For decades, scholarship on the Persian Gulf has predominantly centered on hydrocarbon exploration, framing it as the primary force shaping the region's societies, politics, and economies. This dominant lens has been critiqued for neglecting the broader transnational context, historical fluidity, and global interactions that define the Gulf, as well as for homogenizing the diverse lived experiences of its inhabitants.1 Studies on Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi have shifted focus to the role of global capitalism, state building, and cultural politics in shaping Gulf cities.2 Urban studies have highlighted how mega-projects and urban planning frequently serve elite interests, perpetuating social inequalities and excluding marginalized populations, particularly migrants, while also examining how urban landscapes serve as sites for the construction and performance of national identity and modernity.3 Others have emphasized that the cities of the Gulf are not merely imitations of Western urbanity but represent a unique, evolving form of urban modernity that is emblematic of a broader global neoliberal future, where cities serve as frontiers of rapid growth and spatial reorganization.4

Arang Keshavarzian's Making Space for the Gulf builds on this scholarship by asserting that the Gulf's identity as a region is deeply rooted in both its historical tra