Berkeley Lecture Series Presents:
A Lecture by
Dr. Ali A. Kiafar, PhD, REFP
Topic:
“Modernity and Transformations of Life in Iran:
From Culture and Arts to Cities and City Planning”
Place: UC Berkeley, 20 Barrows Hall
Date: Sunday, June 23 2019
Time: 4:00 pm
Introduction by: Nasser Rahmaninejad, a foremost celebrated Iranian artist
The Iranian society has gone through significant transformations in the last one hundred years, commonly referred to as the times of modernity. These transformations have impacted various aspects of life in the arenas of culture, social attitude, literature, cinema, theater and arts, among others. Urbanism, cities, and architecture have been an integral part of the social and cultural life in Iran, and thus have been deeply impacted by the societal changes. Understanding the infrastructural transformations in Iran is essential for grasping what has transpired in different aspects of life from thoughts and literature to arts, architecture and city planning in the country.
This lecture will provide an overview of the Iranian modernity, societal features, thoughts, tradition and identity; an overview of the history of cities and architecture; various aspects of the discourse of urban design and city planning; and development of neighborhoods and towns, politics, and public utilization of urban and architectural space, all during the times of modernity.
Ali Kiafar holds a Master’s degree in architecture from the National University of Iran and a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from the University of Southern California. He has more than four decades of experience in professional practice and university teaching in architecture, urban development/ redevelopment, educational facilities planning and design, educational master planning, and program management.
He has published tens of articles about a variety of subjects from the Iranian cinema, society, culture, and social change to architecture and city planning. He has translated an array of poems and social, cultural and economic essays from English to Persian and vice versa. Dr. Kiafar’s latest scholarly work is a four-volume book on the transformations of society, culture, identity, cities, city planning and architecture in Iran during the times of modernity. The first volume of this series, titled A Fire Temple Dreaming Fires: An Aperture to City Planning and Architecture in Iran, A Centennial of Experience, has recently been published in the United States.
Lecture in Persian