Human history has seen many settlements transformed or built entirely by expatriate work forces and foreigners arriving from various places. Recent migration patterns in the Gulf have led to emerging 'airport societies' on unprecedented scales. Most guest workers, both labourers and mid to high-income groups, perceive their stay as a temporary opportunity to earn suitable income or gain experience. This timely book analyses the essential characteristics of this unique urban phenomenon substantiated by concrete examples and empirical research. Both authors have lived and worked in the Gulf including Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates during various periods between 2006 and 2014. They explore Gulf cities from macro and interconnected perspectives rather than focusing solely on singular aspects within the built environment. As academic architects specialised in urbanism and the complex dynamics between people and places the authors build new bridges for understanding demographic and social changes impacting urban transformations in the Gulf.

Florian Wiedmann is Assistant Professor of Urban Design at the Department of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Nottingham, UK. His involvement in interdisciplinary projects and courses in five different countries made it possible for him to gain in-depth experience in various areas of urban development, from urban governance to urban economics and the spatial impact of migration. After his PhD at the University of Stuttgart, he joined Albert Speer + Partner to consult major projects in the Middle East. After this position, he coordinated an international research collaboration between TU Munich and Qatar University between 2011 and 2014. After returning to Frankfurt am Main, he became an external lecturer at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. In addition to teaching, he has worked as a sub-consultant for Makower Architects on plans for an urban regeneration project in the city centre of Doha. After successfully acquiring a new research project from the Qatar National Research Fund, he joined the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow in 2015, where he has been studying the effects of rapid migration processes on housing and urbanism in the Global South. He has authored and co-authored two books including Demystifying Doha: On Architecture and Urbanism in an Emerging City and over 26 articles and book chapters.

Ashraf M. Salama is Professor of Architecture and Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Strathclyde Glasgow, UK. He was the Founding Head of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at Qatar University (2009-2014) and has held permanent, tenured, and visiting positions in Egypt, Italy, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom (Queen's University Belfast). He is the Chief Editor of ArchNet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research and collaborating editor of Open House International. He is the recipient of the 2017 UIA Jean Tschumi Prize for Excellence in the Architectural Education and Criticism. He chaired and led three schools of architecture over the past 20 years in Egypt, Qatar, and the United Kingdom. He is a licensed architect in Egypt since 1987 and has practiced in Egypt (1987-92) and was the Director of Research and Consulting at Adams Group Architects, Charlotte, North Carolina (2001-04). He has published 9 books and over 170 articles and book chapters. His research interests and experience cross the boundaries of disciplines and involve theories and methodologies of typological transformations in traditional urban spaces and assessing designed environments from socio-cultural and users' perspectives.