GAU and the talk of “REBELLIOUS CITIES”

“REBELLIOUS CITIES” were discussed at GAU

Faculty member of the Department of “Urban Anthropology and Sociology” of Europe’s leading social sciences university Central European University Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jakob Rigi attended the 6th Friday Seminar which has been organized by Girne American University (GAU) Faculty of Architecture, Design and Fine Arts as a guest spokesman on “Architecture Facing World Problems”. Dr. Jakob Rigi’s speech which discussed the topic of “Rebellious Cities” from one of the world’s best philosophers David Harvey’s new book had been shown great attention by various science branches and university academicians.

In his speech he said:

“Since 2009, cities such as Teheran, Cairo, Madrid, Barcelona and New York, to mention just a few, have witnessed major uprisings against the established orders. David Harvey in his recent book Rebel Cities discusses the role of urban in fermenting rebellious and revolutionary social movements. This talk will explore the major pillars of Harvey`s arguments. While approving his main arguments, I will also show that a major shortcoming of Harvey`s approach is the absence of attention to the role of knowledge and knowledgeable workers in the urban struggle.”

Dr. Rigi who served as a faculty member in USA Cornell University, London University and Edinburgh University and achieved worldwide recognition for his academic studies in the field of urban anthropology, has conveyed the reformation of various phases caused by humans towards the cities from past till today via an economic, cultural, political and social perception. During the second section of his talk Dr. Rigi explained the reason why the cities are rebellious via the molding of the power semblance towards the cities in their procedures. Dr. Rigi underlined that the construction trend, economic crisis and post-rebellions are of the same routes while held emphasis on the routes of the various rebellions which had been born in the last 3 years within the framework of the relations between economic crisis and rebellions.

Jakob Rigi, Born in Baluchistan, Iran,  has a BSc from Stockholm University and a PhD from London University (SOAS). He has been associate professor at Central European University, Budapest, since 2008. He was an assistant professor at Cornell University 2002-2008. He also taught at SOAS (London University). He has held research fellowships from Edinburgh University (2000-2001), New York University (2004). He has widely published in Kazakhstan and Russia. His major publication on Kazakhstan is Post-Soviet Chaos: Violence and the Dispossession in Kazakhstan (London: Pluto Press), translated into Turkish and published by İletişim. His current research focuses on the role of knowledge and internet in the transformation of space, time, society and culture.

During the questions-answers part of Dr. Rigi’s speech, he emphasized that investing in the construction sector and architectural projects are to avoid the economic crisis which will be efficient only in the short term, thus underlined that even though the prestigious architectural projects which are realized in the European cities and mega urban reform projects do convey a temporary economic crisis measures, the example of Greece may visualize the creation of the fundamentals of the major problems.

At the conclusion of the questions-answers session, Dr. Rigi received a plaque of appreciation from the Vice-Dean of Faculty of Architecture, Design and Fine Arts Assist. Prof. Dr. Hossein Sadri.