أرشيف الوسم: Environment

Urban development has long been associated with consumption – shopping malls, skyscrapers, tourist areas, and real estate speculation. But consumption-driven growth deepens inequality, drains resources, and turns citizens into passive consumers. As we move towards the creation of new cities and more urban sprawl, we need a more profound transformation to make cities economically, socially, environmentally, and culturally productive. Cities are designed according to the requirements and needs of their users. This is how Jane Jacobs brilliantly pointed out this shift: “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, everybody creates them.”

Her words remind us that successful cities are not formed from the top down but from the grassroots up, through people’s active contributions, not just as recipients of welfare and housing products.

To build productive cities, we must start by putting productive economies at their center. Instead of viewing them as real estate products or prioritizing consumption, cities should invest in local production, innovation, and development centers. In doing so, cities reduce reliance on resources, stimulate jobs, and recycle value locally.

Urban design must foster productive communities – collaborative gardens, shared workshops, citizen labs, cultural gatherings – not just residential, consumer, and recreational areas.  These spaces thus transform the inhabitants into participants in the creation of their environment.
Environmentally, cities should generate life, not consume it. Lewis Mumford has observed that “the chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity”.

In other words, infrastructure should not only support consumption (roads, water and sewage networks, parking spaces, and air conditioning systems).  They should produce energy, generate clean water, compost organic waste, and integrate green systems into the urban fabric.

Finally, governance must reflect production. Planning and budgeting must align and be participatory, with decision-making power channeled to communities so they become policy producers, not mere participants.

Whereas our cities are currently only seeking to attract and feed more consumption that is forced upon citizens. Productive cities strive to create material and cultural value from within.  Jacobs warned elsewhere: “There is no logic that can be superimposed on the city; people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans.”
If we pay attention to this wisdom, our urban future can evolve from passive consumption to active creativity – building a sustainable, just, income-generating, and vibrant future.

The newspapers have published the news about the proposal by the municipal council members to establish an independent municipality for Kuwait City. Dr. Sharifa Al-Shalfan, Eng. Farah Al-Roumi and Eng. Abdullatif Al-Dai submitted a proposal to establish an independent municipality for Kuwait City. This municipality would have a separate budget and particular organizational structure that adheres to the municipality’s regulations with the aim of raising the level of services offered. This is an excellent proposal that could contribute to the dismantling of government centralization and potentially serve as a first step in establishing more independent municipalities in all governorates, including the new cities like Al-Mutla’a, Saad Al-Abdullah, Sabah Al-Ahmad, and others.

People are often motivated to care for their cities due to the spiritual connection that binds them to the historic town. Nostalgia drives them to envision a positive, idealized past. Some elders and professionals people reminisce about the picturesque history of Kuwait City, recalling its walls, houses, ferjan, markets, beaches, seas, and other aspects of pre-oil social life. Specialists are working to leverage these features to shape the modern and future vision of Kuwait City while preserving the remaining historical monuments.

However, a major obstacle to this trend is that most citizens are not inclined to return to the old city’s image. Many who lived before the oil era appreciate the comforts of modernity, such as private vehicles, modern homes, residential suburbs, and amenities. The younger generation, on the other hand, has limited knowledge of the pre-oil era, often exposed to superficial glimpses of the past, through media or educational curricula. Media stereotypes about neighboring regional cities with their high-rise towers, highways, and architectural landmarks influence perceptions.

Furthermore, the systematic destruction of historic Kuwait City is irreversible. The city has been depopulated, erasing its original urban fabric, with the majority of its old buildings being demolished and replaced with modern facilities. Additionally, the completion of the First Ring Road Project further divided the city into two and dismantled its already fragmented fabric.

Kuwait City, as the capital, remains essential, serving as the nucleus of the state, the center of governance, and a hub of commercial activities. To salvage what remains and steer urban development in the right direction, the following steps should be taken:

• Promote the preservation of Kuwait City as a historical site with spiritual significance even though few physical artifacts remain.
• To undertake small-scale interventions and urban experiments to improve the city’s-built environment, serving as pilot studies for replication.
• Initiate the revitalization of the city by encouraging different segments of society to reside within its limits. A thriving city with permanent residents will foster interest in the place and create a vibrant environment round the clock.
• The establishment of the Kuwait City Municipality will undoubtedly contribute to the city’s development. It would concentrate efforts, define responsibilities, and streamline the complex bureaucracy complexities. Therefore, I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the Municipal Council for this valuable proposal.

Municipalities around the world have a lot of roles, the most important of which is urban planning. Modern urban planning must conform to the requirements of the times and comply with adaptation, flexibility, and rapid response. The municipality is an important institution that operates in almost all countries in the world. The first municipality was established in the Italian city of Siena in 1239 AD. Its council had nine members whose main role was to manage the city’s affairs. The town constructed a city hall building overlooking the main square, symbolizing the central role of good governance.

The Municipality was established in 1930 in Kuwait at Sheikh Yusuf bin Issa’s proposal submitted to the Ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who blessed the idea. The work of the municipality continued until 1954, when a new law was passed confirming the independence and the pivotal role of the municipality that exists until today.

Municipalities, in general, work to achieve the following:

• • Make decisions related to the general environment of cities on behalf of the community.
  • Undertake major public tasks such as cleaning, organization, and management of public facilities.
  • Urban planning.
  • Oversee road services, public utilities, and firefighting services.

In the cities within the Gulf Region, municipalities must be given important roles since the cities are experiencing rapid growth and the residents face rapid changes. In these cities, the real estate sector is experiencing massive growth, making real estate a significant part of the gross domestic product. The total contribution of real estate to the GDP is between 7% and 10%, making it the second most lucrative product after oil.

Since its establishment, the Kuwait Municipality was a pivotal institution. It was directly linked to the institution of governance and laid the initial foundations for the creation of the modern state. It developed the first master plan in the Middle East. Nevertheless, its role gradually declined, and it relinquished a basic set of its powers over the years. As the country expanded, it was unable to carry out its mandated tasks optimally. Today, it has become a purely bureaucratic institution, an often-obstructive automotive tool, rather than a forward and motivation tool.

As a result, we need to redefine and reshape the municipality to regain its initial powers and responsibilities. We achieve this by redrafting its functions, responsibilities, legal powers, and geographic limitations. This way, we shall revive its role in urban planning to regain order within this lucrative industry.

The desired development cannot be achieved without the modern municipality taking into account the changing nature of contemporary cities and the rapid interaction needed with the requirements of social and economic activities. A modern municipality cannot succeed without basing its work on the concepts of adaptation, flexibility, and rapid response.

The people of Kuwait experienced an exceptional condition last Monday, the 27th of March, which was accompanied with heavy rain storm, where the networks failed to discharge. As a result, more than twenty locations on main roads closed, resulting in massive traffic jams. As a result, people were stuck in their cars for long periods, and the country appeared paralyzed.

Such a condition significantly impacted people’s state of mind. Some experienced anger, while others blamed official authorities and contractors. This wave eventually faded after a few days, and once the attention shifted to new issues and incidents, that attracted more attention.

We must realize that the deteriorating condition of the metropolitan area results from decades of wrong decisions and neglect. What we see today is only a symptom of a disease that is speeding slowly and which will bring more signs in the coming years if we don’t act urgently.

Despite the long legacy of planning expertise, the high spending on international consultants, and the availability of local competencies, our mobility in Kuwait could be better. Anyway, there is still a chance to improve the situation.

In this short article, I emphasize that the traffic congestion issue cannot be solved by just road expansion. Instead, we should examine other variants than a solution that resorts to regulations that tighten car ownership and licensing for expats.

From a planning point of view, the solutions are intuitive and are among the ABCs of work worldwide; they have been implemented in all leading cities and even within our neighboring region.

1. Our master planning must be balanced and create an even distribution of facilities, services, and employment. Without this strategy, people will spend more time on roads going from one place to other and adding pressure to the network.
2. We have to change our planning methodologies and seek to promote mix-used development in most neighborhoods. To create a mix between living, working and shopping. One of the leading causes of traffic congestion is emptying Kuwait City, the capital, of housing for low-income groups, despite their large number, which led them to move to the suburbs on the outskirt of the metropolitan area and compelled them to commute to the city daily.
3. More importantly, improving the public transport system and the provision of alternative modes that substitute private vehicles is essential. We need real public investment in public buses and actual improvement in their operation. We must provide alternatives such as large and small buses and introduce more routes covering the entire metropolitan area. Also, schools and universities must give collective transport for a fair percentage of their pupils. Decision-makers should understand that public transport is a service, not a mere commercial activity. The government should allocate sufficient funding at this stage, as it would reap social benefits and, eventually, economic returns.

The solutions are known and intuitive but require firm decisions based on sound technical advice. However, if we maintain the same course of action, our daily movement will be similar to what we experienced on the 27th of March.