Urban Transformations in the Eastern Mediterranean

Announced by The University of Pittsburgh

This event is free and open to the general public.

CCAS and Georgetown University’s Global Cities Initiative is pleased to host the event, Urban Transformations in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In recent decades, cities across the Global South have experienced profound transformations, due to population growth and migration, urban redesign and preservation efforts, capitalist development, and civil conflict. This event will explore these transformations in three Eastern Mediterranean cities: Istanbul, Beirut, and Cairo. It features the work of two scholars, Sarah El-Kazaz (SOAS) and Dima Abi Saab (Georgetown), whose research sheds light on the charged politics and contests surrounding issues like housing, urban design, and access to social services. Scott Wayne (Georgetown) is joining as a discussant.

Sarah El-Kazaz is Associate Professor in the politics department at SOAS, University of London and author of Politics in the Crevices: Urban Design and the Making of Property Markets in Cairo and Istanbul (Duke UP, 2023). Her research interests include: critical political economy, urbanism, infrastructure and digital politics, and her new book project investigates the politics of digital infrastructures by following Cloud technologies across the Global South. Her work appears in peer-reviewed journals including: Comparative Studies in Society and History, and City and Society. She previously taught at Oberlin College, and completed a PhD at Princeton University.

Dima Abi Saab received her Ph.D. from New York University in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies with a focus in urban politics. She is currently working on her book manuscript based on research conducted for her dissertation, Geographies of War: Scalar Containment, Municipal Politics, and the Creation of Post-War Lebanon. Dima’s project engages with the politics of scale as a framework from which to examine the legislative, territorial, and infrastructural maintenance involved in the production of sectarian governmentalities.

Scott Wayne is President of Washington, DC-based SW Associates, LLC, an international development consultancy consultant focused on sustainable destination development for both public and private sector clients and organizations. With more than 25 years of experience, he specializes in applying the UN Sustainable Development Goals to multiple areas related to destination development: infrastructure, public-private partnerships, MSME tourism development, ESG impact assessments, investment, marketing, product development, and policy making. His clients have included the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, World Trade Organization, USAID, private sector, governments, and non-governmental organizations in more than 60 countries in every region. He has conducted more than 90 projects in 65 countries. His firm is also a lead sub-contractor on the USAID Integrated Management of Cultural Tourism project in Historic Cairo and the west bank of Luxor, Egypt. In addition, Scott has been an adjunct lecturer in destination planning and placemaking for Georgetown’s URP program.