Kuwait’s Urban Crisis: Malls, Violence, and the Right to the City

There’s an interesting lecture this coming Wednesday at AUK called Kuwait’s Urban Crisis that will be presented by Dr. Farah Al-Nakib.

Over the past couple of years Kuwait has witnessed fatal stabbings of young men in shopping malls and an escalation of similar violent crimes in so-called “public” places, prompting valid questions over the rise in youth violence in Kuwait. Rather than positing answers, this talk identifies these stabbings and the public reactions to them as symptoms of a broader social malaise and urban crisis in Kuwait, and situates them within a historical context of Kuwait’s evolving urbanism and the loss of what French urban theorist Henri Lefebvre refers to as a “right to the city.” The talk then highlights seemingly disparate and unrelated sites, practices, and movements emerging in Kuwait today that have the potential to collectively create an urban alternative and alleviate this looming crisis.

Date: Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Time: 5:00PM

Location: AUK Auditorium

Reblog: http://248am.com/mark/events/kuwaits-urban-crisis-malls-violence-and-the-right-to-the-city/