Publications (selection)
- What is Critical Urbanism? Urban Research as Pedagogy 2022
- Reparations, beyond infrastructure 2021
- Architectural Demodernization as Critical Pedagogy: Pathways for Undoing Colonial Fascist Architectural Legacies in Sicily 2021
- The Life Cycle of the Libyan Coastal Highway: Italian Colonialism, Coloniality, and the Future of Reparative Justice in the Mediterranean 2021
- Urban Studies at the University of Basel 2020
- The Afterlife of Fascist Colonial Architecture: A Critical Manifesto 2019
- The Jerusalem of Things 2018
- The Colonial Mediterranean, Anonymity and Migration Control 2018
- Titanic in the Desert 2017
- Along the Lines of the Occupation. Playing at Diminished Reality in East Jerusalem 2017
Courses
- Urban Research Design Fall 2017
- Urbanism in Conflict: Current Debates Fall 2018
- Urbanism in Conflict Fall 2018
- World Governance: A Material History Fall 2018
- Urban Research Design Spring 2019
- Urbanism in Conflict: Lecture Series Fall 2019
- Advanced Interdisciplinary Work Fall 2019
- The Colonial Mediterranean Fall 2019
- Seminar: Migration Infrastructure Spring 2020
- Urban Research Design Spring 2020
- Studio: Interdisciplinary Urban Research Fall 2020
- Studio: Interdisciplinary Urban Research Fall 2021
- Material Investigations Fall 2022
- Studio: Interdisciplinary Urban Research Fall 2022
Emilio Distretti is a researcher and an educator. He studied Philosophy at the University of Bologna (Italy) and holds a PhD in Aesthetics and the Politics of Representation from the School of Art and Design at Portsmouth University (UK).
Prior to joining the University of Basel, Emilio was Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kenyon Institute (Council for British Research in the Levant) in East Jerusalem and the Director of the Urban Studies and Spatial Practices program at Al Quds Bard College for Arts and Sciences (AQB), in Abu Dis in Palestine.
Emilio's research takes on interrelated avenues on the politics of space, architectural heritage, Italian fascist colonialism, postcolonial and decolonial politics in the Mediterranean (Italy, North Africa and the Levant) and in the Horn of Africa.
Emilio has previously taught at the School of Architecture, Metropolitan University in London and at SOAS at the Department of International Studies. He collaborates with DAAR - Decolonizing Architecture Art Research.