This thesis examines how and why the ethnic enclave of San Francisco’s (SF) Chinatown persisted to this day, despite continuous forces of urban shrinkage and gentrification in the past decade, that has seen other Chinatowns in the United States gradually disappear. The rich history of SF Chinatown battling a diversity of forces intruding on its survivability, has transformed and acclimatized the neighborhood to have social, political and economic mechanisms to adapt and mutate to an ever-changing ethnic urban landscape. A chronological approach has been applied to highlight major events within SF Chinatown’s history that reveal significant factors and mechanisms that amalgamate in the neighborhood’s current urban resilience. The story begins with colonial expansion that attracted many Chinese laborers to America, where increasing racial hostility forced Chinese immigrants into ethnic enclaves like SF Chinatown in 1850. The development of district Associations created a cohesive and self-sufficient community that protected itself from continued racial hostility. The 1906 earthquake and fire, built a foundation of oriental tourism that solidified Chinatowns permanence, creating a mutually beneficial relationship with the hegemonic white society. Increased urban redevelopment of the financial district during the 1960s, inspired civil rights movements that mobilized and empowered the Chinese American population to renegotiate their rights. The aforementioned historically rooted mechanisms accompanied with new community initiatives, enables SF Chinatown to continuously adapt and mutate to internal and external forces of change, which has and will continue to cement its place in the heart of the city.

The paper explores the fragile and complex relationship between modernization, nation-building and internationalism with a specific focus on Qatar. As an emerging powerhouse in the Gulf region, the young nation has proven its political legitimacy on the global stage. In this process, its urban development has played a vital instrument in conveying its foreign policies and ambitions.

This thesis investigates the features of the Rotterdam based Mevlana mosque designed by the Dutch architect Bert Toorman. It aims to clarify to what extent Ottoman and Dutch features are visible in the mosque, including the architect's signature. Extensive literature research has been undertaken to determine the origins of Ottoman architecture, which serves as the foundation for determining Ottoman features for mosques, which are subsequently discussed in the Mevlana mosque. Several Ottoman mosque features are discussed compared to the Mevlana mosque. Due to the mosque's location in the Netherlands, it is examined further to evaluate how it gained ground in Dutch society at the time. Finally, information about the Mevlana mosque's whole design process was gathered through an interview with the architect. As a result, although the mentioned factors certainly influenced the structure, the mosque is less Ottoman than the architect believes.

“Squares, boulevards, Favelas, refugee camps - have served throughout history as the setting for political protest and revolt.”(Weizman et al., 2015). These protests play a vital role in identifying what societal and political views a population uphold. Architecture is usually a representation of societal views, incidents and political ideologies (Fletcher, 2020). However, authoritarian or colonial regimes instill elements and design public spaces to sometimes stray away people from objecting against their policies. Contrarily, in instances where large scale massacres took place during these protests; the public square and the surrounding context become a place of remembrance. For Example, in the Melanesian archipelago, French colonialists publicly executed a group of indengious locals in front of their tribes men to invoke fear in the Kanak people who tried to challenge their regime the execution site is now known as the “Memorial of Uvanu” (Lambert, 2020)[2]. Comparably, in Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab, similar actions were taken by the British colony in India, where a large-scale massacre took place due to the protest against British imperialism (Pletcher, 2021).
Tahrir square formerly known as Ismailia square in Cairo, Egypt is a location where protests, massacres and overthrowing of colonial regimes took place. The square was built under the request of the Sultanate of the autonomous entity of the Ottoman Empire that ruled Egypt; Khedive Ismail Pasha. It was designed to appropriate the Parisian boulevards of France after his visit to the French capital in the mid 1800s. Although the architectural design of the area was finalized in his era; the square’s construction was finished in the 1900s. The structure of the square and the surrounding context has undergone many changes that symbolize the changing regimes and social classes in the country.

The main research will focus on examining Egypt in the 1900s as a French postcolonial nation. Consequently, it will address the extent in which Paris shaped the planning of Ismailia (Tahrir) square and its urban context, and how it changed over time. Furthermore, the thesis will address the impact of the shifting of political ideologies in Egypt that influenced these physical changes.

The thesis will inspect the varying photos of Tahrir square since it was first established till present. Furthermore, an examination of drawings found in archival architectural journals published by Sayed Karim in the 1940s is used to understand the various unrealised proposals for Tahrir. In addition and an observation of the political movements through news articles and official statements found on archival websites . Additionally, Journal articles and books explaining the culture of Egyptian society and its effect on urban space will be reflected to support the argument. Finally, an excursion has been conducted where i visited the Nile Ritz Carlton to view Tahrir from a different perspective.

My Hypothesis is that Tahrir square and its urban context greatly resembles the Parisian boulevards in terms of urban planning and architectural design as seen in the photographs found in ‘Paris Along the Nile’. However, due to its extensive history in Egypt’s many revolutions, it gradually transformed to represent Egyptian various identities in spite of its French reference.

This thesis focuses on the effects of the rapid modernisation of the UAE. And how this impacts the resident as well as local society. This modernisation is characterised by high foreign influence from largely the West, the Arab world, and the Indian subcontinent. The thesis uses post-colonial thought to analyse the intersection of cultures in the UAE, and how this conglomeration of nationalities is able to live together. Cohesive life between nationalities is largely influenced by policy, societal factors, and architecture. The young history of architecture of both housing and public spaces is analysed and used as a tool to discern conclusions on societal impact.

In addition to the secondary impact, an autoethnographic account based on memory and photograph’s is written by the author of the thesis, a former expatriate migrant born and raised in Dubai. Through the intersection between autoethnography and secondary research, principles for further development are endorsed in the conclusions of the text. The use of autoethnography aims to provide a more personal reading experience in which a connection between reader and writer is fostered.

While providing additional information on the topic of the thesis, the method of autoethnography is reviewed, imparting a parallel research to that of the primary topic of the research.