Byblos, the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city in Lebanon has been named the Arab world’s best tourist city by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, and it offers a host of lessons in greening too.
In a Middle Eastern city with paltry green space, residents gather to object to new development that will destroy one of their few public parks. Sound familiar? Spin the globe, but this time stop at Beirut in Lebanon.
Activists warn that a planned highway in Beirut will ruin what little is left of the city’s remaining green and historic spaces at the same time that tens of thousands of people are swarming streets throughout Turkey following a violent government crackdown on Gezi Park protestors.
Whether or not a 100,000 square meter office complex could possibly come with even a net environmental benefit is debatable, but the fact that a design wrapped in green won an international competition for such a complex signals a potential shift in Turkey’s urban planning.
Solar panels at the pyramids. In the past two years since a popular uprising ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the question of sustainability, energy and overall environmental awareness has been as evident as a clean street in Cairo. Basically, it has been nonexistent. Actually, it had been nonexistent until recently. Over the past few months, Egyptians have […]
Despite all the criticism the plan received from urban planners, lawyers, activists, academics, and concerned citizens, Istanbul has begun remodeling its central square, a focal point for transportation and protests.
Turkey is reforming its property laws according to Reuters. Among other changes, new laws will double the amount of land foreigners are allowed to buy in Turkey. Wealthy investors from Russia and the Middle East are taking a new interest in Istanbul. According to the Knight Frank Global House Price Index, Turkish property prices are […]
My nephews are fortunate. They live on a verdant property called Hungrytown Hollow among enormous trees and bucolic rolling hills outside Charlottesville, Virginia. In the summertime the two boys splash around in a lake near their property and go on long hikes with their father. They chase chickens and plant seeds and are called upon to help […]
A relief to the environment as Israel allots money to upgrade poorly services sewers in Arab towns. Last Wednesday, Israeli Energy and Water Resources Minister Uzi Landau announced the government is allocating NIS 355 million to improve the sewerage systems in Arab neighborhoods across Israel. In recent years, the neglected and dilapidated sewer infrastructures in […]
The mayor of Lebanon’s capital Beirut has launched “Beirut is Amazing,” an ambitious plan to finally green up the infamous concrete city. Following dedicated activism and scores of complaints from urban planners and designers, the city recruited the private sector to help regenerate existing green spaces and to create a few more. But Horsh Beirut, […]
Supported in part by the Egyptian German Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP), the ZERO award 2012 has extended their deadline for Egyptian designers eager to submit innovative green ideas to the country’s architecture, interior design, and urban planning challenges. The top entries from each category will be recognized publicly and internationally and the winners will also […]
It may surprise many Iranians living in the country’s dense and sprawling desert capital to know that millions of cubic liters of water are wasted every day. But where? Underground mostly, although occasionally modern construction projects smack up against an ancient irrigation system called quanats, resulting in devastating water losses and other destruction. How to […]
Qatar’s Culture Minister’s daughter is among five people who have been arrested in connection with the fire that swept through Doha’s elite Villaggio Mall on Monday. Imran al-Kuwairi owns the Gympanzee nursery where the fire erupted, killing 19 people. Among the dead are triplets from New Zealand, three Spanish siblings, two firefighters and four caretakers.
Authorities have issued arrest orders following Monday’s fire that engulfed Doha’s Villaggio Mall, killing 19 people. The owner of the mall and a handful of officials accused of failing to properly respond to the emergency face arrest, and the owner of the daycare facility where 13 children, including two-year old triplets from New Zealand and […]
Stuck in the bygone days of rampant Lebanese nepotism, Mr. Bilal Hamad, the Mayor of Beirut municipality, is delaying a plan to open one of the capital’s last remaining green spaces to less privileged members of society. Nanhoo Executive Director Mohammad Ayoub says that Mr. Hamad worries about dirty people trashing Horsh Beirut (also known as the […]