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The city of Shibam is one of the oldest 'high rise' urban planning according to the article. The city relies on the use of agriculture to this day. The city of Shibam is decaying due to the abandonment of the agriculture systems and to much overloading of traditional sanitary systems from an introduction of having a modern water supply.

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Sometimes ago we wrote about the walled city of Kowloon, a spontaneous, unregulated urban development near Hong Kong.
Whereas that one was a relatively recent phenomenon (1950's to 1990's), the walled city of Shibam, located in the Ramlat al-Sab`atayn desert, in the central-western area of Hadhramaut Governorate (Yemen) is considered one of the oldest 'high rise' urban planning, and one of the most accomplished "traditional examples of Hadrami urban architecture, both in the grid layout of its streets and squares, and in the visual impact of its form rising out of the flood plain of the wadi, due to the height of its mud brick tower houses" (#). Isolated from other settlements, the city relied (and it still does) on agriculture, mud generation and reuse of mud in construction, through a system of spate irrigated lands.

Despite being built with sun-dried mud bricks, the fortified city from the 16th-century is in fact based on the principle of vertical construction, with almost no fenestration on the ground level, rising up to the height of eight-story. Its plan is trapezoidal, with tower houses built within the outer walls for defense from rival families and political prestige.

Located in a caravan route of spice and incense across the Southern Arabian plateau, the city was built on a rocky spur, above an earlier settlement destroyed by a flood in 1532-3. The decay of the city followed the abandonment of the old agricultural flood management system, the overloading of the traditional sanitary systems by the introduction of modern water supply combined with inadequate drainage, together with changes in the livestock management.

Further reading:
on Environmental Graffiti
on Amusing Planet
on Mappe Online
on Yemen Tourism
The Old Walled City of Shibam, on the site of the Unesco

Watch another video here.

Considered one of the finest examples of Arab and Muslim construction techniques, the city included a very advanced sewage disposal system.
The following maps and descriptions are from Mappeonline's page: " The Water Systems of Petra, Shibam and Thula" (from the " Inventory Of Traditional Knowledge To Combat Desertification ")

Urban plan of Shibam (Yemen). The harmonious distribution of squares, streets and blind alleys is the result of the sewage collection used as fertilizer. Each house has a waste disposal system provided with external outlets (marked in black). The latter overlook narrow back streets, blind alleys or perimeter paths (drawn in brown)

Shibam (Yemen). The sewage disposal system: a) organisation of a blind alley (in yellow on the urban plan, fig. 346) to discharge the solid and liquid waste dropping from the houses; b) the two-outlet toilet which allows the separation of liquid and solid excrement; c) the façade of a building equipped with sewage shafts and excrement collection baskets.

Photos credits

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The Walled City of Shibam, a 'Manhattan of the desert'

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Sometimes ago we wrote about the walled city of Kowloon, a spontaneous, unregulated urban development near Hong Kong. Whereas that one was a relatively recent phenomenon (1950's to 1990's), the walled city of Shibam, located in the Ramlat al-Sab`atayn desert, in the central-western area of...

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The structure was named "the Manhattan of the desert" by the explorer Freya Stark in the 1930s. The seven stories high construction has been constantly threatened by natural disasters. Wind, rain, heat erosion has allowed the city to make the UNESCO list of endangered heritage sites.

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In the heart of Yemen's Wadi Hadramaut, a cluster of ancient mud skyscrapers soars above the desert floor-a beacon of mankind's adaptability to the most formidable of environments.

At the edge of a desolate expanse of desert known as the Empty Quarter, the 16th-century Walled City of Shibam remains the oldest metropolis in the world to use vertical construction. Once a significant caravan stop on the spice and incense route across the southern Arabian plateau, British explorer Freya Stark dubbed the mud city "the Manhattan of the desert" in the 1930s.

Every aspect of Shibam's design is strategic. Perched upon on a rocky spur and surrounded by a giant flood wadi, its elevated position shields it from flooding while maintaining proximity to its primary source of water and agriculture. The city was built on a rectangular grid behind a fortified wall-a defensive arrangement that protected its inhabitants from rival tribes and offered a high vantage point from which enemies would be seen approaching.

The mud-brick high-rises, which stretch up to seven stories high, were constructed from the fertile soil surrounding the city. A soil, hay, and water mixture was fashioned into bricks and left to bake in the sun for days. The windowless, ground floors were used for livestock and grain storage, while the uppermost levels typically served as communal floors for socializing. Connective bridges and doors between buildings also provided a means of quick escape-another one of the city's impressive defensive features.

The structures are constantly threatened by wind, rain, and heat erosion, and require constant upkeep. In 2008, a tropical cyclone flooded Shibam, damaging several structures and threatening to topple its earthen towers.

The city is under manmade threats as well. In 2015, Shibam was added the list of World Heritage in Danger along with two other sites when violent civil war erupted in Yemen, thrusting the country into an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. Historic buildings sustained significant damage during heavy bombing in Sana'a, and remain at risk from armed conflict.

"In addition to causing terrible human suffering, these attacks are destroying Yemen's unique cultural heritage, which is the repository of people's identity, history and memory and an exceptional testimony to the achievements of the Islamic Civilization," Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova said in a press release.

Shibam isn't the first or only cultural heritage property under threat. In 1954 the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was adopted by The Hague after widespread destruction of cultural property during World War II-the first international treaty of its kind. The convention operates under the premise "that damage to cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind," and therefore warrants protection from the international community.

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This Ancient Mud Skyscraper City is the 'Manhattan of the Desert'

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Yemen's Old Walled City of Shibam is the oldest metropolis in the world to use vertical construction.

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The old walled city of Shibam, Yemen has not been completely discovered yet. Shibam is built on a rock basement that has allowed the walled city to survive the floods in the area. The architecture of the city is based like this for reasons such as to survive Bedouin attacks, natural disasters, etc.

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Located on the centre of Yemen, the walled city of Shibam is one of these impossible places and oddities of the Arabic urbanism. Because of its location and the politic instability of the country, it has not been completely discovered yet. Its main feature is the verticality of the buildings: towers up to 40 meters […]

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The architecture that's on a brink of ruins 

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The architecture that's on a brink of ruins 

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The city of Yemen is starting to be in ruins. From the multiple wars going on between Yemen and the government to the natural disasters occurrences. Tourism picked up in the city of Shibam in the year 2008 but steadily declined due to the terrorist attacks, war, and natural disasters this had allowed the cities to become ruins.

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Shibam in Yemen is an ancient, desert city.

Originally settled 1,700 years ago, it's the world's first city of skyscrapers. Many of the buildings, built from mud bricks, date back to the 16th century.

As Yemen struggles with a violent civil war between the government and Houthi rebels, Shibam's future is uncertain.

The war has been going on for five years, resulting in 6,000 deaths and putting 22 million people in a position where they need assistance - for food, water, shelter, or sanitation.

For Shibam, things have been tenuous since 2008. Flooding, terrorist attacks, the Arab Spring Revolt, and the civil war have all put pressure on the city.

Shibam's tourism industry has died, and funding for maintaining buildings has been cut. Now cracks are appearing across the buildings.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

After surviving wars, floods, and a harsh climate for hundreds of years, Shibam, one of the world's most remarkable cities, could soon be in ruins.

Shibam is known as the "Manhattan of the desert," because it's made up of mud brick skyscrapers that shoot up in the middle of the Arabian peninsula's longest valley. It was dubbed that in the 1930s by Freya Stark, an English traveler.

In October 2019, The Guardian's Beth McKernan took a look at the cost Yemen's civil war is having on its ancient cities. Shibam is no longer getting funding to preserve its mud brick buildings, and faces threats from flooding, and potential airstrikes.

Almost all of the houses in the city have eroded, and cracks can be seen across the buildings, Asia Times reported.

Here's what the city is like.

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Inside war-torn Yemen's ancient skyscraper city, dubbed the 'Manhattan of the desert,' that's on the brink of ruin

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Shibam is the oldest skyscraper city in the world, but Yemen's civil war is putting it at risk. See 40 photos that show what life is like there.

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The site plans of the old walled city of Shibam

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The site plans of the old walled city of Shibam

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The wasting systems of the walled city in Yemen

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The wasting systems of the walled city in Yemen