https://hebaalnajada.space/home daily 1.0 2026-02-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/82efcfd6-3175-40d3-98b2-ba5c92c7cf2c/Screenshot+2024-05-17+at+11.37.40+AM.jpg https://hebaalnajada.space/company daily 0.75 2024-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/dbb8944d-91ba-4898-ad5f-6b3bd8185610/Screenshot+2024-04-17+at+4.44.59+PM.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/eede403d-866c-4066-b61b-c0d7626dbfe3/Fig.-2-10.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/e634af48-3c57-43f5-83e3-047623c8ec21/al-idrisi-mediterranean-map.jpg https://hebaalnajada.space/contact daily 0.75 2021-10-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/26463180-43b0-40c0-b4a6-cc8b51270873/Arab+Film+Series.jpg Public Scholarship I curated a public film series on Arab cities. These screenings generated broad and cross-disciplinary conversations on the Arab region, through accounts of cities and their transfiguration: the destruction of Homs, international border zones in Tangier, and the chronicles of Nazareth in the wake of the birth of the state of Israel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/33ea6283-ae10-4987-a8f3-fd1203448397/CONSTRUCTIVE+SALVAGE-Nasser+Abourahme.jpg Public Scholarship I served as co-organizer for a talk series on Race & Architecture. This series generated broad and cross-disciplinary conversations on race, architecture, labor, black geographies, refugee camps, and design activism beyond the confines of academic discussions. Click for Nasser Abourahmeh's talk "Constructive Salvage" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/6da82c32-2187-4fac-9a3c-b8dd00b0c2c8/4-1.jpeg Public Scholarship I write interviews for herskhazeen.com. Click for my interview with Yasser Elsheshtawy ob the UAE Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale. See also my interviews with: George Katodrytis, on Architectural Speculation & Education, Farouk Yaghmour on Architectural, and Abeer Seikaly & Rana Beiruti on Amman Design Week. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635556027710-L0MT6HXF0E6RVD3Z1CU9/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-10-29%2Bat%2B6.05.18%2BPM.jpg Public Scholarship During my time in the Bay Area, I gave presentations geared to middle school and community college students (as part of the ORIAS speaker’s bureau, an established UC Berkeley initiative to help educators integrate global issues into their courses). My talks focused on borders and how they map onto human experience, from the U.S. Mexican borderlands to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. https://hebaalnajada.space/publications daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635534428581-P30VUOGF85RCJLJP0AMD/1962+site+map+edited+copy.jpg Research - “This Camp is Full of Hujjaj!”: Claims over Land and Housing in a Contested Palestinian Camp in Amman (Forthcoming, 2022) Abstract Historically, Islamic sharia courts across the Ottoman empire used a document called hujja for registering property. In present-day Jordan, the hujja has been declared illegal. Yet, in Palestinian refugee camps, hand-written hujjas continue to be used for inheritance, buying and selling houses, establishing building guidelines, and demonstrating occupancy. Particularly true in camps unrecognized by UNRWA and deemed “squatter settlement” by the government. This article contributes to the emerging study of property rights in Palestinian camps by putting legal complexity and territorial claims at center stage. Using the case of a Palestinian camp built on a plot of land that remains the private property of the descendants of Ottoman Circassian refugees, this article illustrates how, on the one hand, singular property gets entangled with spatially grounded claims to housing and the overriding power of the state after the limited war of Black September. On the other hand, how Palestinians use hujjas to facilitate inhabitation. Rather than assuming legally contested camps to be part of the “illegal” growth of Middle Eastern cities, this article historicizes the material processes of land tenure and the mobilization of plural legal orders to claim space. Such a case and the legal pluralism studied put the “squatter settlement” back into Palestine studies, refugee studies, and Ottoman regimes of property. https://hebaalnajada.space/new-page daily 0.75 2021-10-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635088413274-QZ5PPMMYAJ7WYEFOZ740/05_Hussam-Danaa.jpeg Spatial Practice - Madafa Pavilion (Arini, 2016) Arini curated the food and culture pavilion for Amman Design Week 2016. The pavilion is a contemporary interpretation of the Madafa, a traditional Arab space built to host, feed, provide shelter, and entertain guests and visitors. Architectural Design: Rasem Kamal and Saja Nashashibi https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635086853860-YMSJMMRS1LJUJSCRML6E/IMG_2310.jpeg Spatial Practice - Small-Scale Urban Interventions in Jabal Al-Nathif (Arini, 2015) Following Mapping Jabal Al Nathif, Arini organized a second project focusing on small-scale urban interventions. We coupled social scenarios with novel design proposals concerned with the betterment of urban life in the camp. These were designed and manufactured in collaboration with local artisans and craftsmen. Funded by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635088807354-I3G9Y2T5TDJGKGF3W0QT/1920px-Bethany_%285%29.jpeg Spatial Practice - Baptism Site “Bethany Beyond the Jordan (Al-Maghtas)” World Heritage Nomination Report (Symbiosis Designs, 2014) I worked on the preparation of the World Heritage nomination report for the Baptism Site “Bethany Beyond Jordan.” As a member of the team of architects at Symbiosis Design Ltd, my area of focus was the architectural documentation of the physical remains associated with the historic event of the Baptism and the continuing tradition of Baptism. The site was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in September 2014. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635088584935-9L5FRF0U05I2LG9X6RDI/af87b0d7cf7ba3ccdd177c6371ca25f5.jpeg Spatial Practice - Sana’a Masterplan Development (HS Consultants, 2013-2014) I worked as a senior urban planner for the Sana’a Masterplan Development project, 2035. My areas of focus in this project were housing and heritage conservation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635088077177-X8ZGN0IJ72H1C6BPX4LF/DSC04157.jpeg Spatial Practice - Mapping Jabal Al-Nathif Architecture Documentation Workshop (Arini, 2013) In this workshop, Arini teamed up with Christoph Lueder (Kingston University) and Alexandru Malaescu (Kingston University) and architecture students from the German Jordanian University, the University of Jordan, the University of Petra, in addition to curators and anthropologists to conduct an on-the-ground architecture documentation workshop in an “informal” Palestinian camp in Jabal Al-Nathif. Funded by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635088935743-BL4LFSQOW20WKYIN6GOH/756207_PIF+AMAAR+GROUP+HQAlbumImages1013x600.jpeg Spatial Practice - Ersal Masterplan, Ramallah (Jafar Tukan Atelier, 2009-2010) I worked on developing zoning and building guidelines for the Ersal Masterplan in Ramallah. https://hebaalnajada.space/sedimentary-refuge daily 0.75 2026-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1ea58eba-f91b-4260-82c4-624ae9c46a76/Sedimentary+Amman.jpg https://hebaalnajada.space/spatial-practice daily 0.75 2024-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/4e904a76-4b02-4a7c-9f94-467426b7ba15/IMG_1696.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635535921857-PNIK6HFQR8ZNP6M1ROW5/IMG_2310.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635534751342-SB2ONWECY33KLSSZ39AD/01_Entrance-to-MADAFA.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/0af1783b-a03d-4564-9393-8f339535b012/1375140_10151958474381323_479536729_n.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/9fd33138-bcb1-4d14-b3ed-94e23f808db6/03_Details.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/26463180-43b0-40c0-b4a6-cc8b51270873/Arab+Film+Series.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/33ea6283-ae10-4987-a8f3-fd1203448397/CONSTRUCTIVE+SALVAGE-Nasser+Abourahme.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1cc9cd71-2a12-495e-bbeb-0678022c4cc8/04_MADAFA-against-Amman-Mountains.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/74531826-5c32-43bf-9e0c-41f463b2f103/CD-48.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/903a2bc5-2550-4dea-b0dc-22bf8abb4dc7/1920px-Bethany_%285%29.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635535957503-KOKOABK1T0XLVGAWU5NB/dwellings-Sanaa-Yemen.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/c202e4a5-8429-4b28-a9f0-15e0825af319/756207_PIF%2BAMAAR%2BGROUP%2BHQAlbumImages1013x600.jpg https://hebaalnajada.space/about daily 0.75 2026-02-18 https://hebaalnajada.space/writing-1 daily 0.75 2024-04-17 https://hebaalnajada.space/our-services-1 daily 0.75 2024-04-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635555082918-VBTNYVY0J9T73JT2D0RT/UN+camps+in+the+desert.jpg Caravans in the Desert (Copy) https://hebaalnajada.space/transgressions-and-ruination daily 0.75 2026-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635555082918-VBTNYVY0J9T73JT2D0RT/UN%2Bcamps%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bdesert.jpg https://hebaalnajada.space/land-camps-and-the-remains-2 daily 0.75 2024-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/400224b5-9ac7-4551-ac88-4580d11a6d53/Screen+Shot+2021-08-22+at+10.38.07+AM.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/392f49b9-1c6b-4437-bcec-a6e5c0d323fa/IMG_2310.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61388a466462db2e85ec918b/1635088077177-X8ZGN0IJ72H1C6BPX4LF/DSC04157.jpeg https://hebaalnajada.space/publications-1 daily 0.75 2026-02-18