Developing Petra: UNESCO, the World Bank, and America in the desert

A longitudinal study of Petra reveals that international development efforts, particularly those driven by the World Bank and USAID, have prioritized tourism over heritage preservation and local community support. These initiatives, while framed as conservation measures, were primarily focused on generating hard-currency revenue and monetizing Nabataean ruins, leading to an overburden of bureaucracy and consultancy culture rather than sustainable preservation or equitable benefits for local communities.

Meskell, L., & Luke, C. (2021). Developing Petra: UNESCO, the World Bank, and America in the desert. Contemporary Levant, 6(2), 126–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/20581831.2021.1972554