Organised by the SAFIR Institute, the international conference Identity, Modernity, and (Post)coloniality in the Architecture of the Arab Gulf Countries from the 1950s to the Present brings together Gulf and international architectural and planning historians to examine the transformations of the six GCC countries during the oil boom and the post-oil era, and to question the forms of modernity these transformations produced. Through questions of nation-building, regional identity, climatic design, welfare, and infrastructures, the conference explores how architecture in the Gulf has been shaped by changing forms of globalization and transnational exchanges between local actors and architects, engineers, and planners from across the Arab world and beyond. It seeks to reassess the narratives and specific trajectories of Gulf modernity and their place within broader histories of modern and contemporary architecture.
KEYNOTE LECTURE | October 26, 3.00-4.30 PM
“Making Worlds in Abu Dhabi”
Prof. Łukasz STANEK, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan (United States)
Introduced by Dr. Dorian BIANCO, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi
THEMATIC SESSIONS AND BOOK PRESENTATIONS | October 27
Venue: Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, Al Reem Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Dates: 26-27 October, 2026
Language: English
Full programme and registration: https://www.sorbonne.ae/events/conference-identity-modernity-and-post-coloniality