Melhuish, C;
Degen, M;
Rose, G;
(2016)
"The Real Modernity that Is Here": Understanding the Role of Digital Visualisations in the Production of a New Urban Imaginary at Msheireb Downtown, Doha.
City & Society
, 28
(2)
pp. 222-245.
10.1111/ciso.12080.
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Abstract
This paper explores how Computer Generated Images have enabled the visualisation and negotiation of a new urban imaginary, in the production of a large-scale urban development project in Doha, Qatar. CGIs were central not only to the marketing but also the design of Msheireb Downtown. Our study of their production and circulation across a transnational architectural and construction team reveals how their digital characteristics allowed for the development of a negotiated, hybrid urban imaginary, within the context of a re-imaging and re-positioning of cities in a shifting global order. We suggest that CGIs enabled the co-production of a postcolonial urban aesthetic, disrupting the historical orientalist gaze on the Gulf region, in three ways. Firstly, they circulate through a global network of actors negotiating diverse forms of knowledge from different contexts; secondly, they are composed from a mix of inter-referenced cultural sources and indicators visualising hybrid identities; and thirdly, they evoke a particular urban atmosphere which is both place- and culture-specific, and cosmopolitan. The study emphasises the importance of research into the technical and aesthetic production processes which generate new urban spaces in the context of global market-led growth; and, by considering the circulation of CGIs between sites, contributes to the development of ‘a more properly postcolonial studies’ (Robinson 2011: 17).
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | "The Real Modernity that Is Here": Understanding the Role of Digital Visualisations in the Production of a New Urban Imaginary at Msheireb Downtown, Doha |
| Location: | US |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/ciso.12080 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ciso.12080 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | urban development, digital visualisation, Doha, postcolonial studies, ethnography |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Built Environment Faculty Office |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1502216 |
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