The State of Arab Cities 2012: Challenges of Urban Transition

The Arab world has played a very important role in the history of urbanisation. It is the region where urban civilisation was born and where urban matters have been addressed for centuries. The Arab urban civilisation, as it has evolved over the past millennium, has generated some of the most beautiful cities in the world. This publication is the first ever to comprehensively analyse urbanisation processes in the Arab States through the review of its four sub-regions: the Maghreb, the Mashreq, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the least-developed Arab countries of the Southern Tier.