KUWAIT CITY, December 5: The British Business Forum held its December members’ meeting to a discerning audience of its business link membership and guests. Paul McKay, BBF Chairman opened the meeting byintroducing a remarkable Kuwaiti citizen and guest speaker in Dr Farah Al Nakib, Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Center for Gulf Studies at the American University of Kuwait who gave a talk on the topic of Kuwait's Urban Crisis: Malls, Violence, and the Right to the City.

The talk which was open to the British business community as well as members of the British Ladies Society, identified various aspects Kuwait City's urban development since the advent of oil modernization in 1950, and the impacts they have had on urban society, social relations, and public behaviour. Paul in his introduction remarked that Kuwait’s planned environment emerged as a result of four decades of master planning effort which was neither poorly conceived nor realized nor ideal.  He remarked that gone are the days of the modern period in Kuwait when going out with the family into the city was fun; adding that sadly an outing today has to have a strategy not only to avoid the traffic but a risk assessment as public places were not considered safe places anymore. Had the city lost its values and traditions?

From (L to R) Will Myles, Paul Mckay, Edmund O'Sullivan, Jeff Delange, Tarek Aloun