Manufacturing Heritage and the End of Tradition: Tourism and Consumerism in the Global Age

Dr. Nezar AlSayyad, Distinguished Professor Emeritus,  Architecture,  Planning and Urban History in the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley,  and a member of the Healthy and Sustainable Building Research Center (HSBRC) at Ajman University (AU),  delivered a lecture about Manufacturing Heritage and the End of Tradition: Tourism and Consumerism in the Global Age.

With all the talk of globalization and the interconnected world we live in, Dr. AlSayyad discussed the constitution of national societies and the conditions for identifying individuals and collective selves that have become very complex.

Through his lecture, Dr. Alsayyad sought to deepen the understanding and further the pursuit of knowledge about the era of globalization, where culture, architecture and urbanism are becoming increasingly placeless. He illustrated examples from around the world, related to the architecture of heritage and touristic sites and their value in the present.

According to him, any understanding of globalization must start with charting the historical and unequal conditions of traditional societies, their colonization, their emergence as nation-states, and their intense transformation in the global era. 

Dr. AlSayyad shared examples from scholars who argued that the cities of the world in this particular moment are becoming increasingly homogenized, a trend that some suggest commenced with the rise and spread of modern architecture.

Speaking at the seminar, Dr. Nezar AlSayyad said: “I am delighted to be at Ajman University and discuss my explorations of the notions in the manufacture of heritage, the consumption of culture and the end of end of tradition, all of which are important ideas that have structured the debate about vernacular practices around the start of the millennium.”