Dr. Amer Adham Moustafa

Associate Professor American University of Sharjah

Coined by Doug Kelbaugh, “ posturbanism ”  refers  to an in tellectual discourse, an urban narrative of sort, grounded in post-structuralist teachings and best advanced through the compelling rhetoric of

Rem Koolhaas. Post urbanism professes the inevitability of hegemonic globalization, the supremacy of consumerism, and rise of generic city. It embraces hybridity, liminality, branding, and a shockand-awe approach to architectural and urban design. It denies the relevance of the local context, dismisses the potentials of the vernacular, and questions the possibility of local identity. It proclaims the end of planning and celebrates the popularity of branding.  Such discourse has evolved into a forceful intellectual construct inspiring an omnipresent professional practice in which form making is a self-referential undertaking entrusted to celebrate the uncanny, the iconic, and the phantasmagorical. Within the context of such praxis, it is believed that the state is incapacitated, the public realm is dead, and laissez faire economics and private market mechanisms are the sole means for human progress.  While the post urban narrative is not totally irrelevant in its description of the conditions of world cities in a globalizing context, the approach to deal with such conditions remains problematic, unrealistic, and possibly destructive. It implores the complicity of the design practices with the status, ignores the specific conditions of localities, and denies any possibilities of resistance.   When confronting the challenge of city identity in the context of the Gulf region, the current city design practices, primarily predicated upon the post urban discourse, must be reexamined. Unlike other contexts, Gulf cities are endowed with the motive, means, and opportunity to evolve into unique, sustainable, livable, and emancipating urban destinations.   This paper will examine the post urban discourse with particular reference to three rising Gulf cities: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha. It will conclude with specific recommendations that deal with the emerging global conditions while asserting a dynamic, vibrant, and culturally-responsible local identity