Introduction by Agatino Rizzo
Al Asmakh – Al Najada area is the original city heart of Doha. In the last 50 years it has been affected by dramatic urban transformations as result of Qatar rapid, oil-based economic growth.
Starting from the 1960s and during the next three decades increasing oil exploitation revenues enabled the country to embark in a rapid economic and social development program resulting in a dramatic urban expansion of Doha and its surrounding town*. The 1960s public housing policy, the introduction of new building materials enabling modern and denser urban blocks, and the need for public land to locate government functions can be considered among the main drivers for urban changes in Doha.
In 1972 a consortium of British planning firms was hired by Qatar’s government to prepare master plans for the city of Doha and to advise the newly established Ministry of Municipal Affairs. The consultants suggested a dual strategy of de-concentration of population from today’s A ring area - to make space for traffic infrastructures - and reclamation of shallow waters to the North of Doha to provide an exclusive location to government ministries.
Al Asmakh – Al Najada area is the original city heart of Doha. In the last 50 years it has been affected by dramatic urban transformations as result of Qatar rapid, oil-based economic growth.
Starting from the 1960s and during the next three decades increasing oil exploitation revenues enabled the country to embark in a rapid economic and social development program resulting in a dramatic urban expansion of Doha and its surrounding town*. The 1960s public housing policy, the introduction of new building materials enabling modern and denser urban blocks, and the need for public land to locate government functions can be considered among the main drivers for urban changes in Doha.
In 1972 a consortium of British planning firms was hired by Qatar’s government to prepare master plans for the city of Doha and to advise the newly established Ministry of Municipal Affairs. The consultants suggested a dual strategy of de-concentration of population from today’s A ring area - to make space for traffic infrastructures - and reclamation of shallow waters to the North of Doha to provide an exclusive location to government ministries.
