This call for proposals invites contributions to the first installation of SAT Research. Authors of accepted essays will be commissioned to develop their work for publication. The publication will feature the work of invited contributors as well as authors selected through this open call process. Select commissions may be invited to present their work at a symposium to take place in December 2022 in Sharjah.

While the emergence of local and regional urban centers evolved from an economy of constraints and subsistence, the pervasiveness of contemporary practices that have largely evolved in the Global North has gradually resulted in the rupture of the socio-urban fabric and an excess disconnect with local conditions . There is an urgent need for a radical shift toward urbanism that is responsive to social needs and ecological limits as a matter of survival.

Living Continuity is an invitation to begin a collective inquiry on the challenges and potentialities of working towards a socially and ecologically just urban future beginning at the scale of the neighbourhood. Subject matter that will be explored includes but is not limited to:

1. Social and ecological issues as a result of the development of homogenised neighborhoods and accelerated land use.

2. Proximity and access to neighborhood amenities and green spaces.

3. Spatial practices that shape traditional neighbourhoods. In port cities such as Sharjah, this included responsive and adaptive typologies, urban diversity and compactness.

4. The impact of neoliberal and colonial forces on local conditions through shifting value systems and expeditious expansion.

5. Social rituals reimagined as alternatives to current dominant models.

6. Readings across time, sectors and communities to better understand the issues around and solutions to spatial distribution and access.

7. Social conduits and urban voids as tools of collective efficacy and interdependency.