As urban growth in the Middle East grows at a clip of five percent annually, thinking about the region's metropolitan areas takes on an ever-increasingly sense of urgence.

From ecological and environmental aspects, we are obliged to consider the use of our resources and consequently, the use of land. Therefore, the end of urban sprawl and redensification seems inevitable.

The importance of focusing on the densification of cities is also deemed necessary from a sociological point of view: not only does living in close proximity to one's workplace and leisure venues surely reduces the daily commute, it also stimulates social diversity within city neighborhoods.

Finally, we believe that living in the city is a basic right and that density and multiplicity are the basis of urban lifestyles.

Although Middle Eastern cities may differ when it comes to specific issues such as geography, history and economics, they seem to share a commonality concerning their built environments, that of an absence of a clear vision that approaches the city as a definitive entity. Therefore, the collateral damage of so-called 'monumental' projects inevitably creates residual, unused, wasted spaces, sometimes rupturing and even isolating sections of the city.

Our proposal is to identify and assess such residual or unused spaces in each city in order to redefine their potential. Such intervention should act as the impetus of transforming their proximities, reuniting various parts of the city, creating continuity and reviving rupture points...