Green Laboratories: University Campuses as Sustainability “Exemplars” in the Arabian Peninsula

ABSTRACT

Like many universities in the West, universities across the Arabian Peninsula are increasingly home to various conspicuous sustainability initiatives. This article examines this trend at three of the region’s most prominent projects: NYU-Abu Dhabi in the Emirates, Qatar Foundation’s Education City, and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Based on the textual analysis and informed by fieldwork in these countries since 2012, this article joins interdisciplinary research in political geography, sustainability experimentation, and laboratory studies to understand their iconic campuses not as enclaves, but as “exemplars” of sustainability and renewable energy futures in the region. Tracing their effects beyond their walls, I argue that they have mostly been limited to symbolically injecting sustainability into public discourse. While more substantial shifts toward sustainable development in the region are underway, these have largely stemmed from market forces rather than a new environmental consciousness promoted by these three iconic universities.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• laboratory studies
• middle east
• political geography
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• sustainability
• United Arab Emirates

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Social Sciences Research Council Inter-Asia Transregional Research Fellowship as well as grants from Syracuse University’s Geography Department and the Maxwell School for Citizenship and Public Affairs. I would also like to thank Tina Catania Urbano for her research assistance as well as Ingrid Nelson, David Sonnenfeld, participants of the related special issue project, and five anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on previous

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Science Research Council [Inter-Asia Transregional Research Fellowship] and Syracuse University [Department of Geography, Maxwell School].