Building Migrant Cities in the Gulf: Urban Transformations in the Middle East

Human history has seen many settlements being transformed or completely erected by expatriate workforce and foreigners arriving from various places. Recent migration patterns in the Gulf led to emerging airport societies in unprecedented scales. Most guest workers, both labourers and mid to high-income groups, perceive their stay as a temporary opportunity to earn suitable income or gain intensive experience. The book is a timely effort that abstracts the essential characteristics of this unique urban phenomenon substantiated by concrete examples and empirical research. Both authors lived and worked in the Gulf including Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates during various periods between 2006 and 2014. Being able to witness the boom before and the downturn after the international financial crisis and being migrant expatriates instigated impulses to explore Gulf cities from macro and interconnected perspectives rather than to focus on singular aspects within the built environment only. As academic architects specialised in urbanism and the complex dynamics between people and places the authors build new bridges for understanding demographic and social changes impacting urban transformations.