Spatial patterns and urban governance in Kuwait: exploring the links between the physical, the socio-economic and the political

As a city-state, Kuwait represents an instructive case-study to investigate barriers to sustainable urban development. Among the many challenges faced by the country, the spatial configuration of the metropolis – and the various adverse effects that stem from it – is a key area of concern. In this study, we focus on spatial segregation and measure it at the metropolitan and governorate levels to determine just how serious the problem really is. The results confirm the existence of a highly divided society. Without being able to make causality claims (given the limitations in the data), our evidence points to potential drivers of different nature. A key working hypothesis of our investigation was that urban governance arrangements in Kuwait may be an important part of the story behind these spatial patterns. The empirical findings of our analysis of the governance network of spatial planning in Kuwait strongly support this notion and allow us to draw some policy recommendations to break urban Kuwait’s ‘vicious cycle’, where popular aspirations around unsustainable practices send strong signals to the institutions tasked with formulating policy which, once implemented, recreate societal expectations.