The on-going urban developments in many Arab countries are challenging the established traditional lifestyles of the local populations as well as those of the migrants. The processes of privatization of public spaces, structural changes in marketplaces (shopping malls instead of "oriental" bazaars), spatial fragmentation of urban spaces (ethnic, social, religious, gender) and of urban design are revolutionarily changing not only the shape and the infrastructure of the cities, but more importantly social structures, networks, fabric and interactions of all the social groups in urban spaces. The "traditional" established spaces of interactions, where group and individual identities are lived, constructed, reflected and negotiated, have been to a great extent demolished. The processes of (re-) construction of new spaces of interactions and identities as well as the re-placement and re-definition of old spaces of identities are the major topics of this panel. The "three-class" societies in the major GCC cities (locals, expert-expats and serving-expats), the multiple religious affiliations and various ethnic backgrounds of the urban population with less "domination" by one social group in many cities (Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai, Manama) are leading to new kinds of spatial segregation and isolation. Gentrification processes in the Maghreb medina (Marrakesh, Tunis, Tripoli) and new strategies of urban planning in Mashreq (Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Kuwait) are changing the urbanity in form and content. Urban design, spatial fragmentation and architecture are delivering the new boarders, binaries and places of the re-invention of new forms of social interactions, segregation and power relations. The re-production of spaces of identity (class, gender, religious, ethnic) is challenging the new identities of urban spaces promoted and constructed by the adopted policies of urban planning, urban developments and real estate projects. The panel deals with theoretical questions of urban spaces of various social identities and city/urban identities. Case study papers demonstrate the on-going processes of re-structuring of spatial identities, the internal urban conflicts, political and economic paradoxes and challenges. Four papers are going to be presented in the panel; the fist paper tackles the issues of identity re-construction on urban national level in the UAE; the second and third papers discuss the interaction between architecture, urban planning, social dynamics and spatial identities in the cities of Cairo and Marrakesh; the fourth paper addresses the spatial identity issues on the quarter micro level by exemplifying the case of the Satwa Quarter in Dubai.