Edges, Interfaces, and Nexus: New Paradigms for Blue Urban Landscapes in the Gulf

Abstract

Gulf cities are generally characterized by their extremely rapid development with resulting demographic increases and imbalances and accompanying environmental degradation. These cities are the flagships of emerging countries that are constructing their national identity while seeking to preserve their traditions and customs and conserve their environments. As they are importing cultural and educational brands, business, and marketing models, they are also creating new hybrid forms and a particular Gulf identity or Gulf urbanism. Until now, resources, technology, and capital have allowed expansion without limits—into the ocean with landfills and artificial islands, into the sky with tall buildings, and into the desert with Zero Energy Cities. Yet the future of nonrenewable energy sources is leading Gulf cities to look towards new postcarbon identities for their countries and improved sustainability and livability for their cities.

Economic evaluation of Nearly Zero Energy Cities

“…Several publications have reported the state of self-consumption in cities around the world:[71][72][73] in the United States,[74] in cities in Europe,[75] in cities in the Middle East, and[76] in Asian cities.…”