Event Program

THURSDAY, MAY 3

9:00 AM – Introduction Coffee

9:30 AM

  • Howayda al-Harithy (ArD-AUB)- Welcome Note and Update on the “Urbanism in the Arab World” Initiative at AUB
  • Robert Saliba (ArD-AUB)- City Debates 2012: Framing Urban Design on the Margins: Global Paradigms and Regional Implications

10:00-11:30 AM Panel I. Design Networks and Emerging Regional Discourses

  • Angus Gavin (Solidere) – The Corporate Discourse: New Planning Mechanisms, Design Competitions, Regional Branding
  • Omar Abdelaziz Hallaj (Aga Khan Award for Architecture & The Syrian Trust for Development)- The Cultural Discourse on Regionalism in Urban Design: A Case Study on the Role of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture
  • Howayda Al-Harithy (ArD-AUB)- The Social Discourse: Community Activism, Postwar Reconstruction and the Arab Uprising

Discussant: Nezar AlSayyad (University of California-Berkley & IASTE)

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM – Coffee Break

12:00-1:30 PM Keynote I

  • Nezar AlSayyad (University of California-Berkley & IASTE)- The ‘Islamic’, ‘Arab’, ‘Middle Eastern’ City: Reflections on an Urban Concept

Commentary: Robert Saliba (ArD-AUB)

1:30-2:30 PM Lunch Break

2:30-4:00 PM Panel II. Operational Research: Spatial and Ecological Focus

Respondent: Fawwaz Traboulsi

9:30-11:00: Panel 3: Making Private Property

  • Christoph Wessling (BTU-Cottbus)- Merging the Intercultural and Cross-Cultural: The Case of Joint Urban Design Workshops between Urban Design Programs in Germany and the Arab World
  • Thomas Stellmach (GIZ & Uberbau)- Aleppo City Development Strategy: An Ecological-Regional Design Perspective
  • Sandra Frem (Hashim Sarkis Studios) – Transforming Nahr Beirut: From Obsolete Infrastructure to Infrastructural Landscape

Discussant: Leon Telvizian (LU)

4:00 – 4:30 PM Coffee Break

4:30-6:00 PM Panel III. Operational Research: Social and Speculative Focus

  • Peter Gotsch (FH-Frankfurt)- Decoding Private Urbanism and Sustainability: Lessons from Neo-Towns
  • Rabih Shibli (FAFS-AUB & CCES) – Environmental Design between Research and Practice: Case Studies by the Center for Civic Engagement and Community Service at the American University of Beirut
  • Lee Frederix (NDU & AUST) – Cultural Infrastructure for the Margins: A Machinic Approach to Nahr Beirut

Discussant: Abdul Halim Jabr (ArD-AUB)

6:00-6:30 PM Break

6:30-8:00 PM Keynote II

  • Matthew Carmona (University College London)- Decoding Design Governance

Commentary: Mona Harb

FRIDAY, MAY 4

9:00-10:00 AM Panel I. The Cross-Disciplinary: Intersection and Fusion between Design Disciplines

  • Mohamad Kashef (AlHosn University)- Theory of Urban Space: Straddling the Divide
  • Sam Jacoby (AA)- Architectural Urbanism: The Operativity of Built Form.

Discussant: Carole Levesque (ArD-AUB)

10:00-10:30 AM Coffee Break

10:30-11:30 AM Panel II. Sites of Worship

  • Giuseppe Cina (University of Turin)- Urban Requalification of the Abu Hanifa Mosque Neighborhood, Baghdad
  • Mohamed Al Assam (Dewan Architects & Engineers). – The Urban Renewal of “Holy Shrine” Cities in Iraq: Case studies of Kadhimiya / Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala

Discussant: Sateh El-Arnaout (World Bank)

11:30-12:00 PM Coffee Break

12:00-1:30 PM Keynote III

  • Anne Vernez Moudon (University of Washington-UFL)- From Research to Practice: Re-Designing the Automobile City

Commentary: Youssef Fawaz (FEA-AUB)

1:30-2:30 PM Lunch Break

2:30-4:00 PM Panel III. Sites of Globalization

  • Heiko Schmid (University of Jena)- Dubai’s Economy of Fascination: Urban Growth between Sustainability and Economic Success
  • Anne-Marie Galmstrup (Henning Larsen Architects)- Designing a New Financial District in Riyadh
  • Caecilia Pieri (Ifpo)- Baghdad: A Pending Globalization?

Discussant: Ala Al-Hamarneh (University of Mainz)

4:00-4:30 PM Coffee Break

4:30-6:00 PM Panel IV. Sites of Contestation

  • Momen El-Husseiny (UC-Berkley)- Tahrir Square: The Dialectics of Modernity
  • Sinan Hassan (ArD-AUB & S.O.S.A)- Two Squares and One City: The Umayyad and Abbasid Squares in Damascus

Discussant: Shahira Fahmy (SFA)

6:00-6:30 PM Break

6:30-8:00 PM Keynote IV

  • Yves Lion (Ateliers Lion associés & ENSAVT)- Atelier Yves Lion: Urban Projects in the Arab World

Commentary: George Arbid (ArD-AUB)

Closing: Robert Saliba (ArD-AUB)