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This dissertation introduces a heuristic model that can contribute to a better understanding of the nature of urban transformation in globalizing Middle Eastern cities. It primarily aims to explain the new trends of urban development that are occurring in these cities. New types of places as business headquarters, spectacular skyscrapers, financial centers, mega malls, luxury hotels and gated communities are reshaping the urban form of many Middle Eastern cities. In literature on globalization and urbanism, these trends of development are usually explained as products of global flows of capital, people, and ideas. These flows are perceived as the main forces that drive contemporary urban transformation in globalizing cities. The roles of other agencies as state, domestic enterprises and local forces are relatively ignored. I propose an analytical framework that focuses on the dynamics of the process of urban transformation in these cities rather than the urban outcome. The framework reconsiders the role of these other agencies in the process. Besides, it emphasizes place as a focal issue in our attempt to better understand these new trends of development. The analytical framework deconstructs the process of the production of these new emerging places in globalizing cities. It focuses on three main aspects. (1) The agencies of place production in the era of globalization. I identify four main agencies: state, market, global domain, and locale. (2) The dynamics of interaction between these agencies. I argue that the forces representing the four agencies interact like vectors each having a power and orientation. These vectors have the capacity to merge, collide or neutralize the impact of each other. (3) The dimensions of place that are influenced by the four agencies. I classify these dimensions as: places as realms of flows, places as imaginaries, places as text, places as landscapes of resistance, and places as reflections of authenticity. In this dissertation I apply this analytical framework on two globalizing Middle Eastern cities: Cairo and Dubai. I trace the role of the four agencies in shaping the dimensions of place in these cities. The research uses both qualitative and quantitative data to emphasize the contribution of these agencies to the urban transformation of the case study cities. The study concludes that although Cairo and Dubai share the same interest in establishing world class urban structures, the process of achieving this quest in each city is significantly different. Cairo is exposed to relatively the same scale of global flows as those in the case of Dubai. However, the former features a significantly slower and more deliberate process of urban transformation. This is attributed to the role of local forces which tend to neutralize some of the impacts of globalization. Local culture, urban heritage, and the civil society are playing a significant role in slowing down the process of change in Cairo. On the contrary, these forces are relatively minimal in the case of Dubai allowing the state, market and global flows to dominate the process of urban transformation. The framework proposed in this study could be applied not only on globalizing cities, but also global ones. It can contribute to comparative studies that investigate the distinctions or commonalities of development patterns between different cities in the era of globalization. The framework is a heuristic device that tends to explain the sophisticated dynamics of urban change in cities. It shifts the focus from the interpretation of meaning of place, towards the understanding of the process of that leads to its production.
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