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.
