It could be argued that at the turn of the twenty-first century economic and political attention has shifted away from the West to the East. At the heart of these turbo-fuelled visions is a renewed committment to the idea of the city. What distinguishes these kinds of cities from the vast majority of others we already live in? Most rise from a 'degree-zero' condition. Curated by Shumon Basar and Katharina Borsi of the Architectural Urbanism, Social and Political Space (AUSP) Cluster, this one-day symposium focuses on Dubai and the Far East and asks: are we in the presence of new urban conditions in the making? Are these new cities subject to and the product of particular political and economic regimes? Are they trapped in cycles of iconographic collage that reinforces the cliches of globalization? Or are they inventive and innovative in ways that elude our criteria of judgment? Pier Vittorio Aureli - City vs. Urbanization: Early notes for a theoretical struggle (50 mins) Discussion moderated by Shumon Basar and Katharina Borsi featuring participants from the afternoon session (50 mins)