City Debates (at) AUB 2017

"City Debates 2017 explores the emergence of urban-based political movements in various national contexts where “the city” and/or some of its ingredients (e.g. housing, public space, services, livelihoods) have been serving as the basis for new forms of claims. By documenting comparatively these movements through profiling the actors, strategies, tools, networks of solidarity, forms of lesson sharing, and the frames through which claims have been formulated, the Debates seek to investigate critically and comparatively these new forms of collective action. We ask: Are we indeed witnessing emancipatory political claims or, to the contrary, a reduction of the horizons of the political to the minimal necessities of everyday life? Furthermore, as professionals of the built environment, how do such movements affect our practice? How do they change the premises and assumptions of our profession? On what grounds should we engage such social movements and the spaces they create? What can we learn from their tactics and strategies? ..."

2017 . Sous les Pavés, la Plage…

Itineraries of Urban Social Movements

excerpt of http://www.aub.edu.lb/fea/citydebates/Pages/2017/index.html#

Abstracts > http://www.aub.edu.lb/fea/citydebates/Pages/2017/abstracts.html


City Debates 2017 Opening

City Debates 2017 Panel 1: The 'Urban' in Social Movements


City Debates 2017 Panel 2: Alternative Urban Ideals


City Debates 2017 Panel 3 Discontent and Mobilization in the Face of Neoliberal Policies


City Debates 2017 Panel 4 Urban Social Movements and Local Governance

City Debates 2017 Panel 5 Urban Struggles at the Margins


City Debates 2017 Ananya Roy - The Politics of Space & Scale in the Age of Trumpism


City Debates 2017 Roundtable 1: Mobilization Experiences: Emerging Strategies and Frames


City Debates 2017 Roundtable 2: Towards an Urbanisme Engagé


City Debates 2017 Closing Panel Wrapping Up the Debates

City Debates 2016 AUB

"City Debates 2016 stems from a relational and multi-scalar understanding of urban policy as an assemblage of ideas and tools that circulate and transform. We seek to examine how international aid promotes the mobility of urban policy ideas, and mobilizes a range of stakeholders, and technologies in the process. We explore these questions by investigating two sets of urban policies: regional planning, and refugee policies. How is international aid promoting state rescaling, and an approach to urban planning which is decentralized, territorial, or regional? How is humanitarian aid conceiving refugee policies, and to what extent is it able to conceive them in dialogue with the local and urban scales, rather than generically? By analyzing case studies from across the world, with a focus on the Middle East region, City Debates contributes to critical reflection, and informed practice related to regional planning, and refugee-ness. The Debates also highlight the social and political opportunities that international aid may produce, when conceived in relation to inclusive urban and local governance dynamics, and when embedded in flexible institutional configurations that prioritize livability. "

2016 . Urban Policy Mobilities and International AidLessons from Regional Planning and Refugee Policies

http://www.aub.edu.lb/fea/citydebates/Pages/2016/index.html

Abstracts > http://www.aub.edu.lb/fea/citydebates/Pages/2016/abstracts.html

http://www.aub.edu.lb/fea/citydebates/Pages/2016/videos.html


City Debates 2016: Roundtable1(Part1)Regional Planning & Intl Donors in Lebanon Giulia Guadagnoli


City Debates 2016: Roundtable 1 (Part 2)- “Regional Planning and International Donors in Lebanon”


City Debates 2016: Roundtable 2- “Refugee Policies in Lebanon”

150 of AUB

"This College is for all conditions and classes of men, without regard to color, nationality, race or religion. A man, white, black, or yellow; Christian, Jew, Muhammedan or heathen, may enter and enjoy all the advantages of this institution... and go out believing in one God, in many Gods, or in no God. But it will be impossible for any one to continue with us long without knowing what we believe to be the truth and our reasons for that belief".

(at the laying of the cornerstone of the central building in 1871)

Dr. Daniel Bliss, Founding Father

"Founded in 1866, the American University of Beirut bases its educational philosophy, standards, and practices on the American liberal arts model of higher education. A teaching-centered research university, AUB has around 800 instructional faculty and a student body of around 8,000 students. The University encourages freedom of thought and expression and seeks to graduate men and women committed to creative and critical thinking, life-long learning, personal integrity, civic responsibility, and leadership."

http://www.aub.edu.lb/main/about/Pages/index.aspx

https://150.aub.edu.lb/

The American University of Beirut launches its 150th anniversary celebrations and inaugurates its 16th President, Dr. Fadlo Khuri


"Inspirational addresses were given by distinguished speakers from the United States: Dr. Hussein Ibish of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, DC; Dr. Elias R. Melhem, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine; Dr. Waun Ki Hong, former Head of the Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas; and Dr. Ruth O’Regan, Division Head of Hematology/Oncology and Associate Director of Faculty  Development and Education at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

Keynote speaker Bermans J. Iskandar, MD, Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics and Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, Wisconsin spoke of education as the key, not just to individual success, but to the very survival of nations and civil society. “Today’s events are deep affirmations of faith, symbolizing a renewed commitment to Lebanon’s greatest resource--its people.” He advised the audience to  “…keep your focus on the goal of education as the equalizer and harmonizer…” The keynote speech was followed by a musical interlude and the official induction of President Fadlo R. Khuri by Chairman Philip S. Khoury.

With a nod to AUB’s milestone 150th anniversary, President Khuri’s inaugural address began with a description of his first 150 days in College Hall, during which he focused on “formulating an organic and inclusive vision of excellence and shared governance.”

Khuri asked the question “How will AUB continue to inspire current and future generations of smart and ambitious students?”  and committed to leading through example for the promotion of “a real and durable renaissance in the humanities in the Arab world”.

more (at) http://aub.edu.lb/news/2016/Pages/150-inauguration.aspx

"...it has brought students of all nationalities, religions, and backgrounds together in an atmosphere that fosters intellectual inquiry, mutual tolerance, and respect. A crossroads between East and West, AUB is a place where cultures meet and learn from each other.""

The Honorable George J. MitchellFormer Majority Leader, U.S. Senate

AUB > Understanding the Arab...Spring?

AUB Questioning >

Understanding the Arab...Spring? 

Uprising? 

Revolution? Awakening? Citizen revolt?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF5nIE0aMDo&feature=g-user-u&context=G23c4959UCGXQYbcTJ33a2rhjn9qmgeBPFqjzZBPFKjTdAsgXjgrc 

AUB panel .. some Reflections

AUB panel

Reflections on Citizen Revolt in the Middle East

A diverse academic panel from the American University of Beirut completed a three-day speaking tour at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York on May 17. 
The aspirations of the individuals involved in the protests across the Middle East are ones that would resonate in the United States a desire to have influence in their own society, to have personal liberty and opportunities for their future. These values also lie at the core of the liberal arts education that AUB has been providing from its home in Lebanon for almost 150 years. The speakers for this program are all experts from AUB who will consider rapidly changing issues in the Middle East through the lens of their particular specializations, including regional and international politics, the environment, the media, public health and food security. AUB has proven to be highly resilient and influential in a region of constant change and transformation.
Although located in the heart of the Middle East, staff and scholars at AUB could no more have predicted recent events than the diplomats, policymakers, intelligence officers, and other professional observers of the region. However, recent developments have given AUB an opportunity to observe, comment, and engage in unfolding events with an intimacy and immediacy, as well as with cultural and historical perspectives, that are unique. Although American both in origin and in the standards and quality of the education it provides, AUB is absolutely indigenous to the region.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ32BWCkkR4&feature=channel_video_title

Learning Outcomes in 21st Century Higher Education

Aligning Technology, Assessment and Learning Outcomes in 21st Century Higher Education