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Centre for Urban Conflicts Research

 

Biography

Nadi Abusaada is a PhD Candidate in Architecture, and a Cambridge Trust Scholar, at the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research (UCR) in the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge. He is also the Co-founder of Arab Urbanism.

Nadi's doctoral research examines the history of urban transformation in modern Palestine through the advent of new notions and practices of civic governance and urban planning in the late 19th and early 20th century. His work focuses on the role of Palestinian actors in shaping these processes in their cities while working within, and against, the confines of the late Ottoman and British imperial regimes.

Nadi holds an M.Phil. (Distinction) in Architecture and Urban Studies from the University of Cambridge, and an Honours B.A. (High Distinction) with a double major in Architecture and Urban Studies and a minor in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from the University of Toronto.

Awards

  • 2020-2021: Joint Doctoral Research Fellowship, the Palestinian Museum and the Palestinian American Research Centre (PARC)
  • 2017-2021: Yuval-Gulbenkian International PhD Scholarship, Churchill College, University of Cambridge
  • 2019: Ibrahim Dakkak Annual Award for Outstanding Research on Jerusalem, Institute for Palestine Studies
  • 2019: Cambridge School of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Conference Fund
  • 2019: Faculty Fieldwork Fund, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge
  • 2016, 2018, 2019: Kettle’s Yard Fund, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge
  • 2016-2017: Palestine Postgraduate Scholarship, Churchill College
  • 2016-2017: Santander Postgraduate Scholarship, Cambridge Trust

Publications

Key publications: 

Edited Journals

Abusaada, N. and Asali, W., eds, Scroope: The Cambridge Architectural Journal, Department of Architecture: University of Cambridge, 29 (2020). Available at: <https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/316127>

Journal Articles

Abusaada, Nadi. "Consolidating the Rule of Experts: A Model Village for Refugees in the Jordan Valley, 1945‐55." International Journal of Islamic Architecture 10, no. 2 (2021): 361-385. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijia_00048_1.

Abusaada, N. "Combined Action: Aerial Imagery and the Urban Landscape in Interwar Palestine, 1918–40." Palestine From Above [Special issue]. Jerusalem Quarterly, no. 81 (2020): 20-36. <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650011>. ISSN 2521-974X.

Abusaada, N. "Self-Portrait of a Nation: The Arab Exhibition in Mandate Jerusalem, 1931-34." Jerusalem Quarterly, no. 77 (2019): 122-35. <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/235369>. ISSN 2521-974X. Winner of 2019 Ibrahim Dakkak Annual Award for Outstanding Essay on Jerusalem. 

Book Chapters

Abusaada, N. "Urban Encounters: Imaging the City in Mandate Palestine." In: K. Sanchez and S. Zananiri, eds., Imaging and Imagining Palestine: Photography, Modernity and the Biblical Lens 1918-1948. (Netherlands: Brill, 2021). https://brill.com/view/title/55370

Magazines, Reviews, and Digital Publications

Abusaada, N., 2021. Under Jerusalem. Underground [Special Issue]. Architectural Review, (1480), pp.74-77. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/under-jerusalem-israels-subterranean-expansion>.

Abusaada, N., 2021. Palestine's Garden Walls. Garden [Special Issue]. Architectural Review, (1478), pp.90-93. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/palestines-garden-walls-the-deliberate-destruction-of-palestines-terraced-gardens>.

Asali, W. and Abusaada, N., ‘Editorial: Pulling the Emergency Break’, Scroope: The Cambridge Architectural Journal, 29 (2020), pp. 10-13. Available at: <https://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/downloads/scroope-29.pdf>.

Abusaada, N., 2020. Invisible Terrains. Land [Special Issue]. Architectural Review, (1475), pp.36-38. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/city-portraits/invisible-terrains-jaffas-obscured-history>.

Abusaada, N., 2020. Jaffa: The Rise and Fall of an Agrarian City [online] Palestine Square. Available at: <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650539>

Abusaada, N., 2020. Architecture as a System of Knowledge. Letters to a Young Architect [Special Issue]. Architectural Review, (1474), pp.40. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/letters-to-a-young-architect/nadi-abusaada-letter-to-a-young-architect>

Abusaada, N., 2020. Aerial Frontiers: The Colonial Gaze Over Palestine. Flights [Special Issue]. Kings Review, (6), pp.38-41. Available at: <https://www.underthecover.pt/product/kings-review-flights/>

Abusaada, N. and Wahby, N. 2020. Editorial Letter. Arab Urbanism Magazine. [online]. Available at: <https://www.araburbanism.com/magazine/editors-welcome-1-en>

Abusaada, N., 2020. “Off the Record”: Palestine At The 1944 Arab League Preparatory Conference. [online] Palestine Square. Available at: <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650226>

Abusaada, N., 2020. The Palace Hotel in Jerusalem: History Beyond Memory. [online] Palestine Square. Available at: <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650028>

PhD Candidate in Architecture
Churchill College, University of Cambridge
Supervisor: Professor Wendy Pullan
 Nadi  Abusaada

Affiliations

Classifications: