Urban Thinkers Campus Qatar Regional Roundtable: Place Management through Heritage and Culture

Join us for the "Place Management through Heritage and Culture" roundtable to explore Qatar's experience of repurposing historical sites and fostering inclusive public spaces. Co-hosted with Amaken, a flagship placemaking initiative based in Qatar, this event will delve into three key case studies: 

(1) Amaken and QM/QPS Urban Field Lab Souq Al Haraj,

(2) the LIWAN School, and

(3) Cricket Shelters by Marco Bruno (MOTOElastico) and Michael Perrone.

Using the case studies, the event will open dialogues about how Qatar centers historical heritage and art to create a sense of place, as well as the present challenges and future of place management in Qatar's relatively young and incredibly cosmopolitan urban context.

Sebastien guides governments, cities, businesses, and civil society in creating evidence-based policies and community-driven platforms that turn ideas into action. 

In his role at earthna, he leads the center’s overarching editorial and advocacy strategy and oversees external affairs

Sebastien is a former Executive Director at the NewCities Foundation based in Montreal Canada and Curator at WISE, Qatar Foundation’s global education initiative. He was part of the founding team of TEDx Paris and, during his time in the French capital, was a senior lecturer at Sciences Po Paris and at La Sorbonne University.

Isabella Rossen is a sociologist specializing in urban development and heritage activation. She completed a MA in Contemporary Social Thought at the London School of Economics in London and Political Science and a Research Masters in Urban Studies at the University of Amsterdam, for which she conducted research in both Amsterdam and Hong Kong.  

She has written multiple articles on the interaction between architecture, urban development and societal issues for online magazines Urban Transcripts, Failed Architecture and The Proto City. She worked for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Hong Kong and Rotterdam from 2014 to 2020. Currently she is Heritage Programs Researcher at Qatar Museums, and co-founder of placemaking initiative Amaken. She is organizing an urban field lab bringing together artists, students and policymakers to research the market Souq al Haraj in Doha. 

Michael Perrone studied art and art education at The School of The Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts and received an MFA in Painting from The University of Pennsylvania in 2004. Perrone has taught at The University of Iowa and is currently a professor of painting at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Art in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar). He has mounted two solo exhibitions with Michael Steinberg Fine Art in Chelsea, New York City, and has participated in numerous group exhibitions internationally. Recently, Perrone has completed two public art projects in Qatar; one at Doha Festival City and one at Lusail Crescent Park. In 2017, Perrone,
with his wife – artist Mariah Dekkenga – founded an artist residency and gallery, v_e_s_t_i_b_u_l_e, in Randolph, Vermont, USA.

Marco Bruno is an architect, raised and educated in Torino (Italy), specialized in Los Angeles (California), practicing in Seoul (South Korea) and teaching in Doha (Qatar). Since 2006 Marco Bruno, together with design partner Simone Carena, runs MOTOElastico, a multidisciplinary space-lab based in Seoul and Doha, working on architecture, interior and public art projects.

MOTOElastico received several design awards and was invited to present its projects in prestigious international exhibitions among which: Anyang Public Art Project, Seoul Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Collection, Italian Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale, Korean Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale (Golden Lion), Marrakech Art Biennale, Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism and the Bi-City Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism of
Shenzen.