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Sarah Moser
![Sarah Moser Sarah Moser](/geography/files/geography/styles/medium_focal__220_x_220_/public/moser_pic2023_0.jpg?itok=Gr0lP-dB)
My research examines how national, religious, and ethnic identities shape cities in Southeast Asia and the Muslim world more broadly. I am fascinated by the transnational circulation of identity, architecture and urban policy and how cities across Asia are looking elsewhere in the global south rather than to 鈥榯he west鈥 for inspiration.聽 My current work investigates the global emergence of supra-national religious and ethnic identities and how they are manifested in urban form and used to serve secular nation-building purposes. In particular, I examine emerging pan-Islamic identity, the 鈥楢rabization鈥 of Muslim identity and the effect these broad trends are having on urban areas. Another strand of this work examines emerging 鈥榩an-Chinese鈥 identities currently circulating in Asia and how they are being manifested in cities.
Current projects
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Cultural politics, ideology, and nation-building in new cities
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The interplay between interpretations of Islam and the built environment (Southeast Asia, Middle East)
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model cities, utopian planning
- PhD Geography, National University of Singapore
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Urban and Global Studies, Trinity College
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Moser, Sarah and Avni, Nufar. (in press) Analyzing a private city being built from scratch through a social and environmental justice framework: A research agenda. Urban Studies.
Esposito, Ad猫le Andujar; Fauveaud, Gabriel; Gibert-Flutre, Marie; Aveline-Dubach, Natacha; Henriot, Carine; Liu, Yang; Moser, Sarah. (2023) How does the 'Belt and Road Initiative' change urbanisation patterns in Southeast Asia? . 1-14. (online early)
Avery, Emma and Moser, Sarah. (2023) Prizes for fantasy: The role of the urban awards industry in validating greenfield eco-cities. . 140 104418.
C么t茅-Roy, Laurence and Moser, Sarah. (2023) Fast urban model-making: Constructing Moroccan urban expertise through Zenata Eco-City. . 44 (9): 2016-2036.
Moser, Sarah and C么t茅-Roy, Laurence. (2022) Reflections on researching new master-planned cities underway in the Global South. . 0 (0): 1-17. (online early)
Avni, Nufar; Moser, Sarah; and Gorgy, Gabrielle. (2022) Gendering gray space: Everyday challenges, strategies, and initiatives of women community leaders in East Jerusalem. . 1-19. (online early) open access:
Moser, Sarah; C么t茅-Roy, Laurence; and Korah, Prosper Issahaku. (2022) The uncharted foreign actors, investments, and urban models in African new city building. 43 (8): 1252鈥1259.
Avery, Emma and Moser, Sarah. (2023) Urban speculation for survival: Adaptations and negotiations in Forest City, Malaysia. . 41(2): 221-239.
C么t茅-Roy, Laurence and Moser, Sarah. (2022) 'A kingdom of new cities: Morocco鈥檚 national Villes Nouvelles strategy'. 131: 27-38.
Sato, Mayumi and Moser, Sarah. (2022) '#FromFerguson2Gaza: A transnational movement of Black-Palestinian solidarity'. 21 (1): 1-19.
Moser, Sarah and Avery, Emma. (2021) 'The multi-scalar politics of urban greening in Forest City, Malaysia'. 60 (May): 1-5.
Moser, Sarah and C么t茅-Roy, Laurence. (2021) 'New cities: Power, prestige, and profit'. 15 (1): 1-15.
Rebentisch, Hannah; Thompson, Caroline; C么t茅-Roy, Laurence; Moser, Sarah. (2020) 'Unicorn planning: Lessons from the rise and fall of an American 鈥榮mart鈥 mega-development'. . 101: 1-6.
Forest, Benjamin and Moser, Sarah. (2020) 'Building nations/building states/building cities: Concrete symbols of identity'. In Sami Moisio, Natalie Koch, Andy Jonas, Juho Luukkonen, Chris Lizotte (Eds.). Changing Geographies of the State: New Spaces of Geopolitics. Edward Elgar.
Jordan, Joanna and Moser, Sarah. (2020) 'Researching migrants in informal transit camps along the Balkan Route: Reflections on volunteer activism, access, and reciprocity'. 52 (3): 566-574.
Moser, Sarah. (2020) 'New cities: Engineering social exclusions'. . 2 (2): 125-127.
Shebell, Elizabeth and Moser, Sarah. (2019) 'Planning for the Buen Vivir: Socialism, decentralization, and urbanization in rural Ecuador'. 41 (4): 473-494.
Moser, Sarah. (2019) 'Rejecting and reproducing colonial urbanism in contemporary Malaysian city design'. In H. Hazel Hahn. (Ed.). . Singapore: National University of Singapore Press. (187-214)
Chitti, Marco and Moser, Sarah. (2019) 'Emerging trends in urbanizing Palestine: Neglected city-builders beyond the occupation'. 40 (7): 1010-1017.
Moser, Sarah. (2019) 鈥業slamic cities鈥. In Orum, Anthony. (Ed.) . John Wiley & Sons. (983-992) [ISBN: 978-1-118-56845-3]
C么t茅-Roy, Laurence and Moser, Sarah. (2019) 鈥樷淒oes Africa not deserve shiny new cities?": The power of seductive rhetoric around new cities in Africa鈥. . 56(12): 2391鈥2407.
Moser, Sarah; Fauveaud, Gabriel; and Cutts, Adam. (2019) 'Montr茅al: Towards a post-industrial reinvention'. . 86: 125-135.
Moser, Sarah. (2019) 鈥樷淭wo days to shape the future鈥: A Saudi Arabian node in the transnational circulation of new cities ideas鈥, In Molotch, Harvey and Ponzini, Davide (Eds.) . New York: NYU Press. 213-232.
Blander, Akiva; Moser, Sarah; and Avni, Nufar. (2018) 'Religio-nationalism and "soft boundaries": Urban gating in West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv'. . 96: 227-235.
Moser, Sarah. (2018) 'Ethno- and Religio-Nationalism in Putrajaya, Taman Tamadun Islam, and Kota Iskandar: Malay(sian) national identity in contemporary urban mega-projects鈥, In Hagen, Joshua and Diener, Alexander (Eds.) . Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 235-252.
Moser, Sarah. (2018) 鈥楩orest City, Malaysia, and Chinese expansionism鈥. . 39 (6): 935-943.
Moser, Sarah; Hendricks, Michael; and Vives, Luna. (2017) 鈥楢cademia鈥檚 moral entanglements in the face of a racist regime鈥. . 16 (2): 1-10.
Moser, Sarah and Wilbur, Alyssa Shamsa. (2017) 鈥楥onstructing heritage through state architecture in Indonesia鈥檚 Riau Islands鈥. . 11 (July): 1-25.
Araos, Malcolm; James Ford; Lea Berrang-Ford; Robbert Biesbroek; and Sarah Moser. (2017) 鈥楥limate change adaptation planning for Global South megacities: The case of Dhaka鈥. . 19 (6): 682-696.
Moser, Sarah; Esther Clinton; and Jeremy Wallach. (2017) 鈥楲eisure activities in Southeast Asia, from pre-colonial times to the present鈥, In Spracklen, Karl et al (Eds.) . Palgrave. 107-125.
Moser, Sarah. (2016) 鈥楨ducating the nation: Shaping student-citizens in Indonesian schools鈥 . 14 (3): 247-262.
Cutts, Adam, and Moser, Sarah. (2015) 'State-community collaborative strategies to enable the right to the city in Argentina'. . 49: 243-250.
Moser, Sarah; Swain, Marian; Alkhabbaz, Mohammed H. (2015) 'King Abdullah Economic City: Engineering Saudi Arabia's post-oil future', . 45: 71-80.
Moser, Sarah. (2014) 鈥楴ew cities: Old wine in new bottles?鈥 . 5 (1): 31-35.
Moser, Sarah. (2013) 鈥楴ew cities in the Muslim world: The cultural politics of planning an 鈥業slamic鈥 city鈥. In . (Edited by Peter Hopkins, Lily Kong and Elizabeth Olson). New York: Springer. 39-55. [ISBN 978-94-007-4684-8]
Moser, Sarah. (2012) 鈥楥irculating visions of 鈥楬igh Islam鈥: The adoption of fantasy Middle Eastern architecture in constructing Malaysian national identity鈥 . 49 (13) 2783-2805.
Moser, Sarah. (2012) 鈥楪lobalization and the construction of identity in two new Southeast Asian capitals: Putrajaya and Dompak鈥 in Rethinking Global Urbanism: Comparative Insights from Secondary Cities. Chen, Xiangming and Kanna, Ahmed. (Eds.) New York / London: Routledge. 169-189.
Moser, Sarah. (2010) 鈥楥reating citizens through play: The role of leisure in Indonesian nation-building鈥 Social and Cultural Geography. 11 (1): 53-73.
Moser, Sarah. (2010) 鈥楶utrajaya: Malaysia鈥檚 new federal administrative capital鈥 . 27 (3): 285-297.
Moser, Sarah. (2008) 鈥楶ersonality: a new positionality?鈥 . 40 (3) 383-392.