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Cities in Fragments: Modernism, Memory, and the Making of the Contemporary Arab CityBook Talk with Yasser Elsheshtawy
This talk introduces Elsheshtawy's book Arab Modernism(s): Cities, History and Culture, exploring how architecture and urban transformation shaped—and were shaped by—the social, cultural, and political trajectories of Arab cities. Moving across a range of cities, it examines modernism not merely as an architectural style but as a lived condition marked by aspiration, memory, displacement, and everyday life. Through buildings, public spaces, literature, film, and personal narratives, the talk reflects on the promises and contradictions of modernity, asking what remains of these visions today and what they reveal about the future of Arab cities.
Yasser Elsheshtawy is a Non-Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, DC, and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). His books include Riyadh: Transforming a Desert City, Temporary Cities: Resisting Transience in Arabia, Dubai: Behind an Urban Spectacle, and Arab Modernism(s): Cities, History and Culture (Routledge). His forthcoming book is titled My Cairo: A Cartography of Belonging and Everyday Urbanism (AUC Press). He was one of the lead authors for the UN-Habitat’s “State of the Arab Cities 2020” report where he looked at infrastructure in Arab cities. He served as curator for the UAE Pavilion at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016 and has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, BBC, Associated Press, Radio Monocle, National Geographic, The Guardian, Boston Globe, Neue Züricher Zeitung, and ArchDaily. He holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, a Master of Architecture from Pennsylvania State University, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Cairo University.
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Event Venue
Kirchweg 33, 14129 Berlin, Germany, Kirchweg 33, 14129 Berlin, Deutschland, Berlin, Germany
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