Saba George Shiber's Kuwaitopolis and the emergence of the Arab urban-architect / Aminah H. al-Kanderi.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Al-Kanderi, Aminah H., author.

Contributor:

Trubiano, Franca, degree supervisor.

Holod, Renata, degree supervisor.

University of Pennsylvania. Department of Architecture, degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Area planning & development.

Middle Eastern history.

Architecture--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Architecture.

Local Subjects:

Area planning & development.

Middle Eastern history.

Architecture--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Architecture.

Genre:

Academic theses.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (432 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertations Abstracts International 82-07A.

Place of Publication:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] : University of Pennsylvania ; Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2020.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

This dissertation tells the story of an Arab architect and planner through the (re)development of Kuwait City from a medieval seaport town to a metropolitan city. During his relatively short practice in Kuwait, Saba George Shiber (1924-1968) conceptualized the idea of the Arab metropolis and delivered the urban and architectural scheme Kuwaitopolis (1960-168), which instigated a new urban design practice particular to the Arab region. The process of making the independent, modern, and democratic nation-state of Kuwait included the following of specific guidelines established by international organizations, foreign consultants, and renowned architects. Albeit the international process of modernization in the 1950s was fundamental to asserting the independence of the state from the British mandate in June 1961, the decade following Kuwait's independence saw the birth of a national approach that was facilitated by the growing availability of a neighboring Arab workforce. The shared vision and collaborative work of young Arab architects and international experts in modern architecture and city planning produced new models of architecture and forms of cities. Modern Kuwait City, Shiber argued, followed international standards of urban planning all the while indirectly referencing the particular urban fabric and patterns of traditional medieval Arab towns. Arab architects, planners, and engineers were therefore the principal authors of the second chapter of modernization of Kuwait between 1956 and 1968. This dissertation recontextualizes the plan of Kuwaitopolis and the redevelopment of the Central Business District (CBD) by Shiber, the Palestinian-born, American planner-architect who wrote the first chapter in the contemporary history of the making of new cities in the Arab region. My research traces the complex genealogy of the Arabic discipline of design instigated by the (re)planning of the city-state of Kuwait and its impact on the concept of the Arab metropolis. I inscribe here the emergence of a contemporary discourse on architecture from a variety of architecture and urban archives and interviews, including that of the Shiber family, pioneer practitioners, and Arabic publications in order to assess the form and structure of the Arab Gulf states today.

Notes:

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 82-07, Section: A.

Advisors: Trubiano, Franca; Holod, Renata; Committee members: William Braham.

Department: Architecture.

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2020.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9798557052658

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.

This item is not available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.

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