The Blueness of Green

This chapter looks at the infrastructure of blue (water resources) in Bahrain's built environment, as well as the efficacy of blue in keeping the country green. Beginning with a description of the Bahraini light and the colors of the sea, from technical, historical, and social perspectives, the chapter studies the water system and the politics of treated sewage effluent (TSE). Over half the water of the state is used in the irrigation of green space in Bahrain—an indication of the enormous value accorded to green. Because Bahrain is an island, the intensity of the light and the colors it animates are amplified due to the humidity generated by the surrounding sea.

The Memory of Date Palm Green

This chapter focuses on the memory, history, color, and the “urbanism” of the green of the Bahraini date palm. The date palm is the most iconic Bahraini vegetation and one of the main sources of green on the islands. The chapter shows the historical power of green as articulated through the life cycle of the date palm. Green is often considered an antidote to the urban. We only have to think of green parks in dense urban settlements, which can offer relief from the surrounding “asphalt jungle.” However, greenery in desert areas such as Bahrain is an indicator of human settlements, not relief from the same, due to cultivation of the land through agriculture, orchards, and gardens.

The Whiteness of Green

This chapter turns to the color white and its relationship with green. White is understood as the summation of all colors, rather than the absence of it. When designing with green, the charisma of the color needs to be guarded and well understood: the values need to be acknowledged, not just of green, but of its countless shades and hues. The chapter calls for a greater social component to design and for an awareness of color in the urban fabric, including not just green but other colors too. Ultimately, it aims to investigate the infrastructural and cultural milieu within which green landscape is embedded in the city-state of Bahrain. It shows that landscape, when perceived through color, reveals aspects of relationships previously hidden.

The Promise of Beige

This chapter examines the promise of green through beige. Desert plants, such as the spiky and leafless shrublet 'Āgūl and Kaff Maryam, turn bright green after the spring rains, temporarily creating a green landscape that is otherwise beige, brown, or silver. This area of greenery that covers the desert excites some Bahrainis that they call it jangily. Furthermore, many desert plants are attributed healing qualities, as evidenced in the Bahraini herbal waters famous for their medicinal properties. Green is present in beige through its promise—a promise often fulfilled and maintained through water.

How Green Can Become Red

This chapter talks about the significance of red (the Bahraini national color) and green (color of Islam). In Bahrain, as well as Iran, green and red are highly politicized colors. Red is often a substitute for green, as seen in the distaste for green shown by some Bahraini Sunnis. Green is associated with the Shi'a, and by extension, it has become a color of resistance to the Sunni-led state. Through a selection of vignettes, including “Ashura,” the religious festival, the chapter discusses how red can be green and sets up a dialogue between red and green.

Green Scenery

This chapter describes the complex interplay between the research methods—the aerial view and the walk—that informed so much of this analysis. It also discusses some of the challenges encountered in the field research, as the complexities of the cultural conditions in Bahrain had added to the complexities of gathering information. As the literature on the urbanism of landscape was so thin for Bahrain, it became clear that the broad range of data needed for this research project could be obtained only from a long-term period of ethnographic fieldwork. The result was a multilayered ethnography based on seemingly disparate interviews and casual encounters, walking, photography, formal analysis of built projects, and some archival research.

Introduction

This introductory chapter discusses the urbanism of landscape in Bahrain, specifically relating to the social, technical, and political infrastructures required to construct and maintain landscape in the desert environment. Bahrain's aridity and political and social complexities contribute to its insatiable compulsion for urban greenery. Bahrain's appetite for green is illustrative of an obsession for urban greenery that pervades cities around the world and is simply at an extreme in this particular location. Greenery is also synonymous with the date palms in Bahrain, almost always understood by native Bahrainis to mean the gray-green shades of the groves and other agriculture. The chapter addresses changes in perception and meaning of greenery that is now taking place in Bahrain.

Brightening Green

This chapter analyses newer and brighter hues of green. The gray-greens of the date palms, often considered old-fashioned, are being replaced by brighter hues of green as symbols of progress or of changing hegemonies. The chapter describes different conditions in Bahrain and the region with changing values of green. For one, advertisements often show more greenery than a project can deliver. Residents' testimonies indicate that a major value of any development comes from the greenness that provides contrast to the indigenous desert landscape. The Bahrain Gardening Club reflects an enduring interest in all things green and beautiful, and the organizers of the Riffa Views Bahrain International Garden Show have sponsored an annual garden design competition among Bahraini schools called The Riffa Views Eden Challenge.

The Struggle for the Manama Greenbelt

This chapter maintains that no area in the country shows the paradoxes of Bahrain's greenery better than the Manama greenbelt. The idea of preserving a green area situated west of the capital originated in the early 1970s. Most people seem resigned to the fact that despite intentions of protecting the greenbelt, the greenery will likely be depleted and replaced with new buildings. These new developments are still curiously colored green, however, often even greener than the palms they replace. The main argument for the preservation of the greenbelt centered on the fact that the Manama master plan adequately provided for twenty to thirty years of urban growth, and there was a need for a recreational open space near the dense urban center that Manama would become.