of the complex context of the MENA region. Second, the gap between the promised sustainable urban development strategies in the region and their ambiguous application on the ground highlights the absence of proper contextualisation. Third, a brief examination of the values of pluralism in knowledge creation and citizens’ right to the city against the context of the MENA suggests their limited existence. Fourth, the MENA context stimulates innovative and adaptive urban practices from its citizens and urban practitioners. These findings pinpoint the need for focused contextualisation that zooms into individual cities in the region.