Cities in North Africa, the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula have witnessed significant changes in the past decades. They have been the theater of major social and political upheavals, were modeled and remodeled to control populations and promote economic growth, and are main conduits and first casualties of the looming climate crisis. Going beyond the common, yet opposed images of slums, informal quarters on the one side, and new cities mushrooming with skyscrapers and malls on the other, this course deploys a transregional approach to critically engage with cities from this region. Drawing on recent theoretical developments, empirical research, and artistic productions, the course aims to cover a variety of relevant topics for understanding today's metropolises in the Arab region and beyond: from politics and governance to contention and protest, infrastructure and climate change, public art, and modes of living and being in the city.
This course aims to transmit empirical and factual knowledge of MENA cities while providing analytical tools to decrypt recent political, social, urban, and cultural transformations. Methodologically, it strongly draws on the use, the study, and the activation of images (still and in movement, press, films and archival images among others).
Elie SAAD,Meriem ABABSA
Séminaire
English
Spring 2024-2025
Assessment will be based on oral presentations (individual or in group), individual and group participation in games activating the bibliographic content of this course, and a final individual paper. Grading details will be included in the syllabus.
12 x 2 hours sessions
GÖKÇE Gunel, Spaceship in the Desert. Energy, Climate Change, and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi, Duke University Press, 2019.