BOOM CITIES: URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA CONFERENCE, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY ABU DHABI, DOWNTOWN CAMPUS, DECEMBER 3 & 4, 2012

Convened by

• Claire Beaugrand Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institut Français du Proche-Orient, Beirut
• Amélie Le Renard Research Fellow, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
• Pascal Menoret Assistant Professor of Arab Crossroads Studies, NYUAD
• Roman Stadnicki Head of Urban Studies Department, Centre d'Études et de Documentation Économiques, Juridiques et Sociales, Cairo

Programme

MONDAY, DECEMBER 03 | DAY 1

9:00 – 9:30 AM OPENING REMARKS

9:30 – 10:00 AM PRESENTATION OF THE PHOTO EXHIBITION

On the Outskirts of Gulf Cities, Photographs by Manuel Benchetrit, Text by Roman Stadnicki

10:00 – 10:40 AM Keynote Nelida Fuccaro, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

11:00 – 1:00 PM PANEL1: Urban Development

Chair Claire Beaugrand, Institut Français du Proche-Orient, Beirut

• Andrew M. Gardner, University of Puget Sound : The Amalgamated City: Petroleum Wealth and Urban Space in Doha, Qatar
• Philippe Cadène, Paris Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi : The National Development Plan and the Future of Kuwait City
• Brigitte Dumortier, Université Paris 4 Sorbonne : Concurrence and/or complementarity between coastal cities in the United Arab Emirates
• John Burt, New York University Abu Dhabi : The environmental costs of coastal urbanization in the Gulf

2:00 – 4:00 PM PANEL 2: Urban Renewal

Chair Pascal Menoret, New York University Abu Dhabi

• Atef Alshehri, University of Oxford : Resetting the Urban Clock: Reconfiguring the Sacred City of al-Madina
• Nadine Scharfenort,Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz : Large-Scale Urban Regeneration: A New Old Market and a “Heart” for Doha
• Beth Harrington, Northwestern University : Spaces of Culture: The Design and Arrangement of Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island
• Patrizia Zanelli, LUSPIO University, Rome : Rapid Urbanization in Yemeni Short Stories

6:30 – 8:30 PM PUBLIC LECTURE

Intercontinental Hotel Auditorium

“Where the Sidewalk Ends: Informal Urbanism in Dubai” by Yasser Elsheshtawy, Associate Professor, United Arab Emirates University

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 04 | DAY 2

10:00AM – 12:00 PM PANEL 3: Spatial Politics

Chair Amelie Le Renard, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris

• Ulrike Freitag, Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin : Urban Modernization in Jeddah in the late 19th and early 20th century
• Farah al-Nakib, American University of Kuwait : The Right to the Urban Commons: Public Space and Public Protest in Kuwait, 1938-2012
• Sebastian Maisel, Grand Valley State University : Urban development in Unayzah: Where is the Paris of Najd today?
• Pascal Menoret, New York University Abu Dhabi : Joyriding in Riyadh and the Critique of Urban Space

02:00 – 4:30 PM PANEL 4: Urban Margins

Chair Roman Stadnicki, Centre d’Etudes et de Documentation Economiques, Juridiques et Sociales, Cairo

• Claire Beaugrand, Institut Français du Proche-Orient : Urban Marginalization in Kuwait and Bahrain
• Amelie Le Renard, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris : Respectability and Racist Modes of Exclusion in Riyadh: Experiencing the City with Female Filipino Nurses
• Magdalena Karolak, Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University : Bahrain's Parallel Societies: An Analysis of the Urban Landscape
• Laure Assaf, Paris West University : The Corniche of Abu Dhabi: Public Space and Outdoor Intimacy
• Amin Moghadam, University of Lyon : Iranian Migrations to Dubai: Transitional Spaces and Practices

4:30 PM Keynote Yasser Elsheshtawy, United Arab Emirates University