New Cities and Community Extensions in Egypt and the Middle East: Visions and Challenges

This book seeks to push forward the boundaries of current practices and knowledge to embrace innovative solutions, novel approaches, and grounded technologies within realistic comprehension of economic risks and environmental implications. It investigates different scales and situations, various urban forms and morphology, and various localities and totalities. The book presents a platform of recent research, findings, and answers to pressing issues of building new cities and expanding existing ones in the Middle East and Egypt, within their ecological limits, formulating images, architecture, and public spaces to create liveable, working, and productive cities.

At the time of transformation, people continue to influence their habitat and beyond. While facing the compelling challenges of the present, innovative development poses itself as an inevitable response to future demands. In socio-economic disparities and environmental crises, innovation necessitates a mode of action to act responsibly in addressing issues in unconventional manners. The production of space becomes a responsibility towards the development of human resources, promoting their needs, capacities, and advancing a decent quality of life.

is a Professor of Architecture and Design. She has been the Head of the Department of Architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University 2013-2017. She has more than 35 years of extensive experience in academia and practice, aside of her teaching and research work at Cairo University, Dr. Sahar is the managing director for the Associated Consultants, a multi-disciplinary consulting firm where she practices and studies her assignments contextually in order to design sustainable solutions, with a special focus on sustainable cities. She coordinated several national projects with Egyptian authorities as well as international partners. She is a board member of Ecocity Builders NGO-USA, and a board member in the Association Of Egyptian Architects. She is chairing the steering committee for the Universities Network Initiative- UN Habitat (UNI), and a member in the Standing committee of the World Urban Campaign. She has been the Co-chair of the Research and Academia Constituent group in the General Assembly of Partners for Habitat III (GAP) 2014-2017.

Her research interests include participatory approaches in Urban Development, Urban Regeneration, sustainable urbanism, and Upgrading the Informal Areas. She is the Co-Editor of; “DYNAMICS AND RESILIENCE OF INFORMAL AREAS: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES” published by Springer, 2016.

Zeinab Shafik,

Professor of Architecture Cairo University; Affiliate Professor at American University Cairo. Active member and coordinator of International and National academic accreditation committees at Cairo University in the past four years. Senior partner at Concept Consultants in Cairo. Academically; am involved in teaching architectural design studios entry and graduation levels; Human Science and Theory of Architecture for undergraduate and post-graduate students. Research interests focus on Human Sciences in architecture, community participation, and urban design; study of Phenomenology, Anthropology, and Critical Theory of Sociology as applied to Egyptian contexts in Egyptian cities; new urban communities, Down Town Classical Cairo, Islamic Fatimid Cairo; and locations of heritage value. Supervised Master and PHD dissertations; conducted and led research with a focus on; special user groups, users’ perception, and community development concerns. Coordinator of several International Architectural Competition: "Grand Egyptian Museum, “Abdel Naser Museum” National Competition, “arc Vision Prize; Women and Architecture” National Competition. Co-Editor of; “DYNAMICS AND RESILIENCE OF INFORMAL AREAS: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES” published by Springer. Co-author of "THE GRAND MUSEUM OF EGYPT, INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION" Two Volumes Book published by AUC Press; June 2003.

Asmaa Ibrahim,

Is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, visiting Assoc. Professor at AET program, Cairo University, the AUC, the MSA, and MTI Universities. She is a main coordinator in the Double Master Program with Cottbus University in Germany. Her research interest is in the field of Strategic Urban Planning in relation with economic and environmental concerns. Currently participating in the Strategic Urban Planning for Small Cities Project, and previously worked as a consultant in the Strategic National Development Support Project, led by the UN Habitat. She has extensive expertise in the field of urban planning and urban design with focus on the new cities’ landscape rehabilitation with international publications in this field. She has been Cairo University representative in the MDG (MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS) awareness Project in cooperation with the UNDP. She is a member of UMAR (Union of Mediterranean Architects), and Egyptian Representative of ASYA MED (Association of Students& Young Architects for the Mediterranean Countries). She has been involved in the organization of about more than 30 international conferences and workshops including research & scientific conferences, together with Ph.D. Colloquiums.