Department of History and Archaeology

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Short Bio

Ümit Fırat Açıkgöz is an architectural and urban historian specializing in the late Ottoman and post-Ottoman Middle East and the Balkans, and the global urban history of the interwar period. His interests include urban planning, architecture, historic preservation, and representations of urban space, broadly defined, in visual and written media. Açıkgöz’s current book project explores urban transformations of Istanbul in the post-Ottoman/early republican period (1923-1949) at the intersection of local, national, and global dynamics. Drawing on research in various archives, contemporary publications, and literary pieces, his book project demonstrates the crucial role of local actors and institutions in shaping the trajectory of Istanbul’s urban modernization, from architectural projects and preservation efforts to urban planning and domestication of global theories and practices.

In addition to his book project, Açıkgöz is also interested in the architectural and urban history of the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon (1920-1946). He currently works on an article on the representation of Syria and Lebanon at the 1931 International Colonial Exposition in Paris. Açıkgöz recently co-edited a special dossier on the role of Armenians in the capitalistic urbanization of late Ottoman Istanbul. Açıkgöz recently authored three book chapters: a global history of interwar urban (1918-1939) (co-authored with Ilham Khuri-Makdisi); an analysis of the diverse notions of public squares in early republican Istanbul (1923-1949); and a commentary on the politics of entertainment and leisure in Beirut from the late Ottoman period to the present.

Açıkgöz received his B.A. in History from Boğaziçi University; his M.A. in Architectural History from Middle East Technical University; and his PhD in Art History from Rice University. In Spring 2022, he was a postdoctoral fellow in Agha Khan Program in Islamic Architecture in Harvard University. Açıkgöz is an Assistant Professor in the American University of Beirut, School of Architecture and Design.

Research Interests

Architecture, urbanism, historic preservation in the modern Middle East, specifically Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon; Global urban history of the interwar period.

Teaching Interests

History of Art and Architecture, introductory surveys
Urban history of the modern Middle East (19th and 20th centuries)
Global Urban History, Interwar Period
Politics of Cultural Heritage
Port cities of the Eastern Mediterranean

Expertise

History of late Ottoman Empire, Ottoman architecture, post-Ottoman urbanism and architecture in the Middle East and the Balkans, interwar urban history