أرشيف الوسم: Saudi

منذ سنوات والكويت تواجه مشكلة تنموية تتمثل في نموذج مركب يجمع بين الفشل الإداري وإدمان الهدر الريعي. وفي ظل هذا النموذج تتفاقم المشاكل الاقتصادية والاجتماعية، ويستشري الفساد الإداري والمالي، ويوماً بعد يوم يزيد الضغط على المواطن البسيط، وتخسر الطبقة المتوسطة العديد من مكاسبها، ويجد الفرد في مواجهة ذلك صعوبات حاضرة ومستقبل مجهول.

وبينما يسعى مخططو المدن لتحقيق الأهداف التنموية، والتي عادة ما تكون بعيدة المدى ومستدامة، وتتبع خطط حريصة على حفظ الموارد، وحماية البيئة، ومراعاة حقوق الأجيال القادمة. ويعتبر المخططون أنفسهم نخبة تستند على نظريات علمية، وتستخدم أدوات فنية وعقلانية للمفاضلة بين الخيارات ولاتخاذ القرارات.

ولكن من جهة أخرى، فإن من يقود الرأي العام مجموعة شعبوية تستند على الأسلوب الخطابي العاطفي والتبسيط المخل، ويتسم خطابها بمعارضة النخب، والسياسات الحكومية، والسعي لربط آراء المختصين بالسلطة الحاكمة، والتكسب من خلال اللعب على الانقسامات الطبقية في المجتمع. ويفتقر طرحها للمنطق السليم، ويشجع المطالبات الاستهلاكية والخطط الريعية الحكومية بغض النظر عن جدواها.  لكن هذا الخطاب الشعبوي يجد قبولاً لأنه يستند على حالة الإحباط العام، وانسداد الأفق، وفشل النظم الديمقراطية في تحقيق طموحات الشعب، وشعور المواطن العادي بالظلم، وأنه غير قادر على التأثير على واقعه.

إن هذا الاتجاه الشعبوي الذي أصبح يمتلك الرأي العام من خلال تواصله المباشر مع المواطن البسيط، وامتلاكه لمنصات إعلامية عديدة وعلى رأسها منصات التواصل الاجتماعي، فأصبح يقود الخطط، ويوجه الأولويات الحكومية، ويحدد مستقبل البلد في كل المجالات ومنها التخطيط الحضري والعمراني.

لذلك، وفي ظل هذه الظروف الحرجة التي نمر بها، أصبح لزاماً على المختصين السعي الحثيث نحو مواجهة هذا التيار الشعبوي وإعادة الاعتبار للمهنية والمنطق السليم، وممكن أن يتم لك من خلال:

• إعادة بناء الثقة بذوي الاختصاص لاسيما في مجال التخطيط العمراني والحضري.
• المشاركة في النقاشات الشعبية والتواصل المباشر مع المواطنين.
• معالجة الخلل في نظمنا الديمقراطية بحيث تحقق أفضل تمثيل للشعب.
• معالجة الخلل في النظم البيروقراطية التي باتت عائقاً نحو تحقيق الأهداف التنموية.
• تعزيز الوعي بدور الخطط الهيكلية العمرانية في رفع جودة الحياة.
• تعزيز الشفافية والنزاهة وتعزيز ثقة المواطنين بالقرارات الحكومية.
• إعادة الكوينالمجلس البلدي، وتوسيع دائرة تمثيله، وبسط سلطاته على القرارات البلدية.

For years, Kuwait has continued to face a major development crisis, and this is evident by the composite model that combines administration failure and addiction of wasteful (welfare) policies. The current paradigm exacerbates our economic and social problems, as we are witnessing widespread administrative and financial corruption.

Each passing day, citizens are confronted with tremendous pressures, and the middle class is losing many of its gains, while the individual is confronted with difficulties and an increasingly nebulous future.

Urban planners promote plans that meet development goals, which are long-term, sustainable, protect resources and the environment, and consider the rights of future generations. Further, planners rely on scientific theories and utilizes technical sensible tools to evaluate alternatives and make decisions. On the other hand, public opinion is led by pulpit groups that focus on an emotional and rhetorical narrative that is generally weak, simple, and opposes elites and governmental policies. It seeks to form a link between professional opinion and authority.

The populist play on the existing class division in society, and their rhetoric lack sound sense. It tends to encourage consumption demands and wasteful government spending despite their feasibility. This populist front is accepted and widely supported because it relies on the overall frustration as well as the failure of the democratic system to meet the ambitions of its citizens. Frustrations such as these spread the feeling of injustice and an inability to control its destiny.

At this moment, populists own public opinion through direct communication and controlling media platforms, especially social media. The populist movement began to lead plans, guide governmental proprieties, and determine the future of the country in all sectors including urban planning.

Under these difficult times, professionals must face mainstream populism head-on and reinstate professionalism and common sense. This can be achieved through:

• Building trust in professional, especially, urban planners;
• Engage in public discussions and debates and address the common citizen;
• Reform our democratic system for better representation and efficiency;
• Restructuring bureaucratic systems that became an obstacle to meet development plans;
• Reinforce awareness about the role of master plans in the creation of quality life;
• Establish transparency measures and integrity government to regain trust in authorities’ decisions;
• Empower the municipal council and expand its representation as well as broadening its powers and jurisdictions on municipal matters.

The Corona pandemic brought to the surface a set of problems that Kuwait suffers from in various administrative, economic, social, and other fields. Perhaps one of the topics that has been the most discussed is the issue of demographics and the need to adjust them.

One side effect of the unbalanced demographics of Kuwait is the housing of low-income expats. Due to caution directed toward the spread of infection, focus was placed on areas with a high concentration of labuorers, like Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, Khaitan, and Bneid Al-Qar, among others. This increased the demand for the reduction of the number of expats as well as speeding up the creation of Labour Cities.

The Labour Cities concept is entirely unwise and necessarily leads to other problems. If it is considered as one of the alternative solutions, it will definitely lead to other complications that add to the problem of demographic imbalance. The magnitude of the problems related to the housing of foreign workers is obvious. Moreover, the Labour Cities solution may seem self-evident, but it is not necessarily the best or only choice.

This paper aims to make the case against the execution of Labour Cities projects and provide an alternative method to accommodate all expat workers within the metropolitan area.

Download Paper :

https://we.tl/t-n1ctleEMlO

We are facing an unprecedented global crisis. COVID-19 has greatly impacted all sectors and will undoubtedly affect our future in an unforeseen way. As such, it is wise to distill some lessons from this pandemic; we have to reassess our lifestyle and plan to make serious societal as well as structural changes on an individual and government level.

We must undertake a thorough review of our urban paradigms and sprawl that we have become accustomed to during the last fifty years. As individuals, we should examine our consumption habits and specifically evaluate the form of our dream home.

Below, we outline a list of aspects that must be considered in the design of houses post-pandemic.

Minimalism:

This pandemic exposed a scarcity in resources and taught harsh lessons on saving and conservation. Thus, we must seek to achieve minimalist designs that reduce, lower, and remove — rather than add. As we move forward, our core value should be that true beauty is in simplicity and that less is more.

Small:

We must reconsider the size of our homes and seek to find satisfaction with our actual needs. It is crucial to build what fits our daily lifestyle and view the house as a means of comfort — not as a consumption item used to express social status. We should realize that the small house is a necessity to save resources and lower our energy consumption.

Privacy:

It is known that privacy is one of the characteristics of Islamic and Arabic architecture. However, this quality was gradually lost. During long hours and days of curfew, we began to realize the importance of this unique architectural trait. And now, privacy should be valued for all residents as a major source of comfort in the home.

Exterior Space:

The curfew showed us the importance of enjoying the outdoors. We thought that our equipped homes with all its furnishings and amenities can substitute the need for outdoor spaces. Homeowners previously believed that any suggestion for a setback, courtyard, garden, or balcony were merely a waste of space and signs of design inefficiency. Hopefully, the experience of the curfew will push us to integrate outdoor spaces within our homes and increase the value of gardens, yards, balconies, and roof gardens.

Healthy Materials:

This pandemic also spotlights many neglected health measures. Today, we recognize the importance of the selection of building and finishing materials. A wise selection of materials makes our homes healthier, as we learned that we need to use anti-bacteria materials and easily cleaned surfaces.

Space Program:

The curfew illustrated the importance of the design of our homes and the creation of a balanced space program. We saw that many areas in our homes were unnecessary and other needs are neglected. Maybe we have exaggerated the allocation of large areas for guest and reception rooms. We witnessed the need for important spaces for storage, kitchen, home gym, home office, and others.

Also, more care must be given to the design of entryways to create a buffer zone that breaks the outdoor from the indoor and helps to keep infections out from the living space.

Energy Conservation:

A long time ago, many architects called for the importance of green buildings and environmentally friendly designs that respect the local setting. These practices were not popular, maybe due to the low cost of energy in the GCC countries. However, after an increased possibility of power shortages — especially during the summer months and stoppage of transportation — tourism and the yearly travel of hundreds of thousands of expats currently place us in a great and unfamiliar test.

Today, we are obliged to reconsider the designs of our homes and follow passive architectural techniques, placing more attention on insulation, restraint from using glass facades, employing modern technology to conserve energy, applying alternative energy tools, and considering the recycling of water whenever possible.

Security:

Obstacles brought on by this pandemic will occur in phases, and we are posed with various challenges — some concerned with safety and security. This will lead us to design our home with high security awareness. More attention will be given to the design of doors and windows. More homes will be equipped with surveillance, alarm, and communication systems.

Finally, these are rough ideas and under development. It is likely that the upcoming days will reveal more inspirations that will help us to adapt better with our circumstances.

We will overcome this crisis, but more importantly, gain lessons and insights from this outstanding experience and emerge from it more aware about ourselves, architectural context, and the environment.