Ecologies of Belonging and Exclusion: An Intersectional Analysis of Urban Citizenship in Kuwait City

The project maps aspects of contemporary urban citizenship in Kuwait City from an intersectional perspective and explores how political and economic actors produce or mitigate power and inequalities that, in turn, give shape to Kuwait City. Urban citizenship is a constellation of complex processes which enable city dwellers to participate fully and equally in the life of a city. Considerable attention has been given to factors that inhibit its actualization in the form of exclusion, with emphasis on economic disadvantage and the inability to escape from it. However economic disadvantage is but one of an array of intersecting conditions. To explore how life in Kuwait City is experienced differentially and hierarchically, but also how the ensuing inequalities can be addressed, the project focuses on three key indicators of urban citizenship notably mobility, public space access and availability, and access to health and facilitation of healthy lifestyles.