Event Program

DAY 1 – WEDNESDAY, 4 MARCH 2015

INTRODUCTION COFFEE 4:00 – 4:30 PM

4:30 – 5:00 PM: OPENING SESSION

  • Makram Suidan, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering & Architecture, AUB
  • Robert Saliba, MUPP/MUD-ArD, American University of Beirut – Welcome Note
  • Mona Khechen, Neighborhood Initiative, American University of Beirut – Introduction

5:00 – 6:30 PM: KEYNOTE 1

  • Tom Slater, Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh- Planetary Rent Gaps
    Respondent: Robert Saliba, MUPP/MUD-ArD, American University of Beirut

WELCOME RECEPTION

DAY 2 – THURSDAY, 5 MARCH 2015

9:30 – 11:00 AM: PANEL 1. THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMING OF GENTRIFICATION IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH

  • Andrew Harris, University College London Geography, UCL Urban Laboratory- Postcolonialising the Historical Comparativism of Gentrification
  • Ryan Centner, Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics- Spatial Capital and City Fractures: Urban Currencies of Righteousness
  • Ebru Soytemel, Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities, University of Oxford – From Gentry to Geographies of Displacement: Conceptual Problems and Methodological Difficulties in Gentrification Research in Turkey

Discussant: Fran Tonkiss, Cities Programme, London School of Economics.

11:00-11:30: Coffee Break

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM: PANEL 2. GENTRIFICATION IN BEIRUT

  • Hisham Ashkar, HafenCity Universität-Hamburg- The Normative Dimension behind Fostering and Shaping Gentrification: The Case of Lebanon’s Law on Rent
  • Mona Khechen, Neighborhood Initiative, American University of Beirut- The Re-Making of Ras Beirut: Gentrification and the Politics of Mobility
  • Marieke Krijnen, Department of Conflict and Development Studies, Ghent University- Capital, Culture and Conflict: Gentrification and Urban Change in Beirut
  • Bruno Marot, School of Urban Planning, McGill University – Governing Post-1990s Urban Restructuring in Beirut: When Class Interests Intersect with Sectarian Divisions

Discussant: Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj, MUPP/MUD-ArD, American University of Beirut

1:30 – 3:00: Lunch Break

3:00 – 4:30 PM: PANEL 3. DISPLACEMENT AND RESISTANCE

  • Bahar Sakizlioglu, Independent Researcher – Residents’ Displacement Experiences in Istanbul
  • Özlem Ünsal, Independent Researcher – “No Liberty on Your Own”: Grassroots Movements and Urban Politics in Istanbul
  • Mohamed Elshahed, Forum for Transregional Studies in Berlin, Cairobserver – The “Right to Housing” in Cairo: Resisting Gentrification and the “Neglectful State”

Discussant: Khaled Abdelhalim, American University of Cairo

4:30-5:00 PM : Coffee Break

5:00 – 6:30 PM: KEYNOTE 2

  • Mona Serageldin, Institute for International Urban Development- The Dynamics of Neighborhood Transformation Long Term Trends and Immediate Responses to Turmoil and Civil Unrest
    Respondent: Ernesto López-Morales, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Universidad de Chile

DAY 3 – FRIDAY, 6 MARCH 2015

9:30 – 11:00 AM: PANEL 4. STATE-LED GENTRIFICATION
(Co-organized with ‘Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs’ as part of the “The Social Justice and the City” Project)

  • Ernesto López-Morales, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Universidad de Chile- The Several ‘Gentrifications’ in Latin America
  • Tolga Islam, Department of Planning, Yildiz Technical University- Gentrification and Changing Public Policy in Istanbul
  • Yahia Shawkat (10 Tooba)- Insecure Tenure and Policies of Land Commodification: The Targeting of Vulnerable Communities in Egypt

Discussant: Mona Harb, MUPP/MUD-ArD, American University of Beirut

11:00-11:30: Coffee Break

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM: PANEL 5. GENTRIFICATION IN HISTORIC CONTEXTS

  • Khaldun Bshara, RIWAQ- Shifting Trends: The Impossibility of Gentrification in the Palestine Cities’ Context
  • Aziza Chaouni, Associate Professor, University of Toronto; Aziza Chaouni Projects- A River Runs through It: The Transformations and Tribulations of the Fez River and its Rehabilitation Project
  • Ahmed Helmi, Ismailia Development & Real Estate Co.- Gentrification is in the Eye of the Beholder

Discussant: Hana Alamuddin, MUPP/MUD-ArD, American University of Beirut

1:30 – 3:00: Lunch Break

3:00 – 4:30 PM: PANEL 6. RESPONDING TO THE POTENTIALITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF GENTRIFICATION
(Organized by ‘Urban Observatory, Institut Français du Proche-Orient’, and ‘Majal, Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts’)

  • Xavier Casanovas, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya; REHABIMED- Barcelona, from Successful Urban Design to Gentrification
  • Eric Huybrechts, Institut Français D’Urbanisme, Université Paris-Est- Gentrification Mitigations and Gentrification Driven by the Poor
  • Serge Yazigi, Majal, Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts- Strategies to Respond to Gentrification. Case Studies: Mar Mikhael and Zokak el Blat, Beirut

Discussants: Caecilia Pieri – Urban Observatory, Institut Français du Proche-Orient and Habib Debs – URBI; ArD, American University of Beirut

4:30-5:00 PM : Coffee Break

5:00 – 6:30 PM: CLOSING CONVERSATION

  • Peter Marcuse, Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, with Fran Tonkiss – Cities Programme, London School of Economics.

Moderator: Cynthia Myntti (Neighborhood Initiative, American University of Beirut)