Asia & The Middle East

Advance new knowledge of the architectures, landscapes, and urbanity of Asia and the Middle East through research, and promote cross-cultural understanding of the intertwined histories of Western and non-Western peoples.

Asia & The Middle East

Conceptions of Asia and the Middle East have shifted decisively in recent decades. The old spatial politics of national and regional boundaries and the intellectual framing of geographies and architectures of difference seem increasingly less relevant to the new political, cultural, and intellectual conditions of the 21st century. Transformed, since the 1990s, by a veritable new revolution in spatial and technological connectivity, the world of the present is also a troubled one, mired again in civil wars, and social and economic upheaval on a global scale.

In this context, long-laboured concepts such as site, place, region and cultural identity need to be reconsidered by scholars of architecture and built environment if we seek to advance understanding of the past in ways understandable and relevant to the present and future.

Our research

Researchers in this area are working on a range of projects that explore the cultural and intellectual terrains of Asia and the Middle East, including:

  • Cross-cultural thinking in architecture.
  • Transitions to modernity in Asia and the Middle East.
  • Early modernity and urbanism in the Arab world.
  • Australian-Asian/Middle Eastern exchange in art, architecture, and urbanism.
  • Intellectual and socio-urban history of Asian and Middle Eastern societies .

Learn more about our research experts