On April 7-8, 2017, scholars of history, architecture, design, film, and anthropology gathered to explore nighttime landscapes and public spaces in the Arabian Peninsula at the symposium "After Dark: Nocturnal Activities and Public Spaces in the Arabian Peninsula," organized by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Aga Khan Program at the Graduate School of Design. Michelle Y. Raji covered the symposium for the Harvard

Andreina Seijas, an incoming doctoral student at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, attended the April 7-8 symposium After Dark: Nocturnal Landscapes and Public Spaces in the Arabian Peninsula, jointly sponsored by the Aka Khan Program at the GSD and by Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. In her Ciudades Sostenibles blog, Seijas writes about the challenges of urban design in the Arabian Peninsula, regarding especially the night-time urban landscape, that participants explored, and she speculates how some of the lessons learned and in progress in the Arabian Peninsula might apply to Latin American cities facing similar challenges.

Joseph Ataman, AM candidate at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, was awarded an Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar Award at the Foundation’s 2017 Annual Scholar Awards Luncheon, held February 24 at the Yale Club in New York City. Rebecca Blumenstein, deputy managing editor of the New York Times, was the keynote speaker. Ataman was among 15 aspiring foreign

Aleksandar Sopov, PhD candidate in the joint program of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the History Department, helped save Istanbul green spaces, but has broader hopes. "I had to save them," he says. “When those public places are erased, it moves people into arenas where demagoguery can take place." Read more of his story in the Harvard Gazette.