Interrupting planetary urbanization: A view from Middle Eastern cities

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azam Khatam ◽  
Oded Haas

This paper argues that the ‘city’ as a political entity is significant in struggles over the ‘urban’, by identifying two moments of ‘differential urbanization’ in the Middle East. Our study in Iran and Palestine/Israel shows that the vision of the ‘city’ as a legitimizing space for political citizenship is at the heart of conflicting imaginaries: in Iran, ‘cities of revolution’ built through housing the poor around Tehran, and redistributive politics that stand on filling the ‘rural/urban gap’, and in Palestine, the new city of Rawabi as a city of Palestinian independence, where privatized urban development contrasts colonial spatialities with anti-colonial potentials. Thus, the right to the ‘urban’ involves claims for the ‘city’ that go beyond the capitalist logic of urbanization. This theorization points to a troubling gap in the planetary urbanization thesis, which moves from collapsing the ‘urban/non-urban’ divide into ‘concentrated’, extended’ and ‘differential’ urbanization to diminishing the role of distinct sociospatial configurations in claims over the ‘urban’. Our case studies show that examining the reconfiguration of inherited spatialities in the context of particular political regimes is imperative for epistemology of the ‘urban’ in its planetary stage. Urbanization otherwise remains an uninterrupted process towards a non-spatial ‘urban condition’.

Koneksi ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Nada Salsabila ◽  
Diah Ayu Candraningrum

This research examines the representation of Middle Eastern culture local wisdom contained in the film "Aladdin 2019" produced by Walt Disney Pictures. This study aims to examine the cultural symbols of the Middle East. The research method used in this study is a qualitative method with Charles Sanders Peirce's semiotic analysis which divides the sign into three elements namely sign, object and interpretant. Semiotics is the science that discusses or examines the meaning of a sign. The results showed that Middle Eastern cultural symbols in the film "Aladdin 2019" were displayed through 10 scenes selected in the film. Cultural symbols of the Middle East are shown through the habits of the people kissing the right and left cheeks every time they meet relatives, riding camels to travel, livelihoods of people who trade, princess clothes Jasmine and Sultan, building architecture made of bricks and domes as decoration and art that displays traditional Middle Eastern musical instrument namely Gambus. Some interesting facts in the film one of which is the making of the city "Agrabah" as a shooting setting which is a fictitious city in England and property made of authentic jewelry.  Penelitian ini mengkaji mengenai representasi kearifan lokal budaya Timur Tengah yang terdapat dalam Film “Aladdin 2019” Produksi Walt Disney Pictures. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji simbol-simbol budaya Timur Tengah. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif dengan analisis semiotika Charles Sanders Peirce yang membagi tanda menjadi tiga elemen yaitu tanda, objek dan interpretan. Semiotika adalah ilmu yang membahas atau mengkaji mengenai pemaknaan dari sebuah tanda. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa simbol-simbol budaya Timur Tengah dalam Film “Aladdin 2019” ditampilkan melalui 10 scene yang dipilih dalam film tersebut. Simbol-simbol Budaya Timur Tengah ditunjukkan melalui kebiasaan masyarakat cium pipi kanan dan kiri setiap bertemu kerabat, menunggangi unta untuk bepergian, mata pencaharian masyarakat yang berdagang, pakaian putri Jasmine dan Sultan, arsitektur bangunan berasal dari batu bata dan kubah sebagai hiasan serta kesenian yang menampilkan alat musik tradisional Timur Tengah yaitu Gambus. Beberapa fakta menarik dalam film tersebut salah satunya adalah pembuatan kota “Agrabah” sebagai latar syuting yang merupakan kota fiktif di Inggris dan properti yang terbuat dari perhiasan asli.


Author(s):  
Luis D. Rivero Moreno

PurposeIn the past years, the importance of the cultural economy has led urbanism to a new perspective. Simultaneously, the main international institutions have pointed out the need to shift the urban economy into a sustainable one, green and energy efficient. The confluence of both flows explains why the imaginaries of the urban future are related to the concept of creative cities. Hence, the new economic engine of the cities should be founded on art, creativity and culture, all of them understood as clean energies. This study aims to show the crucial role of cultural heritage as a propeller of a new kind of urban development, more flexible and democratic, based on the construction of the city as a communicational, collective and open effort. Therefore, the city is conceived as a cultural heritage platform where tangible and intangible, social and creative interactions happen. Within this context, urban narratives appear as a dynamic material drawn on the possibilities offered by the heritage received from the past as a resource to be used for re-thinking and re-shaping the future.Design/methodology/approachThe approach of this paper is based on a profound analysis of historical cities, mainly in the European context, supported by the work carried out within the H2020 ROCK project. The cities within the project are: Athens, Bologna, Cluj-Napoca, Eindhoven, Lisbon, Liverpool, Lyon, Torino, Skopje and Vilnius. A wide variety of case studies coming mainly from these cities have been considered to understand better the theoretical point of view on the role of heritage, urban development and city branding. The information about cultural heritage projects used as case studies has been collected and selected coming from the direct work made on the field and the communication open with institutions and cultural stakeholders in every city. Even more, parallel seminars on cultural heritage and city branding organized within the project have allowed the authors to gather very valuable, updated and fresh information on these issues in every particular case.FindingsThe study proves that cultural heritage has been traditionally underrated as a mechanism for developing the future of the city and its communicative strategy. Cultural heritage appears as a practical tool for constructing more cohesive urban communities based on the use of public space and shared memories as storytelling platforms. The capacity of resiliency and sustainability revealed by cultural heritage through the time is, as well, a clear reference to construct a potential sustainable city, socially, culturally and environmentally.Social implicationsCultural heritage projects are shown as a perfect way to build stronger communities. Through the engagement and participation of citizens, urban storytelling reinforces a more open, real and sustainable city able to face the challenges of contemporary life (gentrification, pollution, mobility, etc.). Like that, heritage appears as a feasible tool for including citizens coming from all ages and backgrounds in the construction of a collective narrative of the city, based on the past and looking at the foreseen.Originality/valueThis study tries to relate fields that traditionally have remained not well connected: urban development, city branding and cultural heritage. The study demonstrates that cultural heritage is crucial as an urban narrative tool and consequently, as a planning/branding mechanism. Moreover, cultural institutions and cultural projects are very relevant platforms for social interaction, inviting citizens to have a more active role in the construction of the city as a collective communicational effort based on a network of social and cultural relations. Storytelling turns up as a new key element for communicating the city from grassroots, in a sustainable, democratic and inclusive manner, far away from the traditional top-down official perspective. Crowdsourcing methods are very powerful for establishing a shared and cohesive city brand, now rooted in its cultural and social foundations and not the marketing campaign clichés. Finally, storytelling emerges as a creative resource that enhances the social, cultural and economic layout of the city, forcing urbanists to include a greener, fairer and more democratic perspective in the future of cities.


1970 ◽  
pp. 36-47
Author(s):  
Fadwa Al-Labadi

The concept of citizenship was introduced to the Arab and Islamic region duringthe colonial period. The law of citizenship, like all other laws and regulations inthe Middle East, was influenced by the colonial legacy that impacted the tribal and paternalistic systems in all aspects of life. In addition to the colonial legacy, most constitutions in the Middle East draw on the Islamic shari’a (law) as a major source of legislation, which in turn enhances the paternalistic system in the social sector in all its dimensions, as manifested in many individual laws and the legislative processes with respect to family status issues. Family is considered the nucleus of society in most Middle Eastern countries, and this is specifically reflected in the personal status codes. In the name of this legal principle, women’s submission is being entrenched, along with censorship over her body, control of her reproductive role, sexual life, and fertility.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 10-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Stanley

Most armed conflict today takes place within urban terrain or within an urbanised context. An extreme variant of such armed conflict is violence perpetrated by external state and non-state forces within the city, known as urbicide. Urbicidal violence deliberately strives to kill, discipline or deny the city to its inhabitants by targeting and then reordering the sociomaterial urban assemblage. Civil resistance within urbicidal violence seeks to subvert the emerging alternative sovereign order sought by such forces. It does so by using the inherent logic of the city in order to maintain/restore the community's social cohesion, mitigate the violence, affirm humanity, and claim the right to the city. This paper investigates the city-logic of civil resistance through examples drawn from the recent urbicidal experiences of Middle East cities such as Gaza, Aleppo, Mosul, and Sana'a. Theoretical insights from the conflict resolution literature, critical urban theory, and assemblage thinking inform the argument.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 47-92

Some major crises, such as wars, may redraw the features of society with all its groups, ideologies and policies it adopts. In these few pages, we try to discuss objectively, not mixed with bias, some of the bright aspects in the city of Mosul after its liberation from the clutches of infidelity and extremism, starting from a scientific reference that distinguishes what was the situation in the city of Mosul during the days of ISIS terrorist gangs He explained the current situation after its liberation, assuming that the current situation is witnessing a kind of gradual improvement despite the state of anxiety experienced by the residents of Mosul, which may turn into a state of protest and revolution with a negative content if they are not compensated and return their societal status to what it was, if conditions and opportunities are not available For a new societal renaissance based on all partners in restoring stability to the city. This study, despite its simplicity, adheres to a scientific and methodological character, to determine some geographical, historical, and cultural dimensions characteristic of the city of Mosul in Iraq, and we referred to some hotbeds of tension and conflict, in addition to the factors of calm, dialogue and cooperation, up to the desired state of stability in which we were keen to clarify the role Social service as a scientific field specialized in achieving a state of security and stability in the local communities of post-conflict areas liberated from ISIS terrorism. The sensitivity of the topic, the severity of its complexity and the variability of the references of his analysis, may make the researcher confronting his study feel embarrassed, and therefore it is useful not to expose the causes of the fall of the city of Mosul to the hands of ISIS terrorist groups Notice that as we search in the present we do not dispense with history, and as we stress the importance of security and stability, we do not have the right to neglect the national sacrifices of the men of the security forces and the popular crowd, recalling the fact that these sacrifices are not a temporary, contingent structure, or a fabricated formation that can be easily overcome. A national historical position, with whom Holiness is a measure of faith, but at the same time and in response to those sacrifices and efforts to liberate the city of Mosul and eliminate the so-called terrorist ISIS, as much as it contains the tenacity and persistence of liberation, there is a measure of the possibility of dissociation, dissipation and loss. The matter depends on many factors, foremost among which is the availability of a collective sense of belonging to a national and spatial space, with all its history, memory, experiences, and common interests, a place called: a homeland, a national status called: loyalty and belonging, and a governmental action called: ages and concern. Keywords: Refraction and refraction


ZARCH ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 58-69
Author(s):  
Tiago Lopes Dias ◽  
Rui Jorge Garcia Ramos

Modern Portuguese architecture has been seen as the result of an eminently empirical and intuitive practice, dissociated from any effort of theoretical structuring. This paper intends to contradict that predominant view, presenting the notion of spatial limit as a subject that earned particular consideration from a younger, more critical and intellectually demanding generation of architects. Firstly, it introduces two notions directly related to limit - ‘extensions of the dwelling’ and ‘transition-space’ - presented in theses by Nuno Portas (b. 1934) and Pedro Vieira de Almeida (1933-2011) respectively, two highly innovative works in the academic panorama of early 1960s. Next, it focuses on the fundamental role each of the notions taken in investigative works that are parallel in time but substantially different. The first, Habitação evolutiva, is a typological study reflecting the spirit of its time by claiming the ‘right to the city’ as the founding principle of a model critical of CIAM urbanism. The second is an essay stemming from a critical reflexion on the work of an eclectic architect that eludes categorization (Raul Lino, 1879-1974) which sheds light on the need for a critical approach to the history of modern architecture.


Author(s):  
Zikriya ◽  
Naushad Khan ◽  
Asif Salim

The development of International relations together with forces like globalization and technology has brought the world closer to each other. Friendly ties and relations with states create massive challenges during times of conflict. The focus of the paper is on the crisis evolving in the Middle East region and the role of Pakistan in solving those crisis considering relations with its closest allies, political and financial circumstances, and its foreign policy principles. A qualitative research approach with desk analysis technique has been applied to analyse the role of Pakistan as a mediator for the conflict resolution among Middle Eastern countries. The research highlights how the disputes created great problems for Pakistan but it is still striving to resolve conflicts among Middle Eastern countries because maintaining peace and prosperity in the Muslim world has always been a top priority of Pakistan’s foreign policy.


Author(s):  
Maud S. Mandel

Beginning in 1948 when war in the Middle East caused minor unrest in the city of Marseille, this chapter traces the way in which disagreements over Israel became a way to debate inequities in French minority policies at home and in North Africa. In Marseille, the gathering point for Jewish clandestine migration to Palestine, Algerian Muslims' anger toward what they perceived as French complicity in migration schemes was compounded by frustrations that French officials seemed to be favoring Jewish refugees over newly minted French Algerian Muslim citizens. Conflicts around war in the Middle East thus became an opportunity for politically active Muslims and Jews to negotiate their relationship with the French state, as the former established new parameters for political participation in the aftermath of the Holocaust by pushing the French government to support Israel, and the latter tested the limitations on a citizenship that never made good on its promises.


2018 ◽  
Vol 170 ◽  
pp. 01050 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Vasilyeva

The article is devoted to the matters of public-and-private partnerships in the field of housing-and-communal services. The author recognizes, that sustainable urban development requires effective funding with the leading role of municipal finances. At the same time, financing of housing-and-communal sector through the municipal budget only would be too burdensome, while the use of the public-and-private partnership scheme has proved to be the good solution of this problem. However, there is no definite answer: whether the housing-and-communal sector is the most developed zone of public-and-private partnership or, on the contrary, it is an obscure and ineffective zone. The author analyzes the Russian experience of use of the public-and-private partnership scheme in the field of housing-and-communal services and reveals the main problems, which prevent the attraction of the private capital to this sphere. Such rather new trends as so called "box decisions" and "pool" securitization of infrastructure projects are considered in the article. According to the author, the use of these options could contribute to the development of housing-and-communal sector and the city infrastructure as well as the urban development as whole.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 582-585
Author(s):  
Leslie Hakim-Dowek

As in Marianne Hirsch’s (2008) notion of ‘devoir de memoire’, this poem-piece, from a new series, uses the role of creation and imagination to strive to ‘re-activate and re-embody’ distant family/historical transcultural spaces and memories within the perspective of a dispersed history of a Middle-Eastern minority, the Sephardi/Jewish community. There is little awareness that Sephardi/Jewish communities were an integral part of the Middle East and North Africa for many centuries before they were driven out of their homes in the second half of the twentieth century. Using a multi-modal approach combining photography and poetry, this photo-poem series has for focus my female lineage. This piece evokes in particular the memory of my grandmother, encapsulating many points in history where persecution and displacement occurred across many social, political and linguistic borders.


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