Most recently, Yasser Elsheshtawy was an Associate Professor of Architecture at the United Arab Emirates University, where he also ran the Urban Research Lab. Elsheshtawy’s work focuses on the city aiming to capture the urban experience of city dwellers. Specifically his scholarship deals with urbanization in developing societies, informal urbanism, urban history and environment-behavior studies, with a particular focus on Middle Eastern cities. Elsheshtawy authored more than 70 publications in leading international journals and publishing houses which includes Dubai: Behind an Urban Spectacle. Additionally he edited The Evolving Arab City and Planning Middle Eastern Cities, all of which have become main references on urbanism and architecture in the region. He has been invited to present his research at numerous international institutions such as Columbia University, Harvard Graduate School of Design, the ETH/Zurich, the Louvre Auditorium/Paris and the Canadian Center of Architecture/Montreal. Additionally his multimedia work has been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum, and will also be shown at an upcoming exhibition in New York University. A series of online initiatives form another component of Elsheshtawy’s output encompassing a blog on Dubai (dubaization.com) hailed by The Guardian as one of the leading blogs in the world; and uaemodern.com exploring the modernist urban and architectural landscape of the UAE.
