Ali A. Alraouf Lecture at Portland University

http://www.pdx.edu/littmanandwhite/event/portland-state-mind-middle-east-studies-center-lecture-series-gulf-cities-pearls-fifa-narrative-doha?delta=0

Prof. ALi A. Alraouf

"Critical observation of Gulf cities’ development in the last decade reveals a number of architectural and urban paradigms. Through an elaborate attempt to construct a new contemporary identity within a knowledge-based approach to urban development, Doha emerges as a new architectural and urban utopia. A critical reading of this model suggests a number of architectural and urban challenges. This presentation will trace the change from resource and industrial economies to a creative and knowledge-based economy, a transformation which has been seen as inevitable change for Gulf cities in a rapidly approaching post-carbon world.

Ali A. Alraouf is an architect, urban designer, writer and educator interested in teaching and research within the domain of theory, criticism and creativity in architecture and urbanism. He has held teaching positions at Cairo University, the University of California Berkeley, Modern Sciences and Arts University and the University of Bahrain. His current research interests include contemporary architectural education, children’s architecture and urbanism, knowledge and creative cities, holistic sustainable development, public spaces and urban diversity, and contemporary Gulf cities architecture and urbanism. Alraouf is currently teaching urban design and planning theories at Qatar University".