The Myth of Knowledge-Based Urban Development in the Middle Eastern Cities

Abstract

A decade ago, Middle Eastern cities and particularly Gulf cities rushed into the implementation of knowledge-based urban development and knowledge cities as models for development and progress. Unlike the Western models of knowledge and creative cities, Middle Eastern cities attempts were characterized by the mere construction of technologically advanced yet isolated urban entities with the hope that they are promoting the same concepts essential for knowledge cities: integration and dissemination. By analyzing key projects selected from the Middle Eastern context, the chapter concludes that the common failure resulted from transforming these projects into gated communities fully isolated from the city and the community.