Cities of the Arab World: Theory, Investigation, and Critique

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Cities of the Arab World: Theory, Investigation, and Critique Salah D. Hassan (bio) On February 14 and 15, 2019, scholars came together on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU), East Lansing, MI, to discuss “Cities of the Arab World,” at a conference organized by Najib Hourani under the auspices of the Global Urban Studies Program in collaboration with the Muslim Studies Program, the Department of Anthropology, the College of Social Science, and in partnership with the University of Michigan’s Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Ann Arbor, MI. Papers presented in the course of the two-day interdisciplinary conference emphasized “Theory, Investigation, and Critique” in connection with urban studies of the Arab world. Over the two days, panelists presented their original research to a full house in the conference room at the MSU Union building. Rachel Croson, Dean of the College of Social Sciences at Michigan State University welcomed the participants and attendants, underlining the importance of the event for the university, the College, and the Global Urban Studies Programs. Igor Z. Vojnovic, Interim Director of Global Urban Studies further accentuated the uniqueness of the conference, one of the first major events organized by the program, whose staff served as the fulcrum for a rich partnership with several academic units at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. In his welcoming address, Najib Hourani, associate professor of anthropology and global urban studies, and the principal organizer of the conference, conveyed the importance of pushing the boundaries of research [End Page 135] in urban studies and Middle Eastern studies by bringing the two fields together in more complex and challenging ways. He noted the growth in the field of urban studies, which has only recently begun to take up the specific character of Arab cities, whose histories and 21st century transformations remain on the periphery of mainstream scholarship on cities. According to Hourani: “despite the revival and growth of Urban and Middle East/Muslim studies, these two interdisciplinary fields rarely speak to each other, even as the study of Arab cities in particular, has taken off over the last decade. Indeed, the theoretical works and debates that drive urban studies remain beholden to European and North American experiences, and so rarely engage or learn from Arab cities, their histories or contemporary dynamics. For example, while the literature engaging neoliberal urbanism has exploded in the last decade and a half, Arab cities (the occasional reference to Dubai, notwithstanding) are absent from the major collections that theorize the concept. At the same time, research on Arab cities is only now beginning to engage and redirect dominant strains of urban theory. How might in-depth study of Arab cities enrich urban theory? How might theoretically-driven explorations further enrich our understandings of Arab cities, in all of their complexity and diversity?” Hourani’s opening remarks provided the necessary frame for understanding the importance of this timely conference. Day One (February 14, 2019): Cities of the Arab World Panel I “Projecting Cities” included papers that addressed uniquely complicated developments in Gulf cities. Eva Kassens-Noor (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI) presented research on “Mega-event Planning in the Arab World: A Case Study of Dubai’s 2020 World Exposition,” highlighting the struggle over ownership of the city during the event, and examining how mega-event legacies are understood. Her investigation looks at political, economic, and cultural influences shaping the 2020 World Exposition in Dubai and examines how developments related to the Expo are having an impact on Dubai’s urban planning. She concludes that the neoliberal tendencies associated with mega-events have significantly transformed Dubai’s urban and socio-cultural landscape, eroding further Arab urban culture in the Gulf. Gökçe Günel (University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ) provided a snapshot of the extensive original research on Masdar City that she has done for her recently published book Spaceship in the Desert: Energy, Climate Change and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi (Duke University Press, 2019). The paper summarized the main points of the book, underlining the political-economy of the utopian project of Masdar City. Günel’s research exposes the contradictory and often opportunistic features of the...