Comparative Urbanisms in the Middle East & North Africa

This seminar examines cities of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) through the lens of comparative urbanism. It moves from classical “Islamic city” debates and colonial planning to informality, neoliberal redevelopment, everyday politics and policing, urbicide, labour migration, urban refugees, climate and ecological stress, and infrastructural breakdown. The course explores how power, space, and everyday life intersect across diverse urban contexts, from Casablanca, Cairo, and Beirut to Dubai, Amman, Sana’a, and Tehran. Students read across anthropology, geography, history, and political science to interrogate how colonial legacies, authoritarian governance, war, displacement, migration regimes, and environmental crisis shape urban form and urban citizenship. The seminar emphasizes generating theory from place, using MENA cities for rethinking concepts such as modernity, informality, sovereignty, everyday resistance, infrastructure, and urban marginality.