BurgAl-Arab,BibliothecaAlexandrina(BA),SmartVillageinGiza(SV),andInformationTechnology. Institute(ITI).Abdraboanswersacrucial ...
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INTRODUCTION The book covers number of interrelated and integrated topics and therefore, and for the sake of coherence, structured into three main sections. Section 1, titled “Issues, Challenges, and Theoretical Concepts,” Section 2, titled “Country-Based Case Studies,” and Section 3, titled “Transformations and Trends.” The three sections are preceded by two introductory chapters setting the scene for the different chapters. The book contains essays contributed by scholars, professionals, and researchers from different localities and countries around the Middle East. There are a total of 13 chapters. With such structure, the hope is that book will be a resourceful reference for researchers, town planners, architects, municipality officers and decisions makers in planning and developing future knowledge cities and knowledge-bade urban development around the Middle East.
Section 1: Issues, Challenges, and Theoretical Concepts In Section 1, three chapters focus on discussing issues, challenges, hypothetical and theoretical concepts. The first chapter is titled “The Myth of Knowledge-Based Urban Development in the Middle Eastern Cities: A Multilayered-Analysis” by Ali A. Alraouf. Alraouf investigates and validates the credibility and the authenticity of the move towards KBUD and KC in the Middle East and the Gulf. 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. The author suggests that unlike the Western models of knowledge and creative cities, Middle Eastern cities attempts were characterized by the mere construction of technological 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 a sort of gated communities fully isolated from the city and the community. The second chapter is titled “Information and Communication Technology Spine for Knowledge-Based Development of Cities” by Rabee Mohamed Reffat, Assiut University. Reffat discusses an approach for the effective employment of information and communication technology as a competitive advantage for knowledge-based development of cities. Additionally, the features of knowledge-based city compared modern and developed city are discussed. This chapter identifies the primary conditions that promote knowledge-based development of cities. The associative relationships between knowledge-base and economical development of cities are addressed. The third chapter titled “The Comparative Importance of Urban and Architectural Potentials Supporting Knowl
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edge Cities Formation and Their Relevant Indices” is authored by Khaled Youssef Mohamed, Ayman Mohammed Mostafa and Jamal Ahmad Abdel-Hameed, Faculty of Fine Arts. Mohamed, Mostafa and Abdel-Hameed look at the physical features of knowledge cities particularly architectural and urban aspects. The chapter illustrates the methodologies adopted by several developed countries to upgrade their cities to knowledge-based economic cities. The authors demonstrate how architecture and urbanism were used to provide thorough conditions for the enhancing, creation and exchange of knowledge and innovation. While focusing on the physical aspects, the authors acknowledge that the concept of KC was found to be interdisciplinary: economic, political, social as well as being urban and architectural. So, this chapter aims to analyze the urban and architectural potentials of selected case studies. The chapter concludes with a set of indices and guidelines contributing to assessing the performance of such knowledge cities and how to envision the future impact and transformations.
Section 2: Country-Based Case Studies Section 2 moves towards investigating cases from cities and states around the Middle East. The fourth chapter is titled “The Knowledge Urbanity in Qatar: An Alternative Dynamic” by Ali A. Alraouf. Alraouf illustrates the alternative approach to Knowledge based urban development which Qatar adopted to cope with the challenges of the post-carbon paradigm and to construct a new identity as a knowledge-based model of development within the Middle East. Using the Capital city Doha as the main case study, the chapter provides analysis of the city evolution from the discovery of oil till the contemporary stage where knowledge economy is envisioned as its future and the guiding principle for its urban and architectural projects. The analysis covers the city planning level and how future masterplan is geared towards KBUD and then some influential projects will be assessed. The chapter concludes with a holistic understanding of the case of Doha as a knowledge and creative city that succeeded to craft a new urban brand within the Gulf and Middle Eastern cities. The fifth chapter is titled “Egypt’s Knowledge-Based Development: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Possibilities” by Amal Adel Abdrabo, Alexandria University, Egypt. Abdrabo discusses both the dominant theoretical paradigms that appear within Egypt’s ICT policies since early nineties and examines the practical steps of implementation. The chapter compares between the mission, vision, and goals of different ICT policies and their application in reality within four cases from the Egyptian context; the City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications in Burg Al-Arab, Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), Smart Village in Giza (SV), and Information Technology Institute (ITI). Abdrabo answers a crucial, complicated and multifaceted question; what are the opportunities and challenges that Egypt faces in its endeavor to transform each of the national economy into a knowledge-based economy, the Egyptian citizens into knowledge citizens, the cities into knowledge cities, and the whole Egyptian society into a knowledge society? The sixth chapter is titled “Developing a Conceptual Framework for Knowledge-Based Urban Development in Isfahan, Iran” by Marjaneh Farhangi, Municipality of Karaj. Farhangi traces how the nature of urban development has changed and focuses on the economic, social, technological and environmental changes which have influenced patterns of urbanization. The chapter aims to formulate a conceptual model for cities leadership towards knowledge based urban development. The city of Isfahan, Iran was used as a case study where a methodology for directing cities development process. The suggested model is proposed according to literature review and using ANP method for analyzing the data gathered from the context. This conceptual model has also prioritized effective factors for KBUD.
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The seventh chapter is titled “KBUD as an Alternative Approach for the Development of Cairo’s Informal Settlements: Opportunities and Challenges” by Ahmed Hassan Abayazeed. Abayazeed moves from the typical focus on big cities and capital and investigates the opportunities and challenges related to KBUD found in Cairo’s informal settlements. Also, it explores the ability of KBUD approach in dealing with the development of such settlements instead of the adopted approaches which failed in approaching the economic aspect within these communities. The chapter provides insights on the important role KBUD could play not only in the economic growth of richer and more prestigious contexts but also in poor communities which have a lot of hidden potentials. The chapter investigates the policies and approaches used and applied and the related defects and shortcomings. Then, it explores the theoretical framework of KBUD. The eighth chapter is titled “Opportunities for and Constraints on the Transformation Into a Knowledge-Based Economy: A Critical Analysis of Initiatives in Turkey” by Zafer Kiyan, Ankara University. Hakan Yüksel, Ankara University. Kiyan and Yüksel illustrate that information and communication technologies (ICTs) change economic and social activities creating a new economic paradigm based on the production and processing of knowledge. Accordingly, all aspects of human life are being transformed, including cities people live in. All around the world, countries are trying to adopt this new paradigm referred to as a knowledge-based economy (KBE) and organize their cities to possess a more competitive position in this new context. The authors assert that Turkey is one of these countries working on building KBE. Hence, the chapter analyzes Turkish efforts in building KBE and organizing its cities in this respect. It emphasizes that Turkey once had an important advantage in building KBE due to its developed telecommunication industry that offered the material infrastructure of KBE but lost this technological capacity owing to the implementation of inappropriate strategies. Turkey also conceptualizes KBE in such a narrow sense that leads to the adoption of other wrong policies effecting the country’s economy, society and cities. The ninth chapter is titled “Creative Cities and Knowledge Capital: The Case of Dubai (UAE)” by Aly Abdel Razek Galaby, Alexandria University, Egypt. Galaby asserts that many world nations are responding to the shift from development policies that rely on intensified labor and capital into alternative policies that build on the intensification of knowledge. He discusses the innovative development paradigms of existing urban models including knowledge Cities, creative cities and the rise of knowledge society explains how they have opened up alternative prospects for development and growth. Using the Emirate of Dubai as a case study, Galaby illustrates how Dubai was among the first Middle Eastern countries that acknowledged the new development paradigms and took the initiative of transforming its economy into a knowledge economy, building development policies on the intensification of knowledge, embarked on the creation of the creative city and the formation of a knowledge capital. Hence, the chapter provides an analysis of the experience, explaining its constraints, and its impact nationally and regionally.
Section 3: Transformations and Trends The third section of the book focuses on initiatives, emerging approaches in addition to challenges and opportunities facing KBUD in the Middle East. The tenth chapter is titled “Kuwait Urban App: The Application of Knowledge-Based Urban Development in Kuwait” by Jawaher Al-Bader, Anas Alomaim, and Robert Gurney. Jawaher, Alomaim and Gurney’s attempt to articulate a methodological approach for Knowledge Based Urban Development (KBUD), select an interesting route by looking at the impact of the social media paradigm. Through an investigation of social media and contemporary smart phone xvi
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applications, the authors analyze the urban landscape of Kuwait to propose a relevant reading of (KBUD) in Kuwait. Historically urban planning and design have been dominated by a formalized methodology that seeks to reinforce existing power structures. The promise of KBUD is a more balanced approach towards development, considering economic, social, environmental, and cultural factors. However, today a new structure is coalescing, one based on the interaction of individuals through social media i.e. Instagram, Snapchat and the geo-tagging technology, that supports these applications. The authors argue that the proliferation of social media applications in Kuwait covers a wide range of the population, providing insight towards the contemporary urban environment. They conclude by suggesting that these methods for social communication and social cohesions are crucial in our understanding of the current active spaces. The eleventh chapter is titled “Knowledge-Based Urban Design in the Architectural Academic Field” by Hisham G. Abusaada and Abeer Elshater. Abusaada and Elshater discuss the pedagogical aspects of introducing knowledge-based domains of investigation in the process of teaching and research. The chapter focuses on the theory of knowledge-based urban design as a tool for intellectual literacy in architecture schools. It explores the extent of the current knowledge effects in the educational process by knowing the experience gained by the students during the current learning plans, as opposed to what the urban designer should know. The authors ask a valid question; what could happen if the experts in the relevant disciplines of urban design do not accept such a paradigm shift or even recognize that there is intellectual illiteracy in a particular discipline? The chapter provides an experimental attempt to explore the relationship between illiteracy of thought and mental ability among professionals in the field of urban design to raise their intellectual and cognitive competence. The twelfth chapter is titled “A Holistic Assessment of Education City in Doha: The Borderless Knowledge Hub” by Ali A. Alraouf. Alraouf provides a comprehensive evaluation of one of the most influential knowledge hubs in the Middle East, Education City in Qatar (EC). Qatar, while developing its vision for the future, decided to adopt the knowledge economy as the new pillar for its economy and development. The chapter focuses on examining the impact of the one of the main and iconic national mega project in the capital Doha, (EC). The chapter scrutinizes EC’s contribution to a more resilient future for Qatar. The author assesses the relative roles of such an influential project in preparing or hindering Qatar’s moving towards the post carbon paradigm. The project is examined using multilayered criteria which include, achieving urban diversity, relevance to Knowledge-based urban development, supporting the diversification of the local economy and accommodating multicultural society. The chapter concludes that Education city is the most crucial urban projects in Qatar geared towards sustaining the knowledge economy as it creates ripples of change, knowledge dissemination and a culture of innovation and creativity within the city. The thirteenth chapter is titled “Cities of GCC in Post-Hydrocarbon Era: Challenges and Opportunities” by Ahmed O. El-Kholei and Odeh Al-Jayyousi. El-Kholei and AlJayyousi call for an enabling environment for knowledge transfer, a transition towards a green economy, and institutional development by building and fostering global partnerships for knowledge, innovation, and energy. The authors acknowledge that the States of GCC countries are considered rentier states endeavored to diversify their economic base by attempting to transfer their economies from hydrocarbonbased to knowledge-based economy. Many reports and studies claim these attempts still in need to be integrated within their urban settings, not just a development at the hinterlands of existing cities. The chapter outlines key challenges and opportunities for cities of GCC to transfer their urban development into a knowledge base.
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