Michael Cameron Dempsey

Castles in the Sand

A City Planner in Abu Dhabi

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Abu Dhabi--an obscure Middle Eastern principality that happens to be the richest city in the world. This book tells the story of Abu Dhabi's ambitions to transform itself from a sleepy sheikhdom into a thriving international metropolis and a hub of business and leisure. It traces Abu Dhabi's boom years from 2009 to 2011 from the perspective of a Westerner working for the Urban Planning Council, the government agency that planned and coordinated all of the massive development activity. Castles in the Sand explores the drastic changes in Abu Dhabi's built environment, where entire islands are forested with skyscrapers and billions of dollars in infrastructure are spent on a whim--while recounting the disorienting experience of an outsider encountering a society in which foreigners outnumber locals nine to one and modernity clashes head-on with centuries of embedded tradition. General readers will find a broad introduction to Abu Dhabi, and architects and planners will gain a firsthand glimpse inside an unprecedented experiment in city-building.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: McFarland & Co Inc
• Seitenzahl: 222
• Erscheinungstermin: 7. März 2014
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 254mm x 178mm x 12mm
• Gewicht: 408g
• ISBN-13: 9780786477609
• ISBN-10: 0786477601
• Artikelnr.: 38608817

Autorenporträt

The late Michael Cameron Dempsey was an urban planner who worked in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Inhaltsangabe

Table of Contents Preface Prologue One.
Origins Two.
Ready, Fire, Aim Three.
The Mean Streets Four.
Nanny State Five.
Into the Desert Six.
Proletarians, Unite! Seven.
A Higher Power Eight.
Back to Nature Nine.
The Short Arm of the Law Ten.
Faulty Towers Eleven.
Nadir Twelve.
Greener Grass Thirteen.
Only Sheikh! Fourteen.
Grand Designs Fifteen.
Lonely Hearts Need Not Apply Sixteen.
Cracks in the Façade Seventeen.
Guests Behaving Badly Eighteen.
The Calm Before the Storm Nineteen.
End of the Road Epilogue A Note About the Author Chapter Notes Bibliography Index