Bahrain government supports initiatives to bring business back to the families. Defying globalization and thinking locally? Explore what’s happening in this Middle East island kingdom. Mohammed Jaffar is a 19-year-old street vendor in Muharraq, Bahrain, who sells a variety of…
Diversifying away from oil Yemen plans to build six beach resorts over the next five years to draw tourists. How much will be sustainable? The Yemen Tourism and Promotion Board announced the plan on Thursday to boost the country’s tourism…
“The Sufi Order International (SOI) community desired to build an interspiritual temple called the ‘Universel’ at the Abode of the Message located in the Berkshire Mountains near New Lebanon, New York,” taken from Geotectura’s online literature. Although we previously covered…
Tel Aviv highlights green buildings, spaces, construction techniques, and gardens during its annual “Houses from Within” weekend. [image via: Ykravitz] One spring weekend every year, for the past few years, Tel Aviv celebrates its architecture and invites the public to…
Students in Tel Aviv propose business “net” – work for peace. Left to right: David Welch, Ohad Kot, Danielle Angel, David McGeady and Osher Perry from Nets of Peace. As one of the largest seafood producers in the Middle East,…
From garbage dump to municipal park. The impressions of Alexandria I shared in a recent post were largely negative, so here I’ll present a happier picture: a green oasis in Cairo built upon a former garbage dump. The photos are mine;…
Tractors carving up the face of a hill in preparation for the new town. (photo by the author) About a half hour’s drive north of Ramallah, construction has begun on the first planned Palestinian city. Surrounded by sleepy hilltop villages…
Despite its claim to promote sustainable urban development practices, the world’s largest, disposable Expo invites irony and criticism. The first ever world fair took place in 1851 at Prince Albert’s behest. That fair was initiated to display participating nations’ industrial…
A real estate scandal in Jerusalem reveals Israel’s government’s dangerous stance on the privatization of land development, and use of open spaces, Yosef argues. As the Israeli press reveals one new real estate scandal after another including but not limited…
Is Masdar City a beacon for Middle Eastern development? It may take another 10 years to find out. We have been skeptical of Masdar City and Foster+Partners, the architects responsible for the emergent eco-city’s design, but BBC reporter Tom Reap’s…
