The growth and functions of Tripoli, Libya

Abstract

Tripoli is the western capital of Libya and, is the largest urban centre in the whole country. The old city has evolved since Phoenician times, but grew gradually during the Roman and the Arab rules. It reached its ultimate stage of urban development at the end of the Ottoman rule, when the walled town of Tripoli was a fully built-up area. The urban development, of new Tripoli was initiated during the Italian rule when the central business district and part of the middle zone were developed for commercial and residential uses After the Independence of the country (1951) and recent oil development. The city began to experience a vast and rapid growth owing to various economic and social forces. Between 1954 and 1964 it nearly doubled in population partly through in-migration and partly through natural increase. Tripoli has important political and economic functions. The first is derived from the fact that the city is the western capital and the administrative centre of the Mugataa of Tripoli. The economic function is stronger than the political one, the growth of the shopping centre and central business district, together with the emergence of various industries within the city, are its most striking features. As a result of its growth, the city has begun to experience serious problems of transportation and traffic flow, shortage of housing, rise of rents, the emergence of the Shanty Town and other serious urban problems. Thus city planning and municipal programmes are of crucial importance to the city, in order to cope with the rapid growth of the population and expansion of housing development as well as to create better urban facilities and amenities "Mugataa" to indicate the province. Elsewhere he has avoided many Libyan expressions in certain places in order to make the thesis clearer in English. In conclusion, I wish to record my grateful acknowledgment to Professor W B Fisher who accepted me in his Department as a post-graduate research student. I am greatly indebted to Professor J I Clarke for his generous supervision, encouragement and useful criticism. I wish also to thank all high officials and civil servants in Libya who supplied me with reports, statistics and valuable information during ray field work in Tripoli. I would like to record my gratitude to the Libyan University and the Ministry of Education for offering me the scholarship. My thanks are also extended to other research students who gave me every kind of help.