Nadi Abusaada

Nadi Abusaada (PhD) is an architect, urbanist and a historian. He is currently an Aga Khan Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Nadi completed his Ph.D. and M.Phil. degrees at the University of Cambridge and his B.A. (Hons) at the University of Toronto. Nadi is also the co-founder of Arab Urbanism, a global network dedicated to historical and contemporary urban issues in the Arab region. His writings have been featured in a number of international publications including The Architectural Review, The International Journal of Islamic Architecture, and the Jerusalem Quarterly among others.

Selected Publications

Edited Journals

Abusaada, Nadi. and Asali, Wesam., eds, Scroope: The Cambridge Architectural Journal, Department of Architecture: University of Cambridge, 29 (2020). Available at: <https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/316127>

Book Chapters

Abusaada, Nadi. "Interrupted Modernity: The 1945 Jaffa Masterplan" (Forthcoming: Khaldun Bshara, eds., Palestine Modern. Riwaq Publishers, 2022). Available at: <https://books.riwaq.org/shop/palestine-modern-the-unfulfilled-promise>.

Abusaada, Nadi. "‘The Reconstruction of Palestine’: Geographical Imaginaries after World War I." (Forthcoming: Sarah Irving, eds., The Social and Cultural History of Palestine: Essays in Honour of Salim Tamari. Edinburgh University Press, 2022). Available at: <https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-social-and-cultural-history-of-palestine.html>.

Abusaada, Nadi. "Urban Encounters: Imaging the City in Mandate Palestine." In: K. Sanchez and S. Zananiri, eds., Imaging and Imagining Palestine: Photography, Modernity and the Biblical Lens 1918-1948. (Netherlands: Brill, 2021). https://brill.com/view/title/55370.

Journal Articles

Abusaada, Nadi. "“The Pit and the Pond”: Hydraulic Projects and Municipal Rights in Modern Palestine." Journal of Palestine Studies 51, no. 4 (2022): 8-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/0377919X.2022.2135383.

Abusaada, Nadi. "Consolidating the Rule of Experts: A Model Village for Refugees in the Jordan Valley, 1945-55." International Journal of Islamic Architecture 10, no. 2 (2021): 361-385. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijia_00048_1.

Abusaada, Nadi. "Combined Action: Aerial Imagery and the Urban Landscape in Interwar Palestine, 1918-40." Palestine From Above [Special issue]. Jerusalem Quarterly, no. 81 (2020): 20-36. <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650011>. ISSN 2521-974X.

Abusaada, Nadi. "Self-Portrait of a Nation: The Arab Exhibition in Mandate Jerusalem, 1931-34." Jerusalem Quarterly, no. 77 (2019): 122-35. <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/235369>. ISSN 2521-974X. Winner of 2019 Ibrahim Dakkak Annual Award for Outstanding Essay on Jerusalem. 

Abusaada, Nadi., 2022. Jerusalem Stone: The History and Identity of Palestinian Stereotomy. Stone [Special Issue]. Architectural Review, (1490), pp.30-37. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/digital-edition/april-2022-stone>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2021. Under Jerusalem. Underground [Special Issue]. Architectural Review, (1480), pp.74-77. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/under-jerusalem-israels-subterranean-expansion>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2021. Palestine's Garden Walls. Garden [Special Issue]. Architectural Review, (1478), pp.90-93. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/palestines-garden-walls-the-deliberate-destruction-of-palestines-terraced-gardens>.

Asali, Wesam. and Abusaada, Nadi., ‘Editorial: Pulling the Emergency Break’, Scroope: The Cambridge Architectural Journal, 29 (2020), pp. 10-13. Available at: <https://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/downloads/scroope-29.pdf>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2020. Invisible Terrains. Land [Special Issue]. Architectural Review, (1475), pp.36-38. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/city-portraits/invisible-terrains-jaffas-obscured-history>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2020. Architecture as a System of Knowledge. Letters to a Young Architect [Special Issue]. Architectural Review, (1474), pp.40. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/letters-to-a-young-architect/nadi-abusaada-letter-to-a-young-architect>

Abusaada, N., 2020. Aerial Frontiers: The Colonial Gaze Over Palestine. Flights [Special Issue]. Kings Review, (6), pp.38-41. Available at: <https://www.underthecover.pt/product/kings-review-flights/>.

Abusaada, Nadi. and Wahby, Noura. 2020. Editorial Letter. Arab Urbanism Magazine. [online]. Available at: <https://www.araburbanism.com/magazine/editors-welcome-1-en>.

Public Scholarship

Abusaada, Nadi., 2022. The forgotten history of Jerusalem's Palace Hotel. Middle East Eye. Available at: <https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/jerusalem-palace-hotel-forgotten-history>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2022. Archiving Architecture: An Interview with Nadi Abusaada. Bayt al-Fann. Available at: <https://www.baytalfann.com/post/archiving-architecture-nadi-abusaada>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2022. Essential Readings on Urban Palestine. Jadaliyya and Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). Available at: <https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/44213>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2022. Two Cities Across the Bay: Haifa and Akka's Entangled Histories. [online] Palestine Square. Available at: <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1652600>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2020. Jaffa: The Rise and Fall of an Agrarian City [online] Palestine Square. Available at: <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650539>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2020. “Off the Record”: Palestine At The 1944 Arab League Preparatory Conference. [online] Palestine Square. Available at: <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650226>.

Abusaada, Nadi., 2020. The Palace Hotel in Jerusalem: History Beyond Memory. [online] Palestine Square. Available at: <https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650028>.