The Diwan Initiative
Diwan is a collaborative research platform initiated and curated by Philipp Misselwitz and Can Altay which brings together leading academics, practitioners and experts from the field of architecture and urban studies in Turkey and the Middles East. Diwan aims to provoke a critical discourse on the current trends that are radically transforming cities in the region, focusing on voluntary and involuntary forms of urban exclusion and urban practices that confront, subvert and transgress a reality of growing spatial and social polarization. Through conducting new field work, collecting reflections, thoughts, ideas, and utopias, Diwan also hopes to act as a trigger and nucleus for a multitude of regional projects and collaborations—and ultimately provide a unique opportunity to generate links, networks, and collaboration in a region that is geographically united with shared histories and numerous cultural traditions, which is also dealing with very similar challenges yet remains divided and fragmented. On November 20th, 2009, the Diwan initiative, and as part of the 4th IABR event, held a conference entitled: Refuge: Architectural Propositions for Unbound Spaces – Cairo, Amman, Istanbul, Beirut.

 

Amman Newspaper: Neoliberal Urban Management
Several publications were created in the form of newspapers as part of the Diwan Initiative and were exhibited at the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, IABR 2009 and also in several Middle Eastern Cities such as Istanbul, Amman, Beirut, and Cairo. Diwan publications include:

• Istanbul: Living in Voluntary and Involuntary Exclusion

(Edited by Eda Ünlü-Yücesoy and Tansel Kork¬maz with Yasar Adanalı, Can Altay and Philipp Misselwitz)

• Beirut: Mapping Security

(Edited by Mona Fawaz, Mona Harb, Ahmad Gharbieh)

• Amman: Neoliberal Urban Management

(Edited by Rami Farouk Daher)
 

• Resilience: City as Personal PracticeCairo:

(Edited by Dina Shehyeb and Shahira Issa)

• Dubai: Mobility

(Edited by Yasser Elsheshtawy and Markus Miessen)

​

The newspaper on Amman entitled Neoliberal Urban Management concentrated, in its first part, on a discursive mapping of landscapes of neoliberalism in the City.
The second part of the newspaper presented counter trends and alternative visions to the neoliberal discourse. Each represents a different form (or forms) of “refuge” reflecting on the various transformations visible in the City of Amman today. The Amman Newspaper was edited by Rami Farouk Daher, TURATH: Architecture & Urban Design Consultants with text contributions by Myriam Ababsa, Raghda Butros, Rami Farouk Daher, Ahmad Abu Khalil, Christopher Parker & Mais Razem. Graphic design for the Amman Newspaper was provided by Studio Matthias Görlich (Matthias Görlich, Charalampos Lazos & Alexander Horn) and printing was done by Berliner Zeitungsdruck, Germany.

​

Part of the Exhibition traveled to Amman between July 18 and August 18, 2010. It was entitled “Open City: Refuge Urbanism” and was curated by Rami Daher and was held at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman. The “Open City: Refuge Urbanism” was composed of several sub-components:
Refuge Urbanism (Part of the Diwan Collaborative Research Network)
Bas Brincen: Five Cities Portfolio
International Workshop: Refuge Urbanism