Cities of the Arabian Peninsula reveal contradictions of contemporary urbanization The fastgrowing cities of the Persian Gulf are whatever else they may be indisputably sensational. The worldamp8217s tallest building is in Dubai the 2022 World Cup in soccer will be played in fantastic Qatar facilities Saudi Arabia is building five new cities from scratch the Louvre the Guggenheim and the Sorbonne as well as many American and European universities all have handsome outposts and campuses in the region. Such initiatives bespeak strategies to diversify economies and pursue grand ambitions across the Earth. Shining special light on Dubai Abu Dhabi and Dohaamp8212where the dynamics of extreme urbanization are so strongly evidentamp8212the authors of The New Arab Urban trace what happens when money is plentiful regulation weak and labor conditions severe. Just how do authorities in such settings reconcile goals of oftclaimed civic betterment with hypersegregation and radical inequalityampnbsp How do they align cosmopolitan sensibilities with authoritarian rule How do these elite custodians arrange tactical alliances to protect particular forms of social stratification and political control What sense can be made of their massive investment for environmental breakthrough in the midst of worldclass ecological mayhem To address such questions this bookamp8217s contributors place the new Arab urban in wider contexts of trade technology and design. Drawn from across disciplines and diverse home countries they investigate how these cities import projects plans and structures from the outside but also how increasingly Gulforiginated initiatives disseminate to cities far afield. Brought together by noted scholars sociologist Harvey Molotch and urban analyst Davide Ponzini this timely volume adds to our understanding of the modern Arab metropolisamp8212as well as of cities more generally. Gulf cities display development patterns that however unanticipated in the standard paradigms