McDonaldization of Jeddah

Hey friends,

I finished reading the book, Why Do People Hate America, and there is one passage I have to share with you.

"So there is an architecture and a geographical space associated with burgers. When McDonald's opens a branch in Red Square in Moscow, or the Forbidden City in Beijing, or in the Holy City of Mecca, it changes the architecture as well as the special dynamics of the city. The city - any city- is an expression of a culture's values and ideals, hopes and aspirations, social outlook and behavior. As such, cities are far more than mere form- more than roads and buildings, bricks and mortar; they are images of a society's perception of its destiny. So the appearance of numerous American fast food restaurants in a city transforms the cityscape as well as its inhabitants' perceptions of themselves. American-led globalization, by imposing a single set of American standards, is increasingly transforming cities of developing countries in monuments to the American will to power. Traditional architecture is bulldozed to be replaced by featureless brickworks, multi lane roads, shopping malls, hotels and fast food joints. Most cities in the more affluent part of the Third World look like Dallas or theme park extensions of Los Angeles.

Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, for example, was a historic city with a distinctive character that always impressed visitors. It consisted of a network of remarkable tall houses that made ingenious use of the local meteorological conditions: the uppermost floors were designed to catch the sea breeze, which created upwards draughts with regular temperature differentials; the overarching, open, louvered windows filtered out the sun's glare but allowed air to circulate freely in the rooms; the surrounding flat terraces with wooden grilles permitted the movement of any cool air currets on the hottest of summer nights. These traditional houses showed what power of imagination and craftsmanship in indigenous buildings could achieve.

American influence and big business brought American city planning and architecture to Saudi Arabia; and soon Jeddah became a poor replica of Houston. Narrow streets and alleyways gave way to high, wide, sun-baked roads and over-heated concreted monstrosity. Traditional architecture, age-old souks, Saudi cafes- all disappeared to be replaced by shopping malls, fast food restaurants, theme parks and hotels. Americanization has meted out an even worse fate to Mecca, the holiest city of Islam, where there are not streets left for anyone to walk on.

American planners, consultants and architects have turned Mecca- which is, of course, the focus for 1.3 billion Muslims of the planet who face towards the city during their daily five prayers- into a third-rate American city, in which tunnels, flyovers, spaghetti junctions and multilane motorways compete for attention with gaudy hotels and the ubiquitous hotels.

The hatred of America that many Saudis exhibit has little to do with the often cited American military presence in 'holy areas' - in fact, American troops are hundreds of miles to the north of what are traditionally considered the holy areas, the cities of Mecca and Medina. It stems more from the fact that fabric of traditional Saudi life has been torn apart by Americanization and replaced with centralized, mass produced monotony. Saudi cities do not reflect the history, culture, traditions or values of the Arabiab Peninsula- they sic homilies to the American way of life."

I can substitute Jeddah with other cities, most certainly like Dubai. Its scary. Dubai has no identity. They show the Burj Al Arab and Emirates Towers as their representation. These icons do not represent the people or their values, they represent power, wealth and prestige.

Have a nice day,
Mansur