Scaling Down Planning in Doha Towards the Neighborhood and Its Public Realm
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OPEN ACCESS Research article Scaling down planning in Doha towards the neighborhood and its public realm Dena Qaddumi1,*, Ameena Ahmadi2 1University of Cambridge, Cambridge, ABSTRACT UK 2Capital Projects Directorate, The state of Qatar and its capital Doha are undeniably in a state of profound change. In this current Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar phase of rapid development, neighborhoods, and especially their public realms, have often been *Email: [email protected] neglected due to the prioritization of creating notable architectural objects that support national development plans. Without conscious and sensitive attention toward developing these spaces, it is difficult to encourage communal relations and practices at the point of residence. Built environment practitioners face unique challenges when planning Doha. Qatar’s population has dramatically increased in both numbers and diversity, resulting in resident communities that hold different expectations of and needs from the city. Moreover, traditional living is not commonly associated with urban communities; a lingering question remains regarding how the built environment can preserve tradition and identity. Planning approaches in Doha have oscillated between rational comprehensive planning and entrepreneurial and management planning and, as a result, have overlooked the micro-scale of the neighborhood. Recent developments in policy approaches to urban planning, including the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the Qatar National Master Plan, include potentials and constraints to address the public realm in neighborhoods. Building on these policy foundations, that focus on the scale of the neighborhood and support local mechanisms for community participation, two entry tactics are developed as actions to be taken by governmental authorities: establish an urban forum at the neighborhood scale and launch a public awareness campaign. Keywords: public realm, neighborhood, planning approaches, participation, urban governance http://dx.doi.org/ 10.5339/connect.2017.qgbc.2 ª 2017 Qaddumi, Ahmadi, licensee HBKU Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cite this article as: Qaddumi D, Ahmadi A. Scaling down planning in Doha towards the neighborhood and its public realm, QScience Connect, Shaping Qatar’s Sustainable Built Environment 2017:qgbc.2 http://dx.doi.org/10.5339/connect.2017.qgbc.2 Page 2 of 22 Qaddumi and Ahmadi. QScience Connect 2017:2 1. INTRODUCTION The state of Qatar and its capital Doha are undeniably in a state of profound change. The aspiration to complete significant projects to the built environment in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV) and for the FIFA World Cup in 2022 promises to continue this state of flux for the next decade. In this current phase of rapid development, neighborhoods, and especially their public realms, have often been neglected due to the prioritization of creating notable architectural objects that support national development plans. Similarly, urban practice and research in Doha have been pre-occupied with the master planning of these new large-scale developments;1,2 little attention has been given to the design and maintenance of cohesive and shared spaces between buildings in existing neighborhoods. In parallel, built environment practitioners face unique challenges when planning Doha. Qatar’s population has dramatically increased in both numbers and diversity, resulting in resident communities that hold different expectations of and needs from the city. Moreover, in a country like Qatar, where traditional living is not commonly associated with urban communities, a lingering question remains regarding how the built environment can preserve tradition and identity, which is a principle of the QNV. Efforts to emulate “traditional” forms of urbanism have emerged, though how they spatially relate to traditional ways of living is unclear.a This paper is a conscious contribution to focusing on the public realm in neighborhoods. It is hoped that this research would act as a reference for further investigation and action by private and public sectors toward this scale of the city. First, we will outline two dominant approaches to planning that we believe are found in Doha: rational comprehensive planning and entrepreneurial management planning. Using this as a framework, an overview of the planning trends of the last two decades in Doha will be reviewed, followed by an assessment of how these actions have impacted the development of the public realm in Doha’s neighborhoods. This will take into account the distinct social and spatial features of Doha that create challenges for urban planning. We will then examine the main state actors involved in planning and implementation with newly developed policy documents, understanding the opportunities that these documents imply for the public realm in neighborhoods. Finally, a set of recommendations related to planning methodology and urban governance will be offered as possible entry tactics and actions to be taken by governmental bodies. Our research is built on a literature review of relevant theory, the history of planning in Doha, and an examination of policy documents and maps. Site-work that included visits to small-scale public spaces in several of Doha’s neighborhoods was also undertaken. Semi-structured interviews took place with the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, including representatives from the Qatar National Master Plan project, the Public Parks department, and Ashghal, as well as a member of the Central Municipal Council. It should also be noted that this research was augmented by the long experience of both authors living in Doha and witnessing its development over the past 20 years. 2. PREVAILING APPROACHES TO PLANNING At a global level, the discipline of planning has evolved over the last half century, responding to changing social, economic, and spatial realities at the local and global scales. Currently, we are witnessing the prevalence of two approaches to planning in Doha: rational comprehensive planning and entrepreneurial and management planning. Rational comprehensive planning reflects the modernist tradition, revering rationality and technical expertise. As the title suggests, this approach to planning values the adherence to rational thoughts while also believing that planning should be comprehensive in its nature – addressing social, economic, and human factors.3 Rational comprehensive planning factors comprise all elements that could affect plans, measuring and evaluating the outcomes of each4,5 in order to arrive at the most rational decision. These plans are largely complex in nature requiring the most current data available, usually in the form of quantitative statistics.6 This information is then applied to theory to determine the ultimate aims of plans and the most direct way of achieving these aims. Many criticisms have been leveled at rational comprehensive planning for being ineffective in responding to urban realities. It has been viewed as relying on the accuracy of expansive information that is often out-of-date by the time plans are implemented. Obtaining such information utilizes human and economic resources while taking much effort and time. This prevents rational comprehensive planning from creating frameworks to respond to immediate urban problems. Further, by trying to aTwo examples of these are the Msheireb and Katara developments. Page 3 of 22 Qaddumi and Ahmadi. QScience Connect 2017:2 respond to all elements in the urban environment, plans can become bureaucratic and difficult to execute. Plans are effectively assumed to exist in an apolitical environment that would not impede their implementation. By focusing on the desired planning outcomes, implementation mechanisms that allow for citizen participation are often neglected in favor of conclusions arrived at by governmental agencies and consultants through seemingly rational and technical analysis. The needs of vulnerable communities can be excluded from plans as they often lack representation in governmental structures. When consultation is present, it often validates preconceived assumptions and solutions.7 The second prevailing approach to planning, which is entrepreneurial and management planning, emerged in the 1980s in parallel with the rise of neo-liberal policies.8 It views urban planning as a means for economic development, in which the private sector plays an expanded role. The state’s role shifts from a developer to an enabler of the market; the market is considered to be best equipped to promote urban development through its rationale and efficiency. Policies of decentralization, deregulation, and state minimization are enacted to support this strategy. Entrepreneurial and management planning encourages planning to be project-oriented.9 As new relationships between the state and the private sector emerge, financial models are encouraged that align with clear timeframes and spatial remits. “Such practices often resulted in a piecemeal approach to urban development that lacked strategic foresight or long-term planning, posing a difficulty for citizens to see where their cities are going.”9 In this new approach, the role of the planner shifts to a city manager, whose focus is on marketing the city to compete at a global scale, particularly in its ability to attract foreign