As Qatar rapidly progresses towards modernity, the notion of tribes and their neighborhoods is changing
By: Sarah Assami
Qatar’s transformation to modernity
Growing up in an area where your neighbor is your uncle, the couple living across the street are your newlywed cousins and your grandparents’ house is at the end of the block, is typical in Qatar — or at least it used to be.
“We were a very entwined group – a family all together, which was better for us [the tribe members],” said Munira AlKuwari, a Qatari citizen and member of the AlKuwari family. For AlKuwari, there are many benefits of living with your tribe in a neighborhood: “you are sure that the mistakes you make will be kept a secret, you will always find others to help you solve your problems, and if you need any help anytime during the day or night, someone will definitely be there to help you.”
The history of urbanism in Qatar is based on tribes. “Tribes clearly declared their presence in a special format. Their relation to the land is a form of existence and therefore, when you look at the heritage of urbanism, when you look at the traditions, the customs, the way of life in Qatar, you will see a very clear physical manifestation in Qatar in specific areas,” said Ali A. Alraouf, a professor of architecture and urbanism at Qatar University.
An old courtyard house next to Souq Waqif
This is linked to the notion of identity. This can be observed during Qatar’s National Day every year when the country’s emir, Sheikh Tamim Al Thani, visits different tribal celebrations to acknowledge the physical presence of a tribe, Alraouf added.
Nearly 60 years ago, areas in Qatar were distributed between different tribes. If a tribe wanted to move to a different part of the country, the government would give them pieces of land so they could all move together without being divided.
“The contemporary situation [is that] this is not the case anymore,” said Alraouf. “If it happed, it will happen by intention and credible effort from specific members from specific tribes, because they know this value and they appreciate the value of being together,” said Alraouf. Qataris are given land based on who applies first, whether they own multiple lands, and if they own a house already. For instance, if a young newlywed Qatari is applying for land and an older well-established married man also applies, priority is given to the younger man.
According to Alraouf, the government does not force tribes to move and live together. However, the government still helps tribes who wish to stay together and live in a single neighborhood, he said. This is because it recognizes the importance of families staying close to each other.
The government is essentially trying to create the traditional freej atmosphere – an urban unit where a number of houses surround an open space – in different parts of the country and between different tribes and expats. Qatar still acknowledges the importance and the value of having a freej even if the members living there are from different cultural backgrounds. Alraouf says that the government is trying to revisit this atmosphere in a contemporary way in order to keep people together.
In the past 10 years, not only have different tribes started to mix and live together in single neighborhoods, Qataris have also started to live in areas and neighborhoods populated with expats.
According to Mishaal Al-Shamari, director of the Green Building Council in Qatar Foundation, this has happened for various reasons—many of which are economic. For example, many Qataris whose tribes are based in remote places, such as Al Wakra or Ras Laffan, still move to Doha in order to be close to their work place. This has led to them mixing with other tribes as well, he said.
Skyrocketing land and rent prices can drive people to move to other areas in the country as well. In 2014, Doha’s rent prices inflated at a rate of around eight percent from previous years. Population growth is another factor that needs to be considered when looking at how neighborhoods change. “When the population increases, the mixtures happen because you start getting more [people], because new people start coming to the area — expanding the city’s size. And people, for many reasons, don’t stay in the [same] area,” said Al-Shamari.
The courtyard of a traditional house
Many locals say they are happy about different tribes mingling, because it holds people from different communities accountable to one another and the greater society. “Sadly you have certain tribes who are okay with their members taking drugs, cover for each other, and thus the issue spreads in the community,” said Maryam Haroon, a Qatari from the Haroon tribe. “If they were to mix with other tribes, they will adapt different values and be embarrassed to be okay with such a thing.” She added that social problems and health risks can increase as a result of having a tribe isolated in a single neighborhood, such as general rivalries and competition among different tribes and each believing it is better than the other. Likewise, health risks are linked to consanguineous marriages, which can sometimes result in birth defects.
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“The Qatari government has developed a ‘masterplan’ that considers economic, social, cultural and political factors in neighborhood developments, said Alraouf, who is also part of the team working on this plan under the Ministry of Municipality and Environment. “This is a blueprint for the future, for the urban future and urban development future. And at the same time, the beauty of the masterplan is that it was generated in light of all the other factors in this development. If you cannot consider all those elements, you cannot call it a masterplan,” he said.
New urban planning projects, including Lusail City, are part of this plan. According to Alraouf, the idea behind the Lusail City project is to create a city in Qatar, other than Doha, where people can go to if they need anything, whether for personal errands or professional tasks. The government realized that residents are heavily dependent on going to Doha to get their work done, Alraouf said, so it decided to alleviate the burden off the capital city. Lusail City, which is located on the coast about 22 kilometers north of Doha in the northern part of the municipality of Al Daayen, will be able to house and sustain up to half a million residents. Alraouf added that, contrary to popular belief and rumors among foreign residents in Qatar, the development of this new city has nothing to do with separating expats from Qataris, and both citizens and non-citizens will be able to live there and buy property. He compared Lusail to the Pearl-Qatar, a man-made residential and commercial island roughly 400 hectares in size. Though many in Doha initially perceived the Pearl to be a hub exclusive for expatriates, since it was the first land in Qatar allowed to be owned by foreign nationals, it has since become home to many Qataris as well. “A lot of Qataris are living at the Pearl today because they are enjoying the environment, enjoying being on sort of a water-front development. They see a very interesting environment, in terms of you go and shop. You go and walk. You get food. You stroll by the water front. You get a boat and cruise,” Alraouf said.
Another major project recently completed in 2016 is the Mall of Qatar, a massive shopping mall that houses about 500 stores. Unlike Lusail City, this project is meant to attract tourists, and the government hopes it will be similar to luxury malls in other Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates, which are popular attractions. The Mall of Qatar was constructed in the Al-Rayyan area outside of Doha on Street 373. It appears to look as if it is in the middle of nowhere, as nothing substantive is situated near it. Alraouf said this is because the government wanted to economically and socially revive the area. It also was built in response to community facility needs, he added. “It is a nod of development – a center of development. Because of the presence of the mall, the whole areas around it will start to echo the development that took place in the mall,” said Alraouf.
Qatar continues to launch new urban development schemes and projects, but just how the changes it is undergoing will impact the lives of its residents remains to be seen. “I am excited to see how this might transform the country,” Haroon said. “So let’s wait and see.”
