Books by Asma Mehan
Springer Nature, 2025
This book offers an academic analysis of the concept of heritage within the realm of oil-related ... more This book offers an academic analysis of the concept of heritage within the realm of oil-related urban development. It focuses on the term 'heritage', with a specific emphasis on 'oil heritage', exploring its varied implications for urban futures. The book provides a nuanced understanding of heritage, discussing its different interpretations and values across cultural and environmental contexts.
It examines the legacy of oil, assessing its role and impact on societies. It presents a balanced view, acknowledging both the economic benefits of oil in urban growth and the environmental and socio-economic issues it poses. This approach places oil heritage within a broader heritage context, critically evaluating its unique characteristics. The book also investigates how various cultures perceive and engage with the idea of oil heritage. It highlights the contrast between the political debates over oil in Western countries and the developmental challenges faced by emerging economies, showcasing the global variance in the concept of 'oil heritage'. Additionally, the narrative considers the changing role and meaning of oil over time, reflecting on its historical importance and the challenges it poses for the future, especially in transitioning to a post-oil era. Through its chapters, the book provides a critical examination of the interplay between oil, urban development, and heritage studies. It is designed to contribute to scholarly discourse in these areas, targeting academics, students, policymakers, and professionals interested in the intricate relationship between oil heritage and urban dynamics.
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.
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.
Book Chapters by Asma Mehan
Climate Justice Through Design: A Shift in Paradigm Within the Gulf of Mexico
In: Mehan, A. (eds) After Oil : A Comparative Analysis of Oil Heritage, Urban Transformations, and Resilience Paradigms. Springer, Cham., 2025
The planetary emergence of ecological and societal threats, ranging from wildfires to the industr... more The planetary emergence of ecological and societal threats, ranging from wildfires to the industrial byproducts powering our energy transitions, has accelerated at unprecedented rates. Amid the looming specter of worst-case climate scenarios, a pressing need exists for a transformative approach that transcends green neoliberalism to strive for genuine climate justice. This paper explores potential pathways for such transformative design interventions, focusing on the Gulf of Mexico’s marine infrastructure. The Gulf of Mexico, characterized by its vast marine network, stands as a testament to age-old patterns of extraction and racialization that underpin our current epoch. As a reminder of past exploitative practices and a possible start for a new way of thinking, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) shows how design can evolve and lead to change. While addressing immediate industrial needs, practices such as dredging carry long-term implications ranging from reshaping thriving marine ecosystems to altering coastal dynamics. This paper aims to look into how complicated these practices are and how design and architecture can lessen the destructive effects of these interventions and help with a larger climate justice strategy. It will stress the need for new, fair, and long-lasting ways to deal with the environmental and social problems in the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.
Introduction: Navigating a Post-Oil Future
In: Mehan, A. (eds) After Oil : A Comparative Analysis of Oil Heritage, Urban Transformations, and Resilience Paradigms, 2025
Oil has played a transformative role in shaping cultural, social, and artistic landscapes across ... more Oil has played a transformative role in shaping cultural, social, and artistic landscapes across the globe. Its discovery and exploitation have fueled economic growth and profoundly influenced how communities perceive and engage with their environments. This section explores the multifaceted dimensions of oil’s cultural and social heritage, focusing on its impact on art, society, and industrial landscapes. These chapters show how oil has changed people’s lives, identities, and creative expressions while creating moral, environmental, and social problems.
From Ostads to Architects: Evolution of Iranian Architectural Practices in Residential Buildings
In: Cheshmehzangi, A., Roaf, S. (eds) Persian Vernacular Architecture. Urban Sustainability., 2025
Given the increasing frequency of severe weather conditions, it is crucial to reassess our design... more Given the increasing frequency of severe weather conditions, it is crucial to reassess our design strategies to establish architectural principles that protect individuals’ emotional and physical health and general welfare. Iranian master builders, known as Ostads, have historically devised effective methods to tackle climate change challenges and improve human comfort. Vernacular architecture in Iran showcases a continuity between its components, local construction processes, climatic adaptation, and cultural integration. Iran’s architectural solutions vary in response to different climatic zones. Vernacular and indigenous Iranian architecture, with a history spanning at least two millennia, demonstrates its adaptability through seamless integration within very different surrounding environments and climates and changing societies over time. The extraordinary buildings created by the Ostads of Iran have effectively enhanced the comfort and well-being of occupants while protecting populations from often already extreme climates. Contemporary architects can utilise Iranian traditional architecture to create cost-effective, comfortable, socially embraced, and environmentally aware communities prepared to withstand the even harsher weather conditions of the future. This research compares traditional and modern architecture of Iran’s residential buildings, designed and constructed from the Qajar era to the present day. The primary emphasis is on analysing specific examples within the Köppen regional division, which is one of the best-known and most efficient approaches for climatic zoning. The Köppen climate classification scheme which uses monthly and annual threshold values of precipitation and temperature.
Placemaking in Practice Volume 2 Engagement in Placemaking: Methods, Strategies, Approaches , 2024
Participatory budgeting (PB) is a paradigm that empowers residents to directly decide how a porti... more Participatory budgeting (PB) is a paradigm that empowers residents to directly decide how a portion of the public budget is spent. Specifically, residents deliberate over spending priorities and vote over how the budget should be allocated to different public projects. As such it is a mechanism of top-down transfer of decisions on the part of budgetary expenditure to citizens. In recent years, PB has become a central topic of discussion and an important field of innovation for those involved in local development, considered one of the most successful democratic innovations of the last 25 years. Participatory budgeting contributes significantly to participatory democracy, inclusiveness processes and placemaking, but some factors limit the scale of these aspects. However, a relatively simple idea – that “ordinary citizens” should have a direct say in public budgets that impact them – has travelled the world by the most unexpected routes and landed in unlikely sites. There is no precise model for PB programmes. While there are similar tenets and institutional mechanisms, PB programmes are structured in response to each city or state’s particular political, social and economic environment. Therefore, it is necessary to consider to what extent PB strengthens the discussed processes, whether it allows reaching new, inactive groups of citizens and includes them in the decision-making process regarding shaping public spaces. The popularity of this tool carries the risk that it will be used to build the image of local government instead of significantly increasing the participation of citizens in deciding on local public spaces. The chapter aims to present and analyse participatory budgeting practices in four European and North American countries (Switzerland, Poland, North Macedonia and the United States of America) to show the role of PB in placemaking processes by the levels and forms of participation, the analysis of representativeness of PB participants (inclusiveness), placemaking impact and its level of digitisation. The proposed comparative analysis allows for assessing the importance of the tool for increasing social participation, which is participatory budgeting, for understanding its limitations and suggesting directions for its improvement to shape more inclusive, friendly and open public spaces.
Placemaking in Practice Volume 2 Engagement in Placemaking: Methods, Strategies, Approaches , 2024
Citizen participation today needs to be understood as both an empowerment practice to create urba... more Citizen participation today needs to be understood as both an empowerment practice to create urban futures as well as the perpetuation of entrepreneurial and neoliberal modes of planning. The exponential progress of technologies and the digitalisation of everyday life have led to a surge of innovation. Since hybridity has become a key factor, citizen participation now involves citizens and governments meeting online and offline in a multi-stakeholder setting to plan the city in parallel layers, often according to controversial or even contradictory logic (Horelli et al., 2015). As digital citizen participation opens up new tools and means to mobilise people and shape urban futures, this chapter analyses these new aspects through the categories of top-down/bottom-up participation as well as formal/informal practices. Using four case studies comparatively, our aim with this chapter is to find a new theoretical basis and contextualisation for digital citizen participation. The case studies are situated across Europe and North America: we study participatory budgeting in Helsinki, digitalising citizen participation in Lubbock, Texas, the National Map of Security Threats in Poland, and digital placemaking by a grassroots movement in an urban planning participation process in Zürich, Switzerland. The findings of the article show that (1) digital citizen participation fosters novel multi-actor networks negotiating governance of the urban space, (2) studies of citizen participation need to acknowledge the multi-layered hybridity and (3) new modes of governance enable novel senses of informality in participation.
Placemaking in Practice Volume 2. Engagement in Placemaking: Methods, Strategies, Approaches, 2024
Urban spaces require increasing their attractiveness by exploring the social and spatial implicat... more Urban spaces require increasing their attractiveness by exploring the social and spatial implications of new lifestyles. Broad civic knowledge is the basis for placemaking to shape user-centred and inclusive spaces of everyday life. Gathering information on the sense of the place is crucial to finding out and understanding the place-related identity of its users to make the place more appealing and usable. The most popular survey tool is a questionnaire constructed as a series of questions and used for collecting information about a population’s attributes, attitudes or actions. Administered in person or online, questionnaire surveys may provide broad coverage of urban communities – however, they require significantly large human resources to carry out. The survey based on personal contact with the respondent may limit time allocated to its implementation, thus affecting the sample selection. Also, the researcher’s involvement in the questionnaire-filling process can be problematic if he or she reveals the topic of interest and if the sequencing of questionnaire themes influences responses. Similarly, an online questionnaire may not reach some potential respondents due to their reduced access to the internet etc. These limitations may affect the results’ reliability. Taking into account the above-mentioned aspects, the idea of this chapter is to present selected types of questionnaires (textual, visual, in-VR and survey gamification). The main aim is to discuss these questionnaires in the context of their main advantages and disadvantages resulting from the specifics of a type and a form of survey (in-depth and online) to facilitate their use in the process of data collection in placemaking research. The results show that the variety of types of questionnaires, as well as the form of the conducted survey, allow their better selection to the specificity of the community, increasing the place-related identity, thus may provide a more reliable and complete set of information possible to be used in placemaking.
In book: Placemaking in Practice Volume 3. The Future of Placemaking and Digitization. Emerging Challenges and Research Agenda, 2024
Home and place are two interrelated concepts that have overlapping meanings. They are both referr... more Home and place are two interrelated concepts that have overlapping meanings. They are both referring to physical spaces that have meanings and feelings, spaces where common experiences shape and identities are formed. The concepts of home and place are intrinsically linked and are used interchangeably but the most important line that ties these two together is through the notion of belonging and attachment that bind individuals to meaningful spaces. However, there is a gap in the home and place literature about understanding these meanings through negative attributes. This chapter explores the similarities and differences of home and place through negative experiences of two groups of vulnerable people: homeless people and migrants. In this chapter we examine how a lack of physical attachments leads to a lack of belonging and how, together, they create ruptures that ironically help to understanding of the meanings of home and place by separating them from the notion of space. The chapter acknowledges that not all places are called home and not all spaces have the capacity to be made into meaningful places, but that one must focus on the theoretical distinctions underpinning the two terms. The authors suggest that focusing on two vulnerable populations (migrants and homeless people) can offer a pathway towards a theoretical understanding of these two generic concepts. By examining the negative experiences of marginalization and exclusion, in relation to the meanings of home and place, the chapter discusses how negative experiences of displacement and homelessness can offer valuable insights into further theorization of the concepts of home and place.
Reimagining Industrial Legacy: Strategic Urban Adaptation for Climate Resilience in an Era of Radical Environmental Change
In: Calabrò, F., Madureira, L., Morabito, F.C., Piñeira Mantiñán, M.J. (eds) Networks, Markets & People. NMP 2024. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, Dec 19, 2024
This paper focuses on the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage as a crucial strategy in urban pl... more This paper focuses on the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage as a crucial strategy in urban planning, particularly in the context of profound climate change-related transitions in urban environments. It differentiates between ‘urban transitions,’ characterized by gradual, adaptive changes, and ‘urban transformation,’ implying a more abrupt overhaul. The paper centers on the sustainable repurposing of industrial buildings and spaces, ensuring they retain cultural and historical significance while meeting modern urban requirements. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, it scrutinizes the role of adaptive reuse in sustainable urban development, assessing the impact of such initiatives from local neighborhoods to city-wide scales. Additionally, the paper critically discusses potential adverse effects, such as gentrification. The study encompasses a variety of global regions, including Europe, the Americas, Canada, and Australia, using case studies to demonstrate the efficacy of adaptive reuse in promoting sustainability, revitalizing urban areas, and conserving cultural heritage. Furthermore, it raises questions about the long-term viability of traditional sustainable urban development strategies in rapidly changing environmental and social landscapes, suggesting the need for a paradigm shift in urban planning methodologies.
Sustainable Transition in Iran’s Oil Towns: A Focus on Masjed Soleyman
In: Calabrò, F., Madureira, L., Morabito, F.C., Piñeira Mantiñán, M.J. (eds) Networks, Markets & People. NMP 2024. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 2024
This study explores the sustainability transition in Iran's oil towns, emphasizing Masjed Soleyma... more This study explores the sustainability transition in Iran's oil towns, emphasizing Masjed Soleyman’s evolution. Stemming from the Industrial Revolution, the search for new energy led to the early 20th century D'Arcy Concession, catalyzing oil exploration in Iran. This resulted in the pivotal discovery of oil in Masjed Soleyman in 1908, transforming an uninhabited area into a thriving town intricately linked to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC). This research critically analyzes the unsustainable nature of oil exploration, particularly highlighting APOC's colonial practices, like racial segregation between European and Iranian staff. Despite these challenges, the study identifies pathways for sustainable development, emphasizing the role of Masjed Soleyman's oil heritage. It advocates for the adaptive reuse of historical buildings for diverse community functions, thereby promoting sustainability and cultural preservation. This approach not only safeguards the town's rich historical and cultural fabric but also marks a significant stride towards sustainable urban development in oil-dependent towns.
The Petrological Imprint: A Comprehensive Study of Spindletop’s Role in the Morphogenesis of the Golden Triangle of Texas
In: Calabrò, F., Madureira, L., Morabito, F.C., Piñeira Mantiñán, M.J. (eds) Networks, Markets & People. NMP 2024. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 2024
The “Golden Triangle” of Southeast Texas presents a remarkable story of economic transformation, ... more The “Golden Triangle” of Southeast Texas presents a remarkable story of economic transformation, rooted in the Spindletop oil reserves discovered in 1901. This research aims to explore the significant impact of this discovery, which shifted the region’s economic focus from lumber and cattle to becoming a pioneering center in the petroleum era. The study examines the socio-economic and urban changes in the foundational cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange, as well as the environmental consequences of industrial growth in the area. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining archival research and oral histories to capture socio-cultural shifts, along with spatial analysis tools to quantify urban expansion post-Spindletop. Environmental impact assessments were also conducted to evaluate the ecological side-effects of industrial development. The Golden Triangle’s journey is a microcosm of global themes such as the balance between innovation and sustainability, and the tension between economic growth and ecological responsibility. This research highlights the historical reliance on fossil fuels and the pressing need for sustainable energy paths, reminding us of the cyclical nature of progress and the importance of aligning human aspirations with environmental stewardship.
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.
Immersive Art and Urban Heritage: An Interdisciplinary Study of Socio-Environmental Justice in Houston and Amsterdam
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.
Uploads
Books by Asma Mehan
It examines the legacy of oil, assessing its role and impact on societies. It presents a balanced view, acknowledging both the economic benefits of oil in urban growth and the environmental and socio-economic issues it poses. This approach places oil heritage within a broader heritage context, critically evaluating its unique characteristics. The book also investigates how various cultures perceive and engage with the idea of oil heritage. It highlights the contrast between the political debates over oil in Western countries and the developmental challenges faced by emerging economies, showcasing the global variance in the concept of 'oil heritage'. Additionally, the narrative considers the changing role and meaning of oil over time, reflecting on its historical importance and the challenges it poses for the future, especially in transitioning to a post-oil era. Through its chapters, the book provides a critical examination of the interplay between oil, urban development, and heritage studies. It is designed to contribute to scholarly discourse in these areas, targeting academics, students, policymakers, and professionals interested in the intricate relationship between oil heritage and urban dynamics.
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.
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.
Encyclopaedia Entries by Asma Mehan
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.
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.
Book Chapters by Asma Mehan
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.