Totah, F: Preserving the Old City of Damascus

In Preserving the Old City of Damascus, Totah examines the recent

gentrification of the historic urban core of the Syrian capital and the ways

in which urban space becomes the site for negotiating new economic and

social realities. The book illustrates how long-term inhabitants of the historic

quarter, developers, and government officials offer at times competing

interpretations of urban space and its use as they vie for control over the

representation of the historic neighborhoods. Based on over two years of

ethnographic and archival research, this book expands our understanding

of neoliberal urbanism in non-western cities.