It can go as deep as frameworks and theories on time within space, on the spirit of space. That’s what I did in my latest project on a cultural cluster. I dived into proper papers on the spirit of space, such as those by Mikhail Bakhtin, Hartmut Rosa, and Zygmunt Bauman. It is not as academic as it might seem - they all eventually resulted in clear slides analysing how different cities and communities experience time, with a clear understanding of which points connect with our audience.

For example, Bakhtin looks at the blend of time and space, where each complements the other and creates a specific, unique chronotope - where the chronotope of a museum would be different from the chronotope of residential territories. Even two different museums would differ in their chronotopes.

Hartmut Rosa discusses the relationship between speed and emotional resonance, breaking it down in a way that gives us insight into how to create a good balance.

Bauman’s theory, for example, captures something essential about the shifting nature of modern life - identity, he argues, has become liquid, fluid by design, and this fluidity is the new norm. This changes the fundamental approach to strategy - how we analyse human portraits and the shades of everyday life. Fluid identities, Bauman adds, comes with the requirement for certain symbolic anchors, such as specific rituals and belonging markers.

Henri Lefebvre distinguishes between linear space and cyclical space, giving specific tactics on how they function differently and how conflict between them can produce stress for people - and why. In the Gulf, we see clear and strict divisions of these rhythms, with some areas operating in hyper-linear rhythms while others evolve directly around religion or lifestyle.
Rounding things out, Pierre Nora also discussed something important for Gulf countries - sites of memory. These are places where memory crystallises because organic memory has weakened.

In summary, becoming, like many other major themes in the UAE, is a big word with a big agenda. Yet in practice it rests on following concrete pillars - turning abstract ideas into systems that permeate business, creativity, economics, and academia, and work here and now toward long-term outcomes.

From the most recent art events in the Middle East, including Art Basel and Art Cairo, to everyday conversations on the streets,
a prominent theme is emerging across the region: the idea
of becoming. It is, of course, especially visible in the processes of the brands we work with, in the desires of the audiences we analyse, and in the narratives that are beginning to take shape. Not only in the GCC, but across other countries we collaborate with, these shifts - cyclical by nature - are now taking on sharper, more accelerated forms.

There are, of course, structural forces behind this - economies
in transition, rapid urban development, highly mobile populations - but the purpose of this article is to explore how to approach these themes rather than how to cause them.

Here are three ways to localise the theme of becoming for your specific project: