The Resilient Historic Cities of Sharjah and Doha – Urban Regeneration and the Search for Identity in a Global World

Abstract

Urban regeneration is a dominant approach to sustain resilient historic centers and cities. This paper focuses on two urban regeneration projects in the Gulf: old Doha Qatar and old Sharjah UAE. It is based on exploring the main concepts related to identity and sustainable urban regeneration in a global world. The investigation aims to undertake a comparative analysis of these projects, which will help to extract lessons for future interventions in other historic cities. This study is unique in tackling the relationship between urban regeneration and identity to counterbalance the globalization trends that may create major threats to historic cities. The areas chosen present some similarities in terms of decisionmakers, in both of them there is a duality from the cultural identity point of view. The approach to the research objectives is based on two methodologies: • Deductive: a theoretical investigation based on the properties of the urban regeneration, definitions, objectives and the dilemma of implementing it. This combines literature reviews, key figures in the urban conservation field and the place identity, social identity and identity process as theories for cultural models of the historical center. • Inductive: a comparative analysis of two examples that have been through some metamorphoses. The study looks to elicit the images of the historical areas structure to support the theoretical propositions of surface and deep structural city elements. The conclusion is based on an analysis of the case studies.

Keywords

• urban regeneration
• identity
• old doha
• old sharjah
• historic center
• globalization