Speaker
Description
Desert cities are not new. Knowledge for effective planning with good amenity is ancient, but has been forgotten. This paper adopts a desktop analysis of crucial criteria for desert city planning and attempts to create a typology of law, policy and governance. It then critically assesses this criterion against sound planning practice vis-à-vis that which can work for desert city planning, based on case study examples. The paper concludes with the proposition that urban planning itself cannot provide for successful desert cities. Rather, the real estate market for a desert city, including for residential, commercial and industrial uses, must consider a variety of interrelated criteria including temperature and landscape opportunities and challenges, land use planning and development, social impact, construction, climate change, ESG, environmental impact, sustainability, urban economics, land valuation, and other triple bottom line matters. In short, desert cities are nuanced real estate markets in need of more research to understand what makes a desert city function and thrive. There are reciprocal lessons from ancient desert cities, as well as more modern cities, and the climate crisis of the 21st century is accelerating the urgency for knowledge about desert cities.
References
Abdel-Galil, R.E., 2012. Desert reclamation, a management system for sustainable urban expansion. Progress in Planning, 78(4), pp.151-206.
O'Neill, B.F. and Benites-Gambirazio, E. (2024), The Ritual of Homebuying in Desert Cities: A Visual Ethnography. Sociol Lens, 37: 609-623. https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.12484
| Keywords | Desert cities; Land use planning and development; Law; Climate crisis. |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
