Asma Mehan | Texas Tech University (original) (raw)

Books by Asma Mehan

De Gruyter Brill Publisher, 2024

The Affective Agency of Public Space explores the pivotal role that public spaces play in fosteri... more The Affective Agency of Public Space explores the pivotal role that public spaces play in fostering social inclusion and community cohesion within various settings, including Europe and the United States. This scholarly work underscores the critical importance of developing inclusive public zones that enhance urban life and promote integration and interaction among diverse community groups. It also confronts and debunks common myths about ‘different people,’ actively addressing misconceptions while promoting the recognition of diverse identities and voices. Through a comparative lens, the book presents insightful case studies that illustrate its core themes. Serving as a timely and important academic resource, this text is indispensable for urban planners, educators, architects, designers, and sociologists committed to progressive urban planning methodologies.

Routledge, Sep 26, 2022

This book is an interdisciplinary research work designed to be of interest to a broad range of ac... more This book is an interdisciplinary research work designed to be of interest to a broad range of academics. The book examines the relationship between democracy and the (trans)formations of urban spaces through comparative perspective. It engages with the ideas of ‘modernity’ in architecture and investigates how they might align (or not) with other forms of radical power.

This book offers an understanding of the public spaces through political change, power struggle, and autocratic modernity manifested. It addresses the subject of politics in architecture and built environment by examining the various academic literature in urban studies, architectural history, urban anthropology, urban sociology, cultural geographies, planning history, philosophy, and the broader social and political sciences. Followingly, it will be focused on the less well-known traditions of architecture and democratic values drawing upon western and (non)western perspectives to decolonize the notion of public space in the global south. In better words, the book investigates the mechanisms of power struggles and the transformative dynamism of totalization and state-led modernization, which motivates or shapes a creative tension in the form of the city.

The topic of the work is novel and aims to examine the relationship between the affordances of public spaces, their micro-histories, and the emergence of critical social events and movements. The breadth of the topic demanded engagement with a rich body of architectural theory and history and relevant texts in urban sociology, colonial and postcolonial studies, political geography, and cultural studies, a challenge to which the book has responded outstandingly. The issue is urgent for policymakers and architects, urban designers, political and cultural geographers, and other practitioners working on the built environment to create more democratic public spaces in the global south.

by Svava Riesto, Kris Pint, Nevena Dakovic, Dalia Dijokienė, Juan A. García-Esparza, Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech, Karen Lens, Adriana Martins, Asma Mehan, Bie Plevoets, Angelos Theocharis, Jana Culek, Lamila Simisic, Mirza Emirhafizović, and Inesa Kurtinaitienė

Vademecum. 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places, 2020

Words help us to make sense of what happens in the city, and the words we use to describe urban p... more Words help us to make sense of what happens in the city, and the words we use to describe urban places imply a specific outlook. This book offers 77 concepts in the hope that they will stimulate new ways of describing and narrating European cities. The concepts are less obvious, “minor” terms that can nevertheless be used to write European cities anew, in ways that emphasize the local, alternative, disenfranchised, and overlooked. Minor concepts can reveal blind spots in urban discourse, or bring insights from one discipline or language to another.

Vademecum means walk with me, and we imagine this book as a field guide you can carry in your pocket while you explore real-life urban places. The arbitrary number of 77 terms captures a particular moment in a experiential collective process among 40 European researchers during the COVID-19 lockdown. This process brought together perspectives from different disciplines and urban settings—from Lithuania to Portugal, from Ireland to Croatia.

An incomplete and open-ended book, it is also an invitation for readers to add their own “minor concepts,” to open new perspectives and write urban places anew.

Edited by Klaske Havik, Kris Pint, Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner. NAi Publishers.

Routledge, Jan 30, 2020

Kuala Lumpur is a diverse city representing many different religions and nationalities. Recent go... more Kuala Lumpur is a diverse city representing many different religions and nationalities. Recent government policy has actively promoted unity and cohesion throughout the city; and the country of Malaysia, with the implementation of a programme called 1Malaysia. In this book, the authors investigate the aims of this programme – predominantly to unify the Malaysian society – and how these objectives resonate in the daily spatial practices of the city’s residents. This book argues that elements of urban infrastructure could work as an essential mediator ‘beyond community’, allowing inclusive social structures to be built, despite cultural and religious tensions existing within the city. It builds on the premise of an empirical study which explores the ways in which different communities use the same spaces, supported through the implementation of a theoretical framework which looks at both Western and Islamic conceptualisations of the notion of community. Through the analysis of Kuala Lumpur, this book contributes towards the creation of more inclusive places in multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious communities across the world.

Encyclopaedia Entries by Asma Mehan

VADEMECUM: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places, 2020

English- Vademecum: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places offers a set of concepts that stimula... more English- Vademecum: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places offers a set of concepts that stimulate new approaches in planning, architecture, urban design, policy and other practices of spatial development. These diverse concepts might reveal blind spots in urban discourse or bring insights from one discipline to another. The term ‘minor’ refers to the ambition to look at the local and social specificity of urban places, and to challenge established discursive frameworks by giving voice to multiple actors in the debate. This publication hopes to be a fieldguide that inspires spatial professionals, researchers, students and communities to exchange knowledge, to engage with urban places and to discover and develop responsible approaches to current urban challenges.

Dutch – Vademecum: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places biedt een reeks concepten die nieuwe benaderingen in architectuur, stedenbouw en ruimtelijke ontwikkeling stimuleren. Deze uiteenlopende concepten kunnen blinde vlekken in het stedelijke discours onthullen of inzichten van de ene discipline naar de andere brengen. De term 'minor' verwijst naar de ambitie om naar de lokale en sociale specificiteit van stedelijke plekken te kijken en om gevestigde discursieve kaders uit te dagen, door stem te geven aan meerdere actoren in het debat. Deze publicatie is te zien als een veldgids die ruimtelijke professionals, onderzoekers, studenten en gemeenschappen inspireert om kennis uit te wisselen, over onderzoek naar stedelijke plekken, en om verantwoorde benaderingen te ontdekken en te ontwikkelen voor de hedendaagse stedelijke uitdagingen.

VADEMECUM: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places, 2020

English- Vademecum: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places offers a set of concepts that stimula... more English- Vademecum: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places offers a set of concepts that stimulate new approaches in planning, architecture, urban design, policy, and other practices of spatial development. These diverse concepts might reveal blind spots in urban discourse or bring insights from one discipline to another. The term ‘minor’ refers to the ambition to look at the local and social specificity of urban places and to challenge established discursive frameworks by giving voice to multiple actors in the debate. This publication hopes to be a field guide that inspires spatial professionals, researchers, students, and communities to exchange knowledge, to engage with urban places and to discover and develop responsible approaches to current urban challenges.

Book Chapters by Asma Mehan

The Routledge Companion to Smart Design Thinking in Architecture & Urbanism for a Sustainable, Living Planet, 2024

Materialization practices in the architecture and building industry have evolved with the advance... more Materialization practices in the architecture and building industry have evolved with the advancement of manufacturing and information technologies. This evolution is evident across various design and production phases, with a pronounced impact on prototyping. Advances in design and fabrication tools have empowered prototypes, integral in any production cycle, to furnish a growing array of information and feedback for designers and manufacturers. In this context, prototypes have transformed from merely showcasing data-driven building solutions to presenting socio-environmentally conscious systems. Innovation in prototyping connects the initial design and construction stages to the operational phase, creating a seamless transition throughout the project lifecycle. This chapter provides a range of definitions and prototypical case studies for smart prototyping by identifying practiced approaches in integrated design to production workflows. This chapter introduces three paradigms for smart prototyping: Digital prototyping focuses on data-driven design for mass customization, phygital prototyping involves mixed-reality-enabled design and assembly, and thirdly collaborative prototyping explores human-machine hybrid intelligence and co-production in architectural and urban contexts. The chosen case studies in this chapter and how they are categorized aim to provide a comprehensive overview of smart prototyping, covering projects conducted in both research and practice. This chapter concludes with potential future trends and the role of emerging and evolving mediums of prototyping for smart design and construction.

ADAPTIVE REUSE: Theoretical Glossary and Design Labs, 2024

Adaptive reuse embodies a significant transition in the evolution of urban landscapes, representi... more Adaptive reuse embodies a significant transition in the evolution of urban landscapes, representing a paradigm shift from industrial or obsolete uses to vibrant, sustainable, and community-centric functions. This transformative process, deeply rooted in the principles of sustainable urban development, emphasizes the conservation of architectural heritage, environmental sustainability, and socio-economic revitalization. At the heart of adaptive reuse is the concept of sustainability, which challenges traditional notions of development and conservation by repurposing existing structures, thereby conserving resources, and reducing the carbon footprint associated with new constructions. These initiatives align with broader sustainability goals, such as those outlined in the 2030 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), particularly those related to sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, and climate action.

Decoding Cultural Heritage: A Critical Dissection and Taxonomy of Human Creativity through Digital Tools, 2024

This chapter navigates the confluence of immersive design, critical mapping, urban heritage, and ... more This chapter navigates the confluence of immersive design, critical mapping, urban heritage, and socio-environmental justice. It elucidates the potential of these intersecting domains to engender inclusivity, bolster urban resilience, and challenge prevailing power dynamics within urban spaces. Initially, the chapter illuminates the nuances of critical mapping, emphasizing its pivotal role in understanding and advocating for socio-environmental justice within the tapestry of urban heritage. By taking Amsterdam and Houston as primary case studies, the exploration accentuates the power of immersive art and design in forging embodied experiences. These experiences, intrinsically holistic, seamlessly meld the cognitive and affective realms of design-centered embodiment. The showcased city narratives unravel the myriad ways immersive art interventions can stimulate critical reflections on core issues interlinking urban heritage, socio-environmental justice, and the nuances of public space occupation.

Situating itself within the broader discourse of the book on digital interventions in cultural heritage, this chapter carves a distinct narrative niche. It accentuates the transformative potential of immersive art and design in envisaging and actualizing vibrant, inclusive, and adaptive urban transition zones. By interlacing threads of critical mapping and socio-environmental justice, the chapter augments the discourse on urban heritage, offering a profound dive into its manifestations in both North American and European landscapes.

Educational Research and the Question(s) of Time, 2024

In an era where decolonizing architectural pedagogy is imperative, cities stand as the forefront ... more In an era where decolonizing architectural pedagogy is imperative, cities stand as the forefront of radical thought, acting as crucibles for ideological, activist, and spatial dynamics. These urban landscapes are not just breeding grounds for new paradigms, but also reflect significant shifts in political and social frameworks. This study adopts the concept of the “radical city” as a prism to understand how local events echo global political and sociocultural disturbances. This research takes an innovative approach by integrating mixed-method pedagogies, student-driven inquiries, and diverse case studies, spanning continents from Asia to Latin America, Europe to Africa, and the US to the UK. The aim is to explore the deep-rooted changes in these cities and to promote a decolonized approach to architectural education, moving beyond traditional, Eurocentric narratives. The backbone of this research is the course “Visualizing Radical Urbanism,” offered at the Huckabee College of Architecture, Texas Tech University, in Fall 2022 and Fall 2023. Through this course, students engage in a pedagogical journey involving exploration, research, analysis, and introspection on their selected radical city. Their diverse methodologies and expressive mediums converge in a comprehensive portfolio, showcasing their intellectual growth and culminating in a reflective essay on their urban subject. By focusing on educational research and time investment in this course, the study highlights the importance of sustained, critical engagement with urban environments. This approach not only enriches architectural education but also contributes to the broader discourse on urban activism and decolonization, reinforcing the need for diverse, inclusive, and globally aware architectural pedagogies.

In book: Climate change related urban transformation and the role of cultural heritage, 2023

The adaptive reuse of industrial heritage, a critical component in addressing radical climate cha... more The adaptive reuse of industrial heritage, a critical component in addressing radical climate change-related urban transitions, is increasingly pertinent. This paper distinguishes ‘urban transitions’ from ‘urban transformation,’ emphasizing a more gradual, adaptive approach to urban development under the pressures of climate change. It explores the repurposing of industrial buildings and spaces, maintaining their cultural and historical value while meeting current urban needs. Through a mixed-methods approach, the paper analyses how adaptive reuse contributes to sustainable urban development, examines the scale and impact of such projects from local quarters to city-wide implications, and discusses the potential negative consequences, including gentrif ication. The study spans various global regions, including Europe, the United States, Latin America, Canada, and Australia, using case studies to illustrate the effectiveness of adaptive reuse in promoting sustainability, revitalizing urban areas, and preserving cultural heritage. The paper questions the viability of traditional long-term sustainable urban development strategies in the face of rapid environmental and societal changes, suggesting a potential need for paradigm shifts in urban planning.

Rooted Cosmopolitanism, Heritage and the Question of Belonging: Archaeological and Anthropological perspectives, Feb 4, 2024

Through analysing different case studies in the Middle East, this section uses rooted cosmopolita... more Through analysing different case studies in the Middle East, this section uses rooted cosmopolitanism as a theoretical lens to explore exported modernism and architecture between socialist and capitalist countries during the Cold War. This research analyses the circulation and local applications of urban development and modernisation paradigms in so-called ‘Third World’ countries. For assessing the socialist and capitalist-inspired modernisation processes in the Middle East, this chapter studies the cosmopolitan and trans-cultural architecture created by global and local influences. Comparing two types of cosmopolitan architecture (socialist and capitalist) during the Cold War period in third-world contexts will help us to analyse and compare their relative rootedness and to learn from the interconnected, multifaceted, and multilayered planning transfers and architectural exportations.

Resilience vs Pandemics. Urban Sustainability. Springer, Singapore., 2023

The adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have exposed the lack of multi-scalar community resi... more The adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have exposed the lack of multi-scalar community resilient strategies that catalyze the development of alternative coping mechanisms for future challenges. To address the immediate needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups, especially in times of crisis, as evidenced by the pandemic, micro-networks within communities have mitigated and reduced harm through self-devised ingenuity based on local ways of life. Socio-spatial micro-networks have the potential to empower communities to self-organize, engage, collaborate, co-design, co-build, and connect with other communities to improve their resilience. This paper focuses on the impact of micro-networks of care, participatory action research, community health, solidarity and mutual aid in Nairobi (Kenya), comparing their resilience strategies, pre- and post Covid-19 pandemic era. Through analytical, empirical, and comparative studies, this paper envisions viable ways of augmenting and enhancing self-devised, self-sufficient, and resilient culture in marginalized communities in Africa and worldwide.

Transición energética y construcción social del territorio ante el reto del cambio climático y el nuevo marco geopolítico, Nov 2023

A lo largo de los siglos anteriores, poderosos agentes empresarialesy gubernamentales han creado ... more A lo largo de los siglos anteriores, poderosos agentes empresarialesy gubernamentales han creado una amplia gama de paisajes urbanos postindustriales que han cambiado con el tiempo y se ajustan a las culturas locales. Durante la desindustrialización y la descarbonización, el término “patrimonio industrial ha surgido recientemente como un nuevo tema en los estudios sobre el patrimonio. Esta investigación aborda los retos sociopolíticos y espacio‐culturales de las ciudades postindustriales. Lasrevoluciones industriales, las transiciones energéticas y las rápidas innovaciones tecnológicas disruptivas han cambiado radicalmente la estructura de las ciudades postindustriales. El legado de varias industrias, como la petrolera, la textil y la automovilística, sigue remodelando la industria, la sociedad, la cultura y la política. Estas bruscas transformaciones modifican significativamente el funcionamiento de los edificios y las ciudades a lo largo del tiempo. Este estudio utiliza un enfoque crítico, histórico, espacial y analítico basado en problemas para examinar las estrategias de diseño arquitectónico y los planteamientos de diseño urbano que construyen una nueva imagen e identidad mediante estrategias de reutilización adaptativa del patrimonio industrial. Este resultado de investigación y los proyectos seleccionados se basan en el estudio ʹReutilización adaptativa del patrimonio industrialʹ que impartimos en la Texas Tech University, en el semestre de otoño de 2022. Los resultados destacan las implicaciones de estos proyectos en la creación de entornos urbanos inclusivos y sostenibles, trascendiendo el intercambio de usos y promoviendo una mezcla equilibrada de funciones.

OTHER DESTINATIONS: Translating the Mid-sized European City, 2023

Nowadays there is a general acknowledgment of the importance of place in Italian crime novels. In... more Nowadays there is a general acknowledgment of the importance of place in Italian crime novels. In Caponapoli, Massimo Siviero articulates a narrative way in which he approaches the structures, city, and the built environment to reflect the society, cultural relations, transformations and dysfunctions of contemporary Naples. Joe Pazienza, the private detective, has been seen by him recently before he was a reporter. When hired by his first client, Nada Mormile, someone with all the requirements of the dark lady in the right place, he immediately smells “serious” trouble. There is a strange message full of threats at stake, and the construction sites of a substantial building, soon found “suicidal” with his head inside a bag. There is also someone who does not appreciate Joe’s new job as too nosy and goes out of his way to make him understand. Also, there is the Caponapoli. The health complex around which all the mysteries of a violent and fascinating city seem to gather.

ARCC 2023 CONFERENCE PROCEEDING: The Research Design Interface, Sep 23, 2023

Port Cities are historically the places for paradigm shifts, radical changes, and socio-economic ... more Port Cities are historically the places for paradigm shifts, radical changes, and socio-economic transitions. In particular, the interaction zone between the port infrastructure and urban activities creates liminal spaces at the forefront of many contemporary challenges. In these liminal spaces, the port's flows, form, and function intertwine with urban contexts and conflict with the living conditions. Conceptualizing the portcityscape and harborscape as liminal space and urban thresholds leads to (re)thinking about innovative participatory methods and technologies for building community resilience in port cities. Additionally, inevitable constant development in port cities requires adaptability and resilience from the waterfronts to the hinterlands and city centers. Such confrontation of port infrastructures and urbanization is socio-politically and spatially challenging, specifically in historic port cities. Therefore, as the approach to exploiting energy and human resources changes over time, the physicality of the built environment in port cities and how we (re)use the resources need to be redefined. This research investigates key socio-spatial features and challenges of port cities by examining how the port's proximity to the city requires coordination, collaboration, transparency, and community dialogue. The introduction and background literature discuss three domains and notions of port city studies, building community resiliency through participatory frameworks, and parasitic architecture. By building upon this analytical framework, the paper presents case studies developed within the research-led design studio focusing on building resilient communities in four port cities, including Amsterdam, Constanta, Alexandria, and Rio De Janeiro. This research focus on the community-enabled application of emerging technologies, innovative approaches, and co-designing and co-building participatory methods. The selected case studies introduce an integrative and multi-scalar pedagogical framework for building resilient communities in liminal spaces of port cities.

AMPS PROCEEDINGS SERIES 32, 2023

The technological revolution and appropriation of internet tools began to reshape the material ba... more The technological revolution and appropriation of internet tools began to reshape the material basis of society and the urban space in collaborative, grassroots, leaderless, and participatory actions. The protest squares’ representation on Television screens and mainstream media has been broad. Various health, governmental, societal, and urban challenges have marked the advent of the Covid-19 virus. Inequalities have become more salient as poor people and minorities are more affected by the virus. Social distancing makes the typical forms of protest impossible to carry out. Under social distancing, some state-led policies took advantage of social media to focus on the Covid-19 pandemic to silence social and political activities, censor criticism, and control the press. However, during the pandemic era, the movements for social justice have been particularly active, focusing on defending workers’ rights, mutual aid and solidarity, monitoring policymakers, and popular education. These progressive movements combined concrete practices and experiences to confront the reactionary, capitalist, and governmental actors that sought to shape and envision the world. Through different case studies of protest movements during the pandemic in Europe, the UK, and Asia, this paper argues that at the time of rising racial, social, and economic inequalities, the social activities adapted to the circumstances determined by the social distancing and the impossibility of people gathering in physical spaces. Subsequently, the people in different countries had various individual and collective responses to the support of health workers, systemic inequalities, loss of jobs, and other societal and financial challenges imposed by the governments. It means that, rather than disappearing, the social movements have adapted to the unexpected situations during the pandemic outbreak. The pandemic broke the new digital global wave of protests in this sense.

Colonial and Post-Colonial Landscapes: Architecture, Colonialism, War-II International Congress, 2023

THE CONGRESS The infrastructure of the colonial territories obeyed the logic of economic exploita... more THE CONGRESS The infrastructure of the colonial territories obeyed the logic of economic exploitation, territorial domain and commercial dynamics among others that left deep marks in the constructed landscape. The rationales applied to the decisions behind the construction of infrastructures varied according to the historical period, the political model of colonial administration and the international conjuncture. This congress seeks to bring to the knowledge of the scientific community the dynamics of occupation and transformation of colonial territory, especially related to and resulting from the war effort, which involved not only the agency of architecture and urbanism but also of military apparatus, and its repercussions in the same territories as independent countries. Colonial infrastructures will be addressed to question, for instance, how housing production during armed conflict has conditioned future spatial models of the independent countries or what options taken by colonial administrations were abandoned or otherwise strengthened after independence. The congress is part of the ongoing research project entitled “ARCHWAR - Dominance and massviolence through Housing and Architecture during colonial wars. The Portuguese case (GuineaBissau, Angola, Mozambique): colonial documentation and post independence critical assessment” funded by ‘Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia’ (FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology), ref. PTDC/ART-DAQ/0592/2020, in which Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG) is a partner. The general goal of the congress is to debate on the repercussions of the decisions taken by the colonial states in the area of territorial infrastructures – in particular through the disciplines of architecture and urbanism – in post-independence spatial and urban models and the formation of independent countries with a colonial past.

Diffusions in Architecture: Artificial Intelligence and Image Generators, 2023

Diffusions in Architecture: Artificial Intelligence and Image Generators delves into the impact o... more Diffusions in Architecture: Artificial Intelligence and Image Generators delves into the impact of Diffusion AI algorithms and generative image models on architecture design and aesthetics. The book presents an in-depth analysis of how these new technologies are revolutionizing the field of architecture. The architects presented in the book focus on the application of specific AI techniques and tools used in generative design, such as Diffusion models, Dall-E2, Stable Diffusion, and MidJourney. It discusses how these techniques can generate synthetic images that are both realistic and imaginative, creating new possibilities for architectural design and aesthetics. This comprehensive overview of the impact of Diffusion AI algorithms and generative image models on the field of architecture shows how they are changing the way architects approach their work. With a foreword by Lev Manovich—artist, writer and one of the world's most influential digital culture theorists. Sharing the work and insights of a team of designers and theorists from a range of backgrounds, offering disciplinary depth, and covering the full impact of these tools and models on architecture, Diffusions in Architecture includes information on: Fresh perspectives on design and aesthetics, with designs, images, and commentary from 22 leading architects, theorists, and designersThe potential of prompt engineering and text-to-image models applicable to a broad interdisciplinary audienceWhether image generators, or AI in general, will be an aid for human design, or potentially displace humans from the market fundamentals of a larger debate in the architectural discourse (and practice) on the use of image generatorsCollecting the different ideas that have emerged in the field, Diffusions in Architecture provides architects, designers, concept artists, and theorists with an overview of this cornucopia of architectural imaginations produced in a common effort between humans and artificial intelligence.

Venice 2023 Architecture Biennial: Time, Space, Existence, 2023

The 2023 edition of the Venice Architecture Biennial Time Space Existence will draw attention to ... more The 2023 edition of the Venice Architecture Biennial Time Space Existence will draw attention to the emerging expressions of sustainability in their numerous forms, ranging from a focus on the environment and urban landscape to the unfolding conversations on innovation, reuse, community, and inclusion. In response to climate change, exhibited projects will investigate new technologies and construction methods that reduce energy consumption through circular design and develop innovative, organic, and recycled building materials. Participants will also address social justice by presenting living solutions envisioned for displaced communities and minorities, while others will examine the tensions between the built urban environment and the nature surrounding it, identifying opportunities for coexistence. Time Space Existence not only aims to be a display but also a living workshop where established and emerging practitioners can work together and present their own visions of the status of architecture and the built environment nowadays. By bringing together ideas from across the world, the exhibition presents itself as a platform for exchange and experimentation and strives to stimulate an engaging dialogue that is inclusive of all voices.

De Gruyter Brill Publisher, 2024

Routledge, Sep 26, 2022

Vademecum. 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places, 2020

An incomplete and open-ended book, it is also an invitation for readers to add their own “minor concepts,” to open new perspectives and write urban places anew.

Edited by Klaske Havik, Kris Pint, Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner. NAi Publishers.

Routledge, Jan 30, 2020

VADEMECUM: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places, 2020

English- Vademecum: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places offers a set of concepts that stimula... more English- Vademecum: 77 Minor Terms for Writing Urban Places offers a set of concepts that stimulate new approaches in planning, architecture, urban design, policy, and other practices of spatial development. These diverse concepts might reveal blind spots in urban discourse or bring insights from one discipline to another. The term ‘minor’ refers to the ambition to look at the local and social specificity of urban places and to challenge established discursive frameworks by giving voice to multiple actors in the debate. This publication hopes to be a field guide that inspires spatial professionals, researchers, students, and communities to exchange knowledge, to engage with urban places and to discover and develop responsible approaches to current urban challenges.

The Routledge Companion to Smart Design Thinking in Architecture & Urbanism for a Sustainable, Living Planet, 2024

ADAPTIVE REUSE: Theoretical Glossary and Design Labs, 2024

Decoding Cultural Heritage: A Critical Dissection and Taxonomy of Human Creativity through Digital Tools, 2024

Educational Research and the Question(s) of Time, 2024

In book: Climate change related urban transformation and the role of cultural heritage, 2023

Rooted Cosmopolitanism, Heritage and the Question of Belonging: Archaeological and Anthropological perspectives, Feb 4, 2024

Resilience vs Pandemics. Urban Sustainability. Springer, Singapore., 2023

Transición energética y construcción social del territorio ante el reto del cambio climático y el nuevo marco geopolítico, Nov 2023

OTHER DESTINATIONS: Translating the Mid-sized European City, 2023

ARCC 2023 CONFERENCE PROCEEDING: The Research Design Interface, Sep 23, 2023

AMPS PROCEEDINGS SERIES 32, 2023

Colonial and Post-Colonial Landscapes: Architecture, Colonialism, War-II International Congress, 2023

Diffusions in Architecture: Artificial Intelligence and Image Generators, 2023

Venice 2023 Architecture Biennial: Time, Space, Existence, 2023

Sofia Celli & Federica Deo (eds.), Architects in Exile: Stories of New Spatial Experience, Naples, Italy: Thymos Books. , 2023

Collective imagination has traditionally associated architecture with political and economic powe... more Collective imagination has traditionally associated architecture with political and economic power. As a result, when quoting Edward Said: «Modern Western culture is, in large part, the work of exiles, émigrés, refugees», the last people we typically consider are exiled architects. But is the heritage left by exiled architects truly insignificant? Can we find expressions of their spiritual quest, new life experiences, nostalgic feelings, and aesthetic shocks in their works? When does Modernism cease to be a universal language and instead becomes an existential language of the exile – and can they both coexist? The international conference Architects in Exile. Stories of New Spatial Experiences" aims to address these questions.

Proceedings of the International Conference: Repurposing Places for Social and Environmental Resilience, May 18, 2023

In recent years, the international commons movement has increasingly joined forces with the globa... more In recent years, the international commons movement has increasingly joined forces with the global movement of municipalities, putting common ideas on the political agenda in many western countries. Commons have been widely discussed in literature. Broadly understood, commons refers to the practices for collective development, ownership, management, and fair access to resources and artifacts (social, cultural, economic, political, environmental, and technological). However, the concept remains vague, complex, and unclear, especially when it comes to different contexts in which new definitions are needed to better understand the societal and cultural dimensions of urban commons. Decolonizing the notion of urban commons brings into visibility the unseen cultures, infrastructural systems, and communities showing where de-growth and separation can take place. Therefore, this analysis can provide new insights, opportunities, and the need for new theoretical, methodological, and shared approaches. There is a gap in transnational research and cultural understanding within the field of urban commons. This research opens new lines of inquiry relating to the definitions of commons in non-European countries. This may include longitudinal research on the decolonization and potential fragmenting of the commons and in particular 'commoning' mindset, more detailed empirical evidence of the cultural and communal concepts, and how these cultural diversities and new interpretations can be implemented in collaborative governance in a wider variety of non-western contexts. By challenging existing frameworks, this study facilitates the emergence of differentiated, dynamic, and non-linear forms of social and political subjectivity within various sociospatial domains.

Heritage Impact Assessment Method in the Production of Cultural Heritage. Iranian Cases, 2022

In recent years, we have been observing an increasing significance of industrial heritage in inte... more In recent years, we have been observing an increasing significance of industrial heritage in international heritage studies. Developed in response to urban development needs, industrial heritage is now considered a valuable part of the city. Such an approach has resulted in the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage in the developing countries. This is, indeed, a practical solution for sustainable development of cities and the subject matter of many academic discussions. In this respect Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) seems to be a useful tool. This paper aims to study the role of HIA in adaptive reuse practice in industrial heritage sites in Iran. For that purpose, the authors have used a combined research method including historic study, analytical-description techniques and questionnaire-based interviews (with heritage managers and planners). The results indicate that HIA guidelines play a useful role in preserving the significance of historic cultural heritage and should be observed in the adaptive reuse practice in respect of the industrial heritage sites in Iran. Based on the analysed examples of successfully converted sites, this paper advocates using HIA as a useful tool in determining the potential of a given industrial heritage site for a successful reuse.

Calabrò, F., Della Spina, L., Piñeira Mantiñán, M.J. (eds) New Metropolitan Perspectives. NMP 2022., Aug 25, 2022

The oil industry has played a major role in the economy of modern Iran and Malaysia, especially a... more The oil industry has played a major role in the economy of modern Iran and Malaysia, especially as a source of transnational exchange and as a major factor in industrial and urban development. During the previous century, the arrival of oil companies in the Persian Gulf, brought many changes to the physical built environment and accelerated the urbanization process in the port cities. Similarly, the development of the national oil industry had a huge impact on post-independence Malaysia, affecting balance sheets, the environment, and society. Oil significantly changed Malaysia’s position in the global economy and transformed a predominantly agricultural country into a major producer of petroleum and natural gas. Through implementing the analytical, historical and comparative perspectives, this paper focuses on the legacy of oil cities in the Persian Gulf and the South China Sea as the birthplaces of the oil industry in two regions, whose geopolitical importance along with oil’s historical significance has the potential for representing national unity, political memory and collective shared identity. In proposing this grounding, the paper seeks to approach the heritage of oil as a particular form of industrial heritage. This research analyses the future of energy heritage, existing Covid-related challenges, political tensions and examines the various impacts, transitions and capacities associated with the current international relations, post-pandemic urban developments, and the post-oil future to pave the way to these nascent areas of industrial heritage and oil heritage in Iran and Malaysia.

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures, Jun 18, 2022

The concept of the commons was made widely known by the research of economist Elinor Ostrom (1990... more The concept of the commons was made widely known by the research of economist Elinor Ostrom (1990), allowing the “commoners” of that community the right to sustain themselves by grazing animals and collecting wood and wild food (Bingham-Hall 2016:2). This concept denotes the public land and natural resources –such as water and air – accessible to all members of society for development and survival, around which, historically, commoners organized themselves as self-governing collectives (Brears 2021). Referring to Lessig (2001) and the Oxford English Dictionary (Simpson and Weiner 1989), the commons is any collectively owned resource held in common use or possession to which anyone has access without obtaining permission of anyone else. Urban Commons “suggests a community of commoners that actively utilize and upkeep whatever is being commoned. In the new social definition, the term has taken on through grassroots projects and scholarly rethinking (…) common access has the potential to...

A Manifesto for the Just City, 2022

For a long time, academic institutes stigmatized activism and dissociated it from academic practi... more For a long time, academic institutes stigmatized activism and dissociated it from academic practice. It was looked down upon and considered to be disruptive and western institutes continued silencing critical thinking and practice, and encouraged what they named 'critical distance'. These practices of exclusion must push us, city inhabitants, to ask: what is the point of excluding activism from academic practice? How can we bridge between theory and activism? How can we decenter city planning? If cities belong to the people, why are public authorities trying to erase the public's print in the urban realm? Who gets to speak and why? In our group as the ‘Radicals’, we discussed the gap between urban theory and practice, while encouraging the audience to reflect on how urban concepts adopt multiple definitions within different geographies and communities.

Frontiers in Sociology, 2024

This article critically examines the feminist movement in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, highlighting the... more This article critically examines the feminist movement in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, highlighting the struggles and activism of Juarense women against social injustices, particularly those exacerbated by machismo, the Narco War, and the manufacturing industry. The analysis explores the roots of machismo in Mexican culture, the impact of the maquiladora industry on women's lives, and the rise of feminist activism in response to these challenges. Emphasizing the intersection of gender violence and legal frameworks, the article incorporates feminist legal theory to argue for substantial legal reforms to combat the normalization of machismo and feminicide. It further discusses the resilience and determination of Juarense women, portraying their efforts as part of the broader global feminist movement.

Cultivate: The Feminist Journal of the Centre for Women’s Studies, 2024

In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the border city across from El Paso, TX, the intersection of "Machismo”... more In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the border city across from El Paso, TX, the intersection of "Machismo” (EntreMundos 2019), micro-machismo (EntreMundos 2019), the manufacturing industry—maquilas—and the Narco War has brought immense suffering to women. The Feminist Movement, born from gender violence intensified by the Narco War and entrenched cultural norms, is a response to these issues. Borderland women have raised their voices through protests on Women's International Day, advocating for legal reforms like nationwide abortion legalization and using social media to spotlight these tragic realities. Despite facing violence and adversity, Juarense women persist in their unwavering pursuit of societal change. This article explores the driving forces behind this uprising and the resilient efforts of Juarez women to instigate meaningful societal shifts in their region.

Architectural Intelligence, 2024

In the contemporary era of urban design, the advent of big data and digital technologies has ushe... more In the contemporary era of urban design, the advent of big data and digital technologies has ushered in innovative approaches to exploring urban spaces. This study focuses on the application of Augmented Reality (AR) and Extended Reality (XR) technologies in the metropolitan areas of Houston and Amsterdam. These technologies create immersive 'Phygital Installations' that blend physical and digital elements, effectively capturing people's perceptions and enhancing urban design proposals. By fostering human-centered planning, AR and XR technologies make urban design more interactive and accessible to the public. Houston, with its rapid industrial growth and diverse socio-economic landscape, provides a unique setting to examine the impacts of these technologies on urban form and socio-environmental dynamics. In contrast, Amsterdam, with its rich historical layers and socio-cultural diversity, offers insights into the integration of AR/XR technologies in urban planning, particularly in the realm of historical preservation and contemporary urban development. This research contributes to the emerging field of AR/XR in urban design by highlighting the transformative potential of these technologies in enhancing the understanding and engagement in urban design and spatial planning.

Urban Climate, Jul 24, 2024

Continued urbanization, along with anthropogenic global warming, has and will increase land surfa... more Continued urbanization, along with anthropogenic global warming, has and will increase land surface temperature and air temperature anomalies in urban areas when compared to their rural surroundings, leading to Urban Heat Islands (UHI). UHI poses environmental and health risks, affecting both psychological and physiological aspects of human health. Thus, using a deep learning approach that considers morphological variables, this study predicts UHI intensity in 69 European cities from 2007 to 2021 and projects UHI impacts for 2050 and 2080. The research employs Artificial Neural Networks, Deep Neural Networks, and Gated Recurrent Units, combining high-resolution 3D urban models with environmental data to analyze UHI trends. The results indicate strong associations between urban form, weather patterns, and UHI intensity, highlighting the need for customized urban planning and policy measures to reduce UHI impacts and foster sustainable urban settings. This research enhances understanding of UHI dynamics and serves as a valuable tool for urban planners and policymakers to address the challenges of climate change, urbanization, and air pollution, ultimately aiding in the improvement of health outcomes and building energy consumption. Moreover, the methodology effectively demonstrates the ability of the GRU to link its scores with UHI projections, offering crucial insights into potential health impacts.

European Planning Studies, 2024

The development of accessible and inclusive public spaces has been proposed as a means to address... more The development of accessible and inclusive public spaces has been proposed as a means to address this gender inequality and promote social inclusion. However, there is a lack of specific analysis on the interactions and integration of Kurdish migrant women in European cities. This study explores the social integration of Kurdish migrant women in European urban settings, with a focus on Vienna and Cologne. It investigates the role of urban public spaces in Kurdish women’s social interactions and integration into host communities. The study analyzes the sociodemographic characteristics of Kurdish women in both cities and examines the nature of interactions, sense of safety, meaningful social activities, and barriers in public spaces. The results show that frequenting public spaces and engaging in meaningful social activities correlate positively with social inclusion, while feelings of safety and barriers do not show significant correlations. The study highlights the importance of considering the unique context of each city and improving access to public spaces and community activities to promote social inclusion. The findings contribute to strategies for promoting social inclusion of immigrant women based on their interactions in urban public spaces.

112th ACSA Annual Meeting, 2024

The research discussed in this paper centers around the convergence of extended reality (XR) plat... more The research discussed in this paper centers around the convergence of extended reality (XR) platforms, computational design, digital fabrication, and critical urban study practices. Its aim is to cultivate interdisciplinary and multi- scalar approaches within these domains. The research endeavor represents a collaborative effort between two primary disciplines: critical urban studies, which prioritize socio-environmental justice, and integrated digital design- to-production, which emphasize the realization of volumetric or voxel-based structural systems. Moreover, the exploration encompasses augmented reality to assess its utilization in both the assembly process of the structures and the integration of phygital (physical and digital) data with the physical environment. Within the context of these research scopes, this paper introduces FabriCity-XR as an interactive phygital installation. In addition to presenting an overview of the integrated research driven and performative design to production methodologies, the project showcases the practical implementation of web-based augmented reality trails, eliminating the requirement for external applications for interaction. This approach allows users to seamlessly navigate and engage with phygital content overlaid on physical objects using their personal smart devices. The result is a captivating and immersive user experience that effectively merges the physical and digital realms.

Crop X: Yield , 2024

Brought to you by: Crop X editors: Jonathan Alexander Perez, Harmony Smith, Corinne Tendorf, Davi... more Brought to you by: Crop X editors: Jonathan Alexander Perez, Harmony Smith, Corinne Tendorf, David Turturo, and Derek Rahn Williams. Faculty Advisor: David Turturo; Crop X team included: Chaimae Alehyane, Zachary S. Casey, Suzanna Brinez, Jacob Brown, Elizabeth George, Francisco Javier Muniz Ituarte, Brodey Myers.

Credits: Huckabee College of Architecture; Graphic Designers: Studio BLDG (Blossom Liu + Danny Gray); English Editor: Luke Studebaker; Spanish Translator: Jessie Forbes; Printer: Die Keure. Cover Photo: Derek Williams.

Generously supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and the Huckabee College of Architecture, Texas Tech University.

Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, Apr 11, 2024

This article introduces the concept of Informal Feminist Placemaking, a transformative approach t... more This article introduces the concept of Informal Feminist Placemaking, a transformative approach to urban activism that challenges traditional gender norms and fosters gender equality in public spaces. By exploring the dynamics of informal feminist placemaking practices, this article sheds light on how women, particularly in restrictive socio-political environments, creatively navigate and contest gendered urban landscapes. It highlights the significance of recognizing and supporting these grassroots initiatives as integral to inclusive and equitable urban development. Informal Feminist Placemaking not only contributes to the discourse on feminist urbanism but also underscores the potential of informal practices in redefining urban spaces and promoting social change. This perspective underscores the need for recognizing and supporting informal placemaking initiatives as a vital component of inclusive and equitable urban development.

Bridging Gaps: Urban Planning for Coexistence. Publisher: Politecnico di Milano, 2024

Following Darcy's concession in 1901, Britain began oil exploration in the southwest of Iran. In ... more Following Darcy's concession in 1901, Britain began oil exploration in the southwest of Iran. In 1908, economic oil was discovered, and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was established. This company from its establishment was under the influence of the British Government, to extend that, Britain became its major shareholder in 1917 which continued until the nationalization of Iran’s oil in 1951. In the meantime, the concession and following agreements prepared an almost autonomous status for the company. Generally, Iran had never been a British colony, however; this status had evidence of colonialism and let the company build the artificial environment in Iran’s southwestern, based on its attitudes and values, as well as hierarchical structure, racial-class segregation, and closed society, which experts consider it as a type of social engineering. According to this, the building formed by the company could manifest the upstream ideas, specifically in towns that were completely shaped by it. Therefore, Masjed Soleyman and Abadan, the two main company towns of the British-owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which were quite isolated from other parts of Iran, could be suitable platforms for displaying the company’s attitudes and values. Therefore, this research by interpretive-historical methodology, based on both primary and secondary sources from desk research and archival research, investigates the manifestation of the company’s attitudes and values in its quiet a half-century (1901-1951) building in Masjed Soleyman and Abadan, in five periods. These periods were shaped based on the most important happens including periods of exploration (1901-1908), formation (1908-1917), primary development (1917-1933), secondary development (1933-1939), and leading to the nationalization of oil (1939-1951). In the first period, there is no evidence of architecture or urbanism, in the second and third periods, architecture, specifically bungalows appeared company values and in the fourth and fifth periods, urbanism especially, garden cities represented company values.

MOZAIK E-ZINE, Mar 19, 2024

In the realm of pixels and virtual spaces, the art of placemaking transcends physical confines, w... more In the realm of pixels and virtual spaces, the art of placemaking transcends physical confines, weaving a digital mosaic of voices and visions. Feminist digital placemaking emerges as a vibrant brushstroke on this canvas, painting online environments with the hues of inclusion, safety, and empowerment. The "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement in Iran, mirrored in the "Year of Hope" digital exhibition, showcases the transformative power of feminist digital placemaking in amplifying voices, knitting solidarity, and challenging oppressive narratives. The "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, sparked by the tragic demise of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, unfolds like a poignant narrative, with women scripting the chapters of resistance. This movement, a collage of courage and defiance, has found a digital stage in the "Year of Hope" exhibition, where each artwork tells a story, each pixel a testament to the unyielding spirit of Iranian women.

Frontiers in Sociology, Feb 29, 2024

Urban spaces, often emerging outside formal, recognized boundaries, underscore the pivotal role w... more Urban spaces, often emerging outside formal, recognized boundaries, underscore the pivotal role women play in shaping these environments. Despite the enduring influence of patriarchal and hierarchical structures that render these spaces overtly gendered, it is within these contexts that women’s actions become particularly transformative. Drawing from feminist urban theories of the global south, this paper investigates informal placemaking, feminist urban activism, revolutionary placemaking, online protest movements, and the networks that support women’s solidarity groups. Employing a mixed-methods approach that includes case studies, interviews with activists, and social media analysis, this research focuses on Iran, with a specific emphasis on the recent ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement. This study not only highlights how women navigate, contest, and reshape urban spaces through feminist urban activism and informal revolutionary placemaking but also anticipates the broader implications of these actions for urban planning and policy. By analyzing and comparing these case studies, we aim to uncover the commonalities, differences, challenges, and opportunities between informal/formal, state-led/bottom-up, and revolutionary feminist placemaking practices in Iran. The findings of this paper are expected to contribute valuable insights into the dynamics of feminist urbanism and suggest avenues for future research in enhancing the inclusivity and responsiveness of urban spaces to gendered needs and activism.

The Plan Journal, Dec 31, 2023

This research delves into the potential of implementing artificial intelligence in architecture. ... more This research delves into the potential of implementing artificial intelligence in architecture. It specifically provides a critical assessment of AI-enabled workflows, encompassing creative ideation, representation, materiality, and critical thinking, facilitated by prompt-based generative processes. In this context, the paper provides an examination of the concept of hybrid human–machine intelligence. In an era characterized by pervasive data bias and engineered injustices, the concept of hybrid intelligence emerges as a critical tool, enabling the transcendence of preconceived stereotypes, clichés, and linguistic prejudices. This paper not only explores the applied and generative capacities of AI-enabled workflows but also suggests fundamental approaches that can enhance the creative process and confront the embedded biases and injustices within data-driven systems.

Urban Planning, Jan 16, 2024

Today’s exponential advancement of information and communication technologies is reconfiguring pa... more Today’s exponential advancement of information and communication technologies is reconfiguring participatory urban development practices. The use of digital technology implies new forms of decentralised governance, collaborative knowledge production, and social activism. The digital transformation has the potential to overcome shortcomings in citizen participation, make participatory processes more deliberative, and enable collaborative approaches for making cities. While digital tools such as digital mapping, e-participation platforms, location-based games, and social media offer new opportunities for the various actors and may act as a catalyst for renegotiating urban space and collective goods, digitalisation can also perpetuate or even attenuate existing inequalities and exclusion. This editorial introduces the thematic issue “Citizen Participation, Digital Agency, and Urban Development” which focuses on the trajectories and (dis)continuities of citizen participation through digitalisation and elaborates this with examples from Europe and Asia on how the digital transformation impacts, challenges, or reproduces hegemonic power relations in urban development.

UOU scientific journal, Dec 18, 2023

This research critically examines the complex interplay between temporality and urban spaces amid... more This research critically examines the complex interplay between temporality and urban spaces amidst transitionary phases, with a specific focus on the metropolitan areas of Houston and Amsterdam. Recognising these cities as exemplars of urban temporal flux, the study delves into the transient nature of liminal spaces and their impact on urban dynamics and socio-political landscapes. Methodologically, this research innovates by intertwining Augmented Reality (AR) and Gamification with conventional urban studies methodologies, presenting a cutting-edge approach to examining urban temporalities. This interdisciplinary method, which integrates Design Computation, Fabrication, Urban Communities, and Spatial Justice perspectives, allows for a nuanced exploration of the transient and often elusive nature of urban spaces. Moreover, the study critically evaluates the role of Extended Reality (XR) in enhancing both theoretical and practical approaches in urban studies. By leveraging XR, the research not only provides a novel perspective on the subject matter but also redefines methodological frameworks, enabling a deeper understanding of the complexities inherent in urban transformations during transitional periods.

Img Journal, 2023

Cities have consistently served as fertile grounds for the emergence and growth of radical ideas,... more Cities have consistently served as fertile grounds for the emergence and growth of radical ideas, political transformations, and social movements, with urban landscapes nurturing visionary concepts, idealism, and revolutionary ideologies. This research delves into the captivating world of radical cities, exploring the power of image and visual narratives to communicate and comprehend urban activism within diverse contexts. By analyzing various case studies and student works, we aim to create, study, and reimagine vivid portrayals of urban activism, radical urbanism, and future socio-spatial developments. The focus lies on developing innovative visual modalities and collaborative critical pedagogical approaches that engage with the complexities of radical cities across North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and beyond. In this study, we explore the potential of image and visual narratives to decode and understand pivotal societal transitions in radical cities. By employing imaginative and critical pedagogy, we aspire to foster a more profound comprehension of urban activism and its impact on shaping the cities of the future.

Dimensions Journal of Architectural Knowledge, 2023

Architectural research forms the basis of design in seeking a solution that considers the site’s ... more Architectural research forms the basis of design in seeking a solution that considers the site’s sociopolitical and spatial-cultural factors and the built environment surrounding it. In addressing industrial heritage, industrial revolutions, energy transitions, and technological innovation uniquely shape the city. The transformation and new discourse between similar heritage and different sites allows for a combination of ideas with transnational and interdisciplinary depth, bolstering individual designs through a developed perspective on industrial architecture.This studio addresses the socio-political and spatial-cultural challenges of post-industrial cities.This article uses a critical, comparative, and analytical problem-based design research approach to examine collaborative pedagogical practices that can build a new image and identity through adaptive reuse strategies in the post-industrial urbanscape.

Urban Planning, 2024

Throughout Iran and various countries, the recent calls of the “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” (in Persian)... more Throughout Iran and various countries, the recent calls of the “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” (in Persian), “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” (in Kurdish), or “Woman, Life, Freedom” (in English) movement call for change to acknowledge the importance of women. While these feminist protests and demonstrations have been met with brutality, systematic oppression, and internet blackouts within Iran, they have captured significant social media attention and coverage outside the country, especially among the Iranian diaspora and various international organizations. This article, grounded in feminist urban theories of the Global South, analyzes the digital feminist placemaking movement in Iran. As the first counter-revolution led by women, the movement utilizes digital art, graffiti, and protest movements to embody women’s solidarity groups and sympathy rallies. Our analysis employs various digital research methods, including social media scrutiny and the study of protest illustrations. Analyzing the digital feminist placemaking in Iran will enable us to compare the commonalities, differences, challenges, and opportunities between the minorities and majorities in the world’s countries. The outcomes of this research can help international organizations such as Amnesty International and the United Nations Agency for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN Women), as well as policymakers, institutions, academics, and NGOs, to highlight the various ways in which broader public participation could be encouraged in the process of digital feminist insurgent placemaking.

Journal of Architecture & Urbanisum, 2023

Local reports from different international societies have considered the achievement of the succe... more Local reports from different international societies have considered the achievement of the successful Glocalized architecture model in line with the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Aga Khan Cultural Foundation's International Program for Islamic Architecture has also prioritized the understanding of the success drivers in architectural projects. This study aimed to detect the potentials of the common global indicators to access qualitative design assessment through analyzing the Aga Khan Award's reports. The selected methodology in the present study is a quantitative approach using the systematic content analysis and coding techniques for qualitative data obtained from the technical. The physical, non-physical, modern, and traditional factors that have contributed to the success of the works as well as their combinations were extracted and analyzed using Sensible and Abstract international, national, and local indications. There is a relative superiority for Sensible indications (A combination of modern and physical factors). The hybrid data distribution provides the ground to assess the works, and this can be used to manage the globalization challenges in the contemporary architecture of Muslim societies.

Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 2023

Local reports from different international societies have considered the achievement of the succe... more Local reports from different international societies have considered the achievement of the successful Glocalized architecture model in line with the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Aga Khan Cultural Foundation’s International Program for Islamic Architecture has also prioritized the understanding of the success drivers in architectural projects. This study aimed to detect the potentials of the common global indicators to access qualitative design assessment through analyzing the Aga Khan Award’s reports. The selected methodology in the present study is a quantitative approach using the systematic content analysis and coding techniques for qualitative data obtained from the technical. The physical, non-physical, modern, and traditional factors that have contributed to the success of the works as well as their combinations were extracted and analyzed using Sensible and Abstract international, national, and local indications. There is a relative superiority for Sensible indications (A combination of modern and physical factors). The hybrid data distribution provides the ground to assess the works, and this can be used to manage the globalization challenges in the contemporary architecture of Muslim societies.

Journal of Narrative and Language Studies, Sep 20, 2023

This volume aimed to highlight narrative identities of European cities or city neighbourhoods tha... more This volume aimed to highlight narrative identities of European cities or city neighbourhoods that have been overlooked, such as mid-sized cities. These cities are neither small towns nor metropolises, cities that are now unveiling their appeal or specificity. The present special issue thus covers a range of representations of cities. The articles investigate more systematically how different texts deal with various cities from different experiential and fictional perspectives. The issue covers the geographical scope across Europe, from east to west or vice versa, as well as a range of different works of national literature(s), but with a clear emphasis on mid-sized European cities that have until now been deemed as lesser-known, secondary, peripheral, ‘other’ cities that are in the focus of the research of the COST project Writing Urban Places. New Narratives of the European City, within which this journal issue is being published.

In-Presence/The Body and The Space: The role of corporality in the era of virtualization, 2024

The integration of AR/VR in architectural space is reshaping our interaction with the built envir... more The integration of AR/VR in architectural space is reshaping our interaction with the built environment [Milgram, Kishino 1994]. This study delves into the transformative role of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in architectural spaces, revolutionizing how we interact with the built environment. It explores the intersection of AR and VR technologies with corporeal experiences, fundamentally altering architectural design and user engagement. Utilizing Milgram and Kishino’s virtuality continuum and Heim’s virtual realism, the research examines the blend of real and virtual worlds [Heim 1998; Milgram & Kishino 1994]. Gibson’s theory of affordances in virtual environments underpins the analysis of user interactions [Gibson 1977]. the study highlights AR/VR’s potential in redefining architectural practice and calls for integrating these technologies with sustainable design principles [Achten, 2017]. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of how AR/VR technologies can be harnessed to create more adaptive, inclusive, and responsive urban environments.

The 6th Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium, 2024

College towns contain mixtures of students and locals, tied to the intitution’s urban life. Due t... more College towns contain mixtures of students and locals, tied to the intitution’s urban life. Due to students’ health, community engagement must be prioritized in these towns. However, technology is often blamed for distancing people. A paradoxical use of it, specifically immersive technology, a youth favorite, can be the solution by focusing on the technological narratives of the institute-related materials to improve community cohesion. This strategy shaped connections between students and locals and among past, present, and future. In this presentation, the impact of immersive technology will be discussed and compared in two college towns, Lancaster, UK, and Lubbock, USA.

DRS2024: Boston, 2024

This paper explores spatial justice in urban environments through immersive art and design, focus... more This paper explores spatial justice in urban environments through immersive art and design, focusing on Amsterdam and Houston. It presents a case study from theVenice Biennale 2023, showcasing art's potential in fostering inclusive urban spaces.The study delves into the socio-political complexities of urban areas, highlighting of-ten-ignored liminal spaces and their tensions and possibilities. Immersive art emerges as a transformative medium, capable of challenging and reshaping perceptions of space, and addressing systemic socio-economic disparities. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, the research combines insights from various fields to enrich discussions on spatial justice and inspire urban transformations. By examining liminal spaces and the 'phygital' nexus, the paper challenges conventional urban narratives and advocates for more inclusive and equitable urban strategies.

CONGRESO XVII TICCIH —CHILE (Patrimonio Industrial: Entendiendo el pasado, haciendo el futuro sostenible), Nov 2018

During the rapid process of deindustrialization in Iran, the term ‘industrial heritage’ has recen... more During the rapid process of deindustrialization in Iran, the term ‘industrial heritage’ has recently emerged as a new subject into public realm. In order to integrate the methodologies for the protection and adaptive reuse strategies, the ‘industrial heritage’ itself needs to be divided into various categories. UNESCO has begun inscribing increasing numbers of local industrial legacies such as railway, mines, factories, assembly plants, agricultural production and manufacturing production in its World Heritage List. However, in the process of their adaptive reuse the question of heritage meanings arises. Over the past century in Iran, powerful corporate and governmental actors have created a broad range of oil imaginaries that changed over time and in line with local cultures. Starting from 1920s and after the nationalization of oil industry in Iran, oil cities such as Abadan and Masjid Suleiman saw massive expansion to house labors and oil-industry specialists who had arrived from the United States, Europe, India, and the Persian Gulf states.
This research aims to clarify how the oil industry, in close collaboration with national governments, has materially shaped the oil cities through oil-specific architecture like company headquarters, gas stations, retail and infrastructure buildings. The current legacy of oil industry continues to reshape the industry, society and politics as well. This research uses a critical and analytical problem-based approach to examine the current policies that build a new image and identity through adaptive reuse strategies to promote sustainable local development in Iran’s industrial heritage.

In: Keith Jacobs and Jeff Malpas (eds) Philosophy and the City: Interdisciplinary and Transcultural Perspectives. Rowman & Littlefield International, 2019

In this chapter, we evaluate the politically generative dynamic of urban space. Notably, we put f... more In this chapter, we evaluate the politically generative dynamic of urban space. Notably, we put forward the notion of the ‘multiplier effect’ of the urban, referring to its ingrained tendency to multiply resistance to oppression and violence being exerted against subaltern groups and minorities and, in doing so, to turn this multiplied resistance into an active force of social change. We therefore look at the twofold valence of ‘resistance’: negative and affirmative. Resistance initially takes form as a defensive response to oppression and violence. When this happens, the urban becomes the living platform for a multiplying dynamic of encounter and, potentially, of inter-group solidarity, thus laying the foundations for a cooperative – rather than competitive, as in neoliberal rationality, or inimical, as in national-populist reason – way of ‘being together’. After having developed this argument against the backdrop of the women’s movement in Tehran and the urban disobedience to anti-immigration policies in Italy, our chapter concludes by reflecting on the multiplier effect of urban resistance within the current context of national revanchism.

Leiden University Blog, 2020

Port cities are internationally connected. Decisions and changes occurring in one city have a dir... more Port cities are internationally connected. Decisions and changes occurring in one city have a direct impact on port cities in other parts of the world. Studying these areas provides insight into social and spatial processes in which local communities and urban development are interconnected with global processes. The PortCityFutures project researches various themes within the port and urban areas. Asma Mehan is one of the researchers involved in this project since June 2020 and works at CADS. What exactly is PCF and why is research in port areas important? An introduction to Asma Mehan and PCF.

ID: International Dialogue, A Multidisciplinary Journal of World Affairs , 2017

The relationship of public space to democracy is dominated by two competing, yet intertwined, the... more The relationship of public space to democracy is dominated by two competing, yet intertwined, theoretical bases: political philosophy and spatial theory. But how does the architect make political space? Can architectural practice create political space through design? In this book, Teresa Hoskyns theorizes that the converging point between theoretical foundations and democratic practices is “participation” within “social production of space.” Therefore, “participation” from joint perspectives of architecture and political philosophy has been studied in two different frameworks: the theoretical and the practical. Unlike most previous works on the relationship between architecture and democracy, Hoskyn’s book transcends the spatial and political interpretation of public space. By incorporating new theoretical approaches to representative democracy, it depicts a complex dialectic and multilayered picture of—“spaces of democracy” and the “democracy of space”—in her phrasing.

I International Congress Colonial and Postcolonial Landscapes, Architecture, Cities, Infrastructures, 2019

The term ‘Third World’ was first used in 1952 by the French economist Alfred Sauvy in order to ... more The term ‘Third World’ was first used in 1952 by the French economist Alfred Sauvy in order to stress the division between the liberal ‘First’ world, the communist ‘Second’, and the rest of the nonaligned ‘Third’ world. During the 1970s and 1980s, the confrontation between the East and the West polarized the dissemination of the architecture and planning concepts. The export of ‘Modernism’ and its adaptations to the conditions of ‘Third World’ from Socialist and Capitalist countries introduced the new paradigms of reconstruction and resettlement policies that create new urban identities in these countries. Rendering the importance of the complex relationship between interrelated politics in the geopolitical matrix of world war responses to a series of problematic questions on actual architectural concepts and metapolitical strategies that frame social life in an oppressive frame. In cold war politics, urban planning was considered to be a powerful instrument, and that the export of architecture and planning functioned as a political apparatus by non government aid organizations, philanthropic foundations, corporations, and individual professionals. Through archival materials including historical documents, drawings, photographs, maps, planning transfers, and reconstruction strategies, this paper aims to show how we can reconceptualize architecture and urban planning as a political apparatus of transnational transfer during the Postwar reconstruction projects to create a new urban identity.

12th CITTA International Conference on Planning Research, Sep 20, 2019

Climate change exposes ecological and socio-economic systems to risks. The identified disparities... more Climate change exposes ecological and socio-economic systems to risks. The identified disparities in knowledge about the social climate system are at the root of the difficulties in perceiving and understanding the diversity of risks related to climate change. The still huge gap between what science and technological innovation can contribute to mitigation and what is unmanageable by humans inevitably requires a continuous process of adaptation. This work is part of the research associated with the European project (under the ERA4CS) 'Citizen Sensing - Urban climate resilience through participatory risk management systems', which proposes to develop a Participatory Climate Risk Management System, a two-way communication system where is part of a participatory risk management system, contributing to adaptive governance. These objectives will be achieved through the creation of a platform that will incorporate information gathered from four pilot studies: Norrköping (Sweden), Porto (Portugal), Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and Trondheim (Norway). Ultimately, the aim is to draw conclusions on how this application can contribute to improving citizens' literacy to cope with climate change adaptation and to raise awareness of this problem, as the involvement of citizens and stakeholders will only be improved if the perception of the risk of climate change is substantially increased. Awareness campaigns about the potential risks associated with extreme events are of great importance. Citizens tend to view climate change as a global phenomenon, ignoring and avoiding taking action until it is directly and seriously affected.

RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2018, Aug 30, 2018

Based on a small research project conducted in Kuala Lumpur (KL) in July - August 2017, the paper... more Based on a small research project conducted in Kuala Lumpur (KL) in July - August 2017, the paper discusses places and practices of young heterosexual Malaysian Muslims dating in KL. In Malaysia, the law (Khalwat law) does not allow for two unrelated people (where at least one of them is Muslim) of opposite sexes to be within ‘suspicious proximity’ of one another in public. This law significantly influences behaviours and activities in urban spaces in KL. However, apart from the legal framework, the faith of urban users seems to influence significantly the way they perceive space and how they behave in the city. The paper questions the analytical usefulness of the notion of public space (as the Western construct) in an attempt to formulate new intellectual coordinates to discuss urban space in a context of the Islamic, post-colonial, tropical, and global city. The ultimate aim of this paper is to start discussing how religious imagination and narratives could lead to formulating a new typology of urban spaces.

33rd Annual Middle East History and Theory (MEHAT) Conference, 2018

The term heterotopia (literally means other places), pointed to different places that interrupt t... more The term heterotopia (literally means other places), pointed to different places that interrupt the apparent normality of everyday places. In better words, a heterotopia juxtaposes several emplacements in a single real place that are incompatible. In this sense, the production of heterotopia is a political reaction to the dominant praxis. Urban imaginary, historical memories, and collective imaginations led the monumental architecture to achieve its political status. To activate the collective memory embedded within the urban context, some special public spaces of Tehran provide the primary place of gathering.
The memory of past political events gives inspirations to those revolutionaries seeking to create a new state. In the case of Tehran, the production of insurgent urbanism as the result of utopian urbanism achieves its political status through semantic association depends on a historical memory within the collective imagination. In this way, Azadi Square appropriated based on new ideological interpretative. During the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Enqelab Street, and Azadi Square provided the main geography of protest. Azadi Square’s ambivalent nature and the co-existence of nearly incompatible realities made of this square a ‘heterotopia’. Moreover, to connect people with the larger population and to activate the collective memory embedded within the urban context, the previous geographies of protest in Tehran provided the primary space to connect people with the larger population. This research aims to represent the idea of Protest Square as a contemporary global phenomenon, which came to stand as a hopeful process of revolutionary changes from the Middle East to Europe with its distinctive urban characters during the political revolutions and social movements.

Living Cities, Liveable Spaces: Place Making and Identity, 2017

Nowadays, cities have became the laboratory of new forms of political mobilization based on urban... more Nowadays, cities have became the laboratory of new forms of political mobilization based on urban branding policies which improves marketing of the city image in various ways by converting the visual image of the city into a brand image. In the early twenty-first century, the city of Turin as the Italian prototypical one-company town started investing heavily in urban branding strategies, in order to modify its former image of an industrial city. The core of the paper is a theoretical framework to understand the Urban Branding in Post-Fordist cities, which were developed through a review of the literature on both city branding and the industrial cities. Following a review of the extant literature on the urban image in general and city branding in particular, this research outlines distinct elements, categories and dimensions of a place brand, as well as a number of approaches in post-Fordist and postindustrial cities with example cases of each approach. This Paper aims to analyze the relationships between Post-Fordist Cities and Urban Branding through the case study of Turin, particularly deepening the role played by urban branding policies not only in promoting the city image but also in refusing some particular urban representations.

COLD WAR AT THE CROSSROADS: 194X-198X. Architecture and planning between politics and ideology, 2017

The Second World War and its associated political events of a national and global scale brought n... more The Second World War and its associated political events of a national and global scale brought new circumstances, which was considerably influenced the development processes of Tehran. During World War II, Iran hoped that Washington would keep Britain and the Soviet Union from seizing control of the country’s oil fields. In 1951 and 1952 Truman worked with Iranian Prime Minister, though unsuccessfully, to regain some of those lost oil rights for Iran. By the late 1950s and President Kennedy’s presidency, he used aid as leverage for social reform. During the early years of 1960’s, the Kennedy Administration was urging its allies in the third world to carry out necessary reforms in order to prevent popular discontent and enhance dominant ideology of ‘modernism’.
In 1968, a major piece of legislation, the Urban Development and Renewal Act, enabled the municipality to implement Tehran’s Comprehensive Plan (TCP 1968), which integrated all the elements of a 1960s’ American city such as the separation of functions, highways, suburbs, shopping centers and housing area. The export of these American cities principles can only be understood from the background of the Cold War period, in which the east and west were both competing for cultural colonization of Middle Eastern strategically important cities like Tehran. During this period, the new developments supported by the oil boom of 1970s, were built in different forms to constitute an expanding metropolis. In 1974, the second “International Congress of Architecture” with the theme of “Toward a Quality of Life” held at Persepolis and brought together all leading world architects and planners to review Iran’s progress in its professional response to the challenges posed by increasing oil revenues. This research aims to represent the export of planning as a political means of cultural colonization of Third World during the cold war period.

Graduate Student Research Forum, Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB), 2015

Common space and public open spaces are studied and investigated from various aspects in western ... more Common space and public open spaces are studied and investigated from various aspects in western contexts. What is the most considered in this study is the relationship between public open space and democratic functions in eastern context and especially in Middle Eastern countries. The notion of public is connected to the notion of people in the framework of the nation-state political organization. What was happened in Cairo in 2011, just as in Kiev in 2014, and Turkey 2013 was the prolonged and mass occupation of public space by citizens. Indeed, physical space for the expression of democratic rights and claims is important in modern democracy. Tehran is studied as the example of a contemporary metropolis that embodies spatial-political tensions within its urban form. Tehran’s urban form remains deeply rooted in the historical ideologies of space in shaping a contemporary space of sovereignty. By reading the city through transformation of public spaces, the relationship between its architecture and political power will be exposed as an example in which the architecture of the city is charged with enabling an ideological interaction through action and reaction, revolution and resistance. This study focuses on Tehran during two major intervals 1921-1950(politics towards modernity)/1951-1979(Architecture for revolution) and the roots and results of these critical periods and their integration to political theology in contemporary middle-east metropolis.

Doctoral Thesis, Department of Architecture and Design (DAD), Politecnico di Torino, Italy, 2017

Is there a connection between power struggles and urban context? How the urban space used for the... more Is there a connection between power struggles and urban context? How the urban space used for the symbolic manifestation of power and social control? How urban space becomes the site of conflict and resistance? How urban nodes like squares became political apparatus in social demonstrations and revolutions? How do specific squares become symbols of revolutions? This thesis investigated these questions by viewing the city as a place formed by politics, which built upon the central concept of Meydan (Public Square), as the "political order in the ideogram of the city". Focusing on public squares, it traces their sociopolitical transformations as well as their role in instigating social transformations through examples that span from the pre-modern times to the present. As the embodiment of the square in the image of the city, the historical, social and theological concept of Meydan- a term, which has mostly applied, for Iranian public squares has been studied. The Empty Locus of Power rereads squares as peculiar urban forms and representations of political ideas; when the squares of the city has become the stage for the process of politicizing, de-politicizing or neutralizing space. This thesis tries to analyze the square beyond an architectural element in the city, but weaves this blank slate, with its contemporary socio political atmosphere as a new paradigm. This interpretation, suggested the idea of Meydan as the core of the projects on the city, which historically exposed in formalization of theological ideologies. Regarding this issue, urban space of traditional Iranian cities introduced as the medium through which theological ideologies and political sovereignty took place. In pursuing such analyses, this research engages with issues ranging from details of political histories of the case studies in public squares to the master plan of the city of Tehran. During the recent century, various political events and social demonstrations have been staged in Tehran as Middle Eastern Capital, which emphasize the further discussions for analyzing the relationship between socio-political dimensions of city and its urban projects that ultimately led to occupy the city and reclaim the public spaces in Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979. In this sense, analyzing the major political events in modern Tehran as a city loaded with politics will lead to trace the processes of its spatial transformation. In this regard, the thesis examines the relationship between affordances of public spaces, their histories, and the emergence of social events and movements. Building on this theoretical framework, this thesis stresses on the transformative dynamism of autocratic modernization, which motivate or shape a creative tension in the form of the city. The emergence of representative pseudo political public space for demonstration of power and national identity during the First Pahlavi Era (1925-41), reoccupation of public spaces by social movements and political parties during the nationalization of Iranian oil movement till 1953 Iranian coup d'état will be the second part and socio- political arrangement of capital as ‘Metropolis of Tomorrow' and its urban transformation during the second Pahlavi Era (1941-79) till Islamic Revolution have been examined. Analysis suggests that spatial transformations and modernization politics have led to or facilitated (directly or indirectly and, or inadvertently) political changes. Building on the foundation of knowledge established in this research, the final part of research focuses on the centrality of squares in recent social protests. Using Middle East sociologist, Asef Bayat's theory of ‘Spatialities of discontent', the final chapter explores the spatial dimension of political spaces of the city and aims to theorize the necessity of urban social movements to approach democratic space in a global context.

Springer, 2024

Call for Abstract Proposals Springer Book “After Oil: A Comparative Analysis of Oil Heritage, U... more Call for Abstract Proposals

Springer Book “After Oil: A Comparative Analysis of Oil Heritage, Urban Transformations, and Resilience Paradigms,” edited by Asma Mehan, PhD, Assistant Professor, Texas Tech University Huckabee College of Architecture, and to be published as part of the Heritage Studies book series by Springer Nature Group. This edited volume aims to explore the multifaceted impacts of the transition from oil-driven economies and landscapes to post-oil paradigms, focusing on urban transformations, resilience strategies, and the preservation and reinterpretation of oil heritage.

Themes and Topics:
- Socio-Economic Impacts of Oil Decline: Effects on communities, labor, and economies. - Environmental Justice and Sustainability: Challenges and opportunities in transitioning from oil. - Cultural and Social Narratives of Oil: Influence of art, literature, and media on oil perceptions. - Policy and Planning for Post-Oil Futures: Strategies for adapting urban spaces and infrastructure. - Global Energy Transitions and Urban Implications: Impact of energy shifts on urban development and geopolitics. - Innovation and Adaptation in Post-Oil Economies: New economic models and strategies for cities moving away from oil.

Submission Guidelines:
Abstracts should be no more than 300 words, written in English, and provide a clear overview of the proposed chapter’s objectives, methodology, and key findings. Include a brief author biography (maximum 100 words) and contact information with your submission. Abstracts should be submitted as a PDF or Word document to Dr. Asma Mehan (asma.mehan@ttu.edu) by April 30, 2024.

Important Dates: Abstract Submission Deadline: 30 April 2024 Notification of Acceptance: 15 May 2024 Full Chapter Submission Deadline: 15 July 2024

Editorial Process: Selected abstracts will be invited to submit full chapters, which will undergo a peer-review process to ensure the quality and relevance of the contributions. Detailed guidelines for full chapter submissions will be provided upon acceptance of abstracts. The editors look forward to receiving your abstracts and contributing to a comprehensive exploration of the post-oil urban landscape. For any inquiries, please contact the editor, Dr. Asma Mehan, at [asma.mehan@ttu.edu]

Link: https://lnkd.in/g2mTG64K

Networks, Markets & People (NMP 2024), 2024

CALL FOR PAPERS Consider submitting a paper to the TS_32 special session “Adaptive Reuse of Ind... more CALL FOR PAPERS

Consider submitting a paper to the TS_32 special session “Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Sites: Strategies for Climate Mitigation and Urban Sustainability” (chairs: Dr. Asma Mehan & Seyed Alireza Seyedi) at the international conference “Networks, Markets & People” (May 22–24, 2024, Reggio Calabria, Italy)

https://www.nmp.unirc.it/

The paper submission deadline has been extended to January 8th, 2024.
Accepted papers will be published in the Scopus-indexed proceedings (Springer).

https://www.nmp.unirc.it/.../uploads/2023/11/TS_32_Asma.pdf

Joint Special Issue: "Architecture" and "Trends in Higher Education" Journals, 2024

This Joint Special Issue spanning two journals, "Architecture" and "Trends In Higher Education"se... more This Joint Special Issue spanning two journals, "Architecture" and "Trends In Higher Education"seeks to delve into innovative approaches that advocate radical inclusivity and foster a collaborative atmosphere in architectural practice and education. The focus lies on interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary collaboration, with the aim of developing pedagogical strategies and methodological frameworks that encourage equal participation and facilitate collaboration in design processes. We welcome contributions that address various topics related to architectural education and collaborative efforts. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following: The concept of inclusivity in architectural education and its implications for teaching and learning practices The role of co-production in shaping design and architectural pedagogy, with a focus on collaborative, design practice and learning environments. The development and application of collaborative methodological frameworks in architectural practice and education that are aimed at enhancing interdisciplinary communication and teamwork. The integration of digital mapping and augmented reality technologies into research led architectural practice and education, and their potential to revolutionize design practices in multiple scales ranging from innovative material design to critical urban thinking. The exploration of urban community development and digital mapping in architectural education, investigating the relationship between spatial design and social responsiveness. Incorporating design computation and fabrication techniques into architectural education and practice in order emphasise the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and technological fluency for future architects. By assembling diverse perspectives and research, this Special Issue aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on inclusivity and collaborative architectural practice and education, ultimately paving the way for more effective, equitable, and innovative approaches in the field. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Architecture Special Issue: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/architecture/special_issues/88LBI2J0B0

Trends in Higher Education Special Issue: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/higheredu/special_issues/H11D7862O2

Dr. Asma Mehan Dr. Sina Mostafavi Guest Editors

Conference: II International Congress Colonial and Post-Colonial Landscapes: Architecture, Colonialism, War, 2023

We are chairing the session 3: ‘The City as the (Anti) Structure: Urban Space, Violence and Fears... more We are chairing the session 3: ‘The City as the (Anti) Structure: Urban Space, Violence and Fearscapes’ as part of the II International Congress Colonial and Post-Colonial Landscapes in Lisbon.

The call for paper is open now:
https://dinamiacetiul.wixsite.com/congress-archwar

Urban Planning, 2022

Today's exponential advancement of information and communication technologies is reconfiguring pa... more Today's exponential advancement of information and communication technologies is reconfiguring participatory urban development practices. Citizen participation, defined as an interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach, emphasises the role of people and their knowledge in creating cities' futures. The use of digital technology implies new forms of decentralized governance, collaborative production of knowledge, and social activism leading to new paradigms such as radical openness, connected intelligence, and crowdsourced deliberation. Social media, digital mapping, e-participation platforms, and location-based games are examples of such technologies.

Digital technologies are considered as a crucial building block for enhancing the potentially deliberative quality of participatory processes and for tackling historical shortcomings in such processes. As such, they carry the promise to enable a “more communicative action-oriented process of planning and city creation” (Houghton et al., 2015). However, digitalization also poses challenges and problems. In a society of access, where being connected is crucial, already existing inequalities and segregation can be perpetuated or even attenuated. Moreover, old problems related to citizen participation still occur in digital initiatives. Digital tools are not unbiased, butprogrammed and developed by human beings and their norms, values, and beliefs.In this thematic issue we are especially interested in the trajectories and (dis)continuities of citizen participation through different tools and means. The issue will focus on how they have opened upnovel approaches to mobilizing resources, addressing target groups, creating visibility and publicness, or enhancing participation through hybrid and multi-sensory approaches, and how they potentially affect, transform, contest, or reproduce hegemonic power relations.

Instructions for Authors:Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Urban Planning is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Religions, 2022

Dear Colleagues, This Special Issue of Religions aims to re-think and re-contextualise the notio... more Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Religions aims to re-think and re-contextualise the notion of sacred space, questioning both phenomenological (Eliade) and constructivist (Knott) approaches. With this in mind, this issue hopes to study, analyse and map different intellectual and religious perspectives concerning the spatiality of religious practice and the notion of the sacred space itself.

Furthermore, this Special Issue intends to provide a dialectical space to foster intellectual exchange and cross-fertilisation among architecture, the built environment, and religious studies. Our focus will shift attention to less-known and marginalized religious traditions utilizing the insights of spatial and religious studies and drawing on the extensive academic literature of religious studies, cultural geography, urban anthropology, architecture and urban sociology, as well as that of the broader humanities, including the social and political sciences.

The goal of the Special Issue is to resituate the now largely discarded historiographical concept of sacred space within the context of an apparently secular, rationalized, pluralistic, and globalized modern world and to ask “How does this concept—or does it—remain generative and how has it been reimagined, repurposed, and reinscribed with new and surprising meanings in order to fit the changing historical situation?” To achieve this, our focus is intentionally interdisciplinary, bringing together different discourses and specialists to go beyond traditional academic disciplinary aggregations. Such an approach was devised with the intent of evolving our understanding of the concept of sacred space outside of phenomenological and constructivist lenses, in hopes of germinating fresh interpretations on the type of space that is and has been referred to as “sacred” in the present and past.

The issue will supplement the already existing reorientation in religious studies that have been ongoing for the last three decades, namely, material and spatial turns, which seek to interpret religious phenomena outside the traditional categories of dogma, belief, and ritual practice, focusing instead on configurations of space and relations, how religions ideas are lived out in a concrete way and how they are instantiated materially and socially. As an interdisciplinary issue, we hope this collection of research will also contribute to building bridges between academic disciplines, will the aim of reinvigorating dialogue between religious studies and built-environment-related disciplines.

Dr. Krzysztof Nawratek
Dr. Asma Mehan
Dr. Aaron French
Guest Editors

Journal of Narrative and Language Studies (NALANS), 2022

Drawing on Paul Ricoeur's theory of identity being considered in terms of narrative identity (Tim... more Drawing on Paul Ricoeur's theory of identity being considered in terms of narrative identity (Time and Narrative, 1984–88), one can argue that a city as a built and designed environment represents an entity that over time establishes a certain narrative identity that comes alive as a protagonist of its own ever-changing fiction.

The special issue of NALANS aims to give room to explore the urban narrative identities of European cities as they have been written in contemporary literature. In this call, we would like to define the term ‘contemporary’ as fiction that has been published in the last 20 years. The issue thus wishes to explore 21st-century fiction, playwriting, and poetry that features the city as its (main) protagonist and as an element equally important as, if not even more than, its characters in the traditional sense. In doing so, we invite the submission of articles that place particular emphasis on urban narratives of cities or city neighborhoods that have often been overlooked until now, such as mid-sized European cities to explore their multiple narrative identities arising from but not limited to chronicles, generational novels, travel writing and other forms of literary texts.

Further emphasis on the articles should be placed on the discourse and the language this identity is created by. Roland Barthes (1976) argues that "[a]t the moment of speech’s utterance, language finds itself at the service of power on two levels. On one level, speech is immediately assertive and demonstrative of authority. On another level, speech seeks to be recognized by the other and finds this in the repetition of signs." Thus, we would like to receive studies that investigate further to what extent does the city itself speaks, possibly through the author of its urban narrative?

We thus encourage scholars to submit papers of 5.000 to 7.000 words that investigate the following topics that are not by any means exclusive:

how the city speaks in urban narratives and how is its narrative identity shaped (by language, discourse, geography, timeline, content, text from, etc.)
what function do memories and recollection of the past and present of a city have in shaping its narrative identity
investigations into the epistemology of urban writings
how do the urban narrative form a collective identity of the community and brings the members together?
urban places that are crucial in creating the narrative identity of a certain city (e.g. built heritage sites that speak such as hotels, cinemas, museums, historic cafes, statues, fountains, bridges, gardens, old universities, authors’/artists’ houses, etc.) in literature
descriptions of events that shape the narrative identity of a city (incorporated narratives of national and international festivals, theatres, exhibitions, art installations, and fairs, routes, performances) in literary works
novels/plays/poetry thematizing the architecture, art history, urban development, urban design, and planning

We invite submissions in form of abstracts of approx. 300 words to be submitted to wg2.wup@gmail.com no later than 15th January 2022. After an initial review of abstracts by the editors of the special issue, selected authors will be invited to contribute full-length (5.000-7.000 words) original research articles written according to APA 7th edition and adhering to standard NALANS guidelines for authors that can be found here guidelines https://www.nalans.com/index.php/nalans/about/submissions . The deadline for full articles is 15th April 2022. The issue is expected to come out by the end of 2022.

Contact Info:
Issue Editors

Sonja Novak

Mustafa Zeki Çıraklı

Asma Mehan

Sílvia Quinteiro

Submission:

Proposals (abstracts) should be sent to wg2.wup@gmail.com no later than 15th January 2022.

Contact Email:
wg2.wup@gmail.com
URL:
https://www.nalans.com/index.php/nalans/about/submissions

New Metropolitan Perspectives (NMP 2022), 2022

We will chair a thematic session (TS 16) titled "POST-PANDEMIC SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT & ADAPTIVE... more We will chair a thematic session (TS 16) titled "POST-PANDEMIC SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT & ADAPTIVE REUSE PRACTICES OF INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE" at the NMP - New Metropolitan Perspectives 2022" International Symposium" (May 25th-27th, 2022), promoted by the LaborEst, PAU Department, Università Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Italy.

The Journal of Architecture, City and Environment is a conjoined annual publication edited by the... more The Journal of Architecture, City and Environment is a conjoined annual publication edited by the Faculty of Architecture and the Research Department of the University of America Foundation in Bogotá, Colombia. Its purpose is to further the progress of science by publishing research articles, originals and unpublished; particularly those within three major fields: architecture, city and environment. The Journal of Architecture, City and Environment accepts unpublished research papers, reflective essays and review articles written in English, Portuguese, Italian, French and Spanish.

Journal keywords are:
Systemic complex vision· Resilient systems· Sustainable development goals· Cities and human settlements inclusivity· Urban metabolism· Biophilic cities· Slow & smart innovation· Ecosystem services· Ecoplanning· Landscape urbanism· Landscape ecological urbanism· Sustainable urban development· Cognitive study of design· Architectural theory and criticism· Architectural history· Lessons from the past· Heritage, identity & culture

by losquaderno_ journal, Jelena Božilović, Riccardo Pronzato, belingardi chiara, Giada Bonu Rosenkranz, Federica Castelli, Serena Olcuire, Massimiliano Raffa, Alessandra Micalizzi, Asma Mehan, and Ana Ivasiuc

lo Squaderno, 2020

lo Squaderno no. 57 – November 2020 | Fear the city a cura di / dossier coordonné par / edited b... more lo Squaderno no. 57 – November 2020 | Fear the city

a cura di / dossier coordonné par / edited by // Elisabetta Risi, Riccardo Pronzato & Cristina Mattiucci
Guest artist / artiste présenté / artista ospite // Tommaso Vaccarezza

Available funded opportunities for DOCTORAL POSITIONS IN ARCHITECTURAL HUMANITIES AND CRITICAL UR... more Available funded opportunities for DOCTORAL POSITIONS IN ARCHITECTURAL HUMANITIES AND CRITICAL URBAN STUDIES

Texas Tech University College of Architecture (TTU CoA) Texas Tech University

I am excited to invite applicants to submit their application materials focusing on the following areas:

1. Architectural Humanities
2. Critical Urbanism
3. Heritage Studies

Timeline: Review of the applications starts on 20/10/2022 and continue until filled. Priorities will be given to applicants who apply before November 15th, 2022 with high level of qualifications and interdisciplinary experiences and background in the field of architectural theory and history as well as related fields. Funding resources are available for partial to full support depending on qualifications and starting date. The preferred starting date for the post is spring semester 2023 and latest Fall 2023.

STARTING DATE: SPRING/FALL 2023, OPEN UNTIL FILLED

Interdisciplinary proposals are more than welcome. The PhD post will be part of Interdisciplinary Land Use, Planning, Management and Design.
For further enquiries, PhD applicants may contact Assistant professor Dr. Asma Mehan, College of Architecture, Texas Tech University as the main supervisor of the available post via email: asma.mehan@ttu.edu. To be eligible for funding, applicants must apply and be admitted to the LDB track of the LPMD program.

Full info can be downloaded here (2-Page PDF file)
https://lnkd.in/epsA-9kp

Direct link to apply:
Applications to the LPMD program must be submitted through this program link: https://lnkd.in/e5-8PPYQ