Imagining Old Kuwait

By Ali Al Yousifi

Because none of Kuwait’s old mud neighborhoods have been preserved, I always wondered what it would feel like walking around the narrow streets of pre-oil Kuwait. Fortunately, unlike Kuwait, the UAE has preserved many of its historical buildings, some of which form dense clusters similar to the neighborhoods of old. In a recent trip to Sharjah, I visited one of these historical neighborhoods.

Although there were many spaces in the preservation that were open and large, like public squares, I mostly enjoined walking down the narrow streets. Despite the occasional distant skyscraper that rises above the high walls of the streets and reminds me that I’m in the 21^st century, these narrow urban corridors transported me decades in the past; I imaged myself walking around old Kuwait, surrounding by mud courtyard houses.