Urban Labs in Times of Conflict and Post-Truth
Urban experts Mona Fawaz and Nausheen Anwar talk with Beth and Tom about running research labs in conflict, tackling housing, climate and migration.
In this month’s feature, Beth and Tom are joined by Professors Nausheen Anwar and Mona Fawaz, Directors of the Karachi Urban Lab and Beirut Urban Lab respectively. This feature is a live recording of an in-person event on Urban Research Labs in Times of Conflict and Post-Truth, recorded in July as part of the Sheffield Urbanism Summer Programme.
This was an ‘in conversation’ event during which Tom and Beth explored the challenges that Mona and Nausheen face running urban labs in the face of persistent conflict, misinformation and authoritarianism. The conversation ranges from the origin and motivation for establishing their research labs, to the ways in which they curate urban data as a public good for advocacy and activism, to some of the specific issues on which they work including housing crises, climate change and migration.
Guests:
Nausheen Anwar is the Founder and Director of the Karachi Urban Lab (KUL), which was set up in 2016 in a context where data production on the ‘urban’ in Pakistan remains top-down and largely technocratic. The KUL sees its role to fill a ‘gap’ in data/knowledge production from the ground up and in a critically oriented way. Nausheen is also a Professor of City & Regional Planning in the Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts (SSLA), IBA and Urban climate resilience lead and principal researcher, IIED's Human Settlements research group.
Mona Fawaz is co-founder of the Beirut Urban Lab at the American University of Beirut, a regional research center invested in working towards more inclusive, just, and viable cities. The Lab produces scholarship on urbanization by documenting and analyzing ongoing transformation processes in Lebanon and its region's natural and built environments. It works towards materializing a vision of an ecosystem of change empowered by critical inquiry and engaged research, and driven by committed urban citizens and collectives. Mona is a Professor in Urban Studies and Planning at the American University of Beirut.
Credits
- Guest: Nausheen Anwar (Founder and Director of the Karachi Urban Lab)
- Guest: Mona Fawaz (Co-founder of the Beirut Urban Lab)
- Podcast Production, Presentation & Editing: Tom Goodfellow (Professor of Urban Studies and International Development at the University of Sheffield)
- Podcast Production, Presentation & Editing: Beth Perry (Professor of Urban Epistemics at the University of Sheffield and Director of the Urban Institute)
- Post-Production Editing & Marketing: Polly Clifton (Student at the University of Sheffield)
- Training & Production Support: Jack Clayton (Creative Media Service Support Adviser at the University of Sheffield)
- Distribution, Promotion and Marketing: Vicky Simpson (Research Manager at the University of Sheffield)
- Podcast Cover: Dan Farley Designs
- Music: Horizon (Music by Tom Goodfellow, Recorded & Produced by Alan Thomson), Falling Down (Music by Tom Goodfellow, Performed by the Dice, Produced by Alan Thomson)
- Special Thanks: Supported by the Faculty of Social Science and the Creative Media Suite at the University of Sheffield
