Due to massive rural immigration, Sana'a has grown far outside its Old City, but this has placed a huge strain on the city's underdeveloped infrastructure and municipal services, particularly water.
Britanski pisatelj Jonathan Raban je obiskal mesto leta 1970 in ga opisal mesto-trdnjavi podobno, arhitektura in postavitev, ki spominja na labirint, nadalje ugotavlja »Bilo je kot, da bi stopil ven v sredi velike pop-up slikanice.