Informational Cities in the GCC States

Many cities in the world define themselves as ‘smart’. Is this term appropriate for cities in the emergent Gulf region? This chapter investigates seven Gulf cities (Kuwait City, Manama, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, and Muscat) that have once grown rich due to large reserves of oil and gas. Now, with the threat of ending resources, governments focus on the development towards a knowledge society. We analyze the cities in terms of their cityness as well as their ‘smartness’ or ‘informativeness’ by a quantitative ServQual-like survey and by in-depth qualitative interviews (N = 34). Especially Doha in Qatar is well on its way towards an informational city, but also Dubai and Sharjah (both in the United Arab Emirates) make good scores.