Since October 2019, Leonie Fischer is chair of the Institute of Landscape Planning and Ecology at the University of Stuttgart.

Before, Leonie Fischer worked as scientist at the Chair of Ecosystem Science/Plant Ecology, Technische Universität Berlin. She completed her PhD thesis in 2012 on “Urban meadows: biodiversity patterns and restoration potential” within the Graduate School Urban Ecology Berlin, together with Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Her professional background is in Landscape Planning and Landscape Architecture, including a final thesis on the “Ecological impacts of the introduced quinine tree (Cinchona spp.) in Hawai'i”.

Her scientific focus is especially on the ecology of human-influenced habitats in both tropical and moderate regions, including urban ecology and urban restoration. Leonie Fischer also works on a deeper understanding on how people value urban nature, and what influences their attitudes. Basic part of her research work is its practical orientation and application.

Mohamed Salheen obtained his BSc in Urban Planning and Design in 1993 from Ain Shams University, Cairo. He was appointed as teaching staff at the department and later received a PhD scholarship to obtain his PhD in Urban Design from Edinburgh College of Art, UK in 1997 with a thesis on “Comprehensive Analysis Approaches in Urban Settings”. From 2001 until 2014 he acted as an assistant and associate professor at Ain Shams University teaching and supervising multidisciplinary topics. Developing a clear research line in the field of Integrated Planning and Design, he then became the first professor of Integrated Planning and Design in Egypt. To develop this research field Salheen had to develop various research lines at different levels ranging from Architectural Design to Regional Planning with diverse topics ranging from spatial Analysis to socioeconomic and cultural aspects, yet all focused on the intermediate gaps and Integrated Solutions. He has coordinated several international cooperation projects with Universities in Germany, Sweden, Austria and Denmark. He is a member of the EU Higher Education reform Experts (HEREs) Team, contributing to various workshops and seminars on internationalization and harmonization of Higher Education. Salheen is also active in practice and consultation working with GIZ, UN-Habitat, UNEP and UNDP as well as other national and regional organizations in the fields of strategic, environmental and integrated planning and design.

Astrid Ley studied architecture and urban design at RWTH Aachen and the Università degli Studi di Firenze in Italy. She holds a degree as graduate engineer in architecture and urban design from RWTH Aachen and a P.hD from TU Berlin. Her professional life started as a project coordinator at the “Bundesweite Servicestelle Lokale Agenda 21”, Agenda-Transfer, in Bonn before joining Habitat Unit, TU Berlin, between 2003 and 2013 as a teaching and research staff member. In 2010 she had a DAAD lectureship position at the School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Recently she held a position as urban development research analyst at the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) and as a Post Doc researcher in a DFG funded research project on “Housing for the Urban Poor: From Local Action to Global Networks” at Habitat Unit, TU Berlin. Since October 2014 she is chair for international urbanism at the Institute for Urban Planning and Design, University of Stuttgart, and will take over the position as course director of the MSc. IUSD program. In her understanding it needs the development of a changed role of built environment practitioners as process designers in order to be able to include a network of actors. This will be central to develop solutions in complex problem constellations such as apparent in the international urban development context.

Abeer Elshater is associate professor at Ain Shams University. She obtained her BSc in urban design and spatial planning in 1999 from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. In 2009, she received her Ph.D. in urban design from the same university. Since then, she has acted as an assistant professor then an associate professor, teaching and supervising multidisciplinary topics in the ideology of urban design. She has worked on some international research projects with international universities. In 2011, she joined the program Integrated Urbanism & Sustainable Design—IUSD as a teaching staff and academic adviser of post-graduate students. She has published two books entitled “Urban Design Paradigm” (2015), and “The Unknown Cities” (2016) as well as twenty –one scientific manuscripts in international journals and periodicals. She is a vice-director of Contagious Improvement of Quality Assurance Unit—CIQAU at Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University — ASU. Her official e-mail is abeer.elshater@eng.asu.edu.eg

Yehya Serag received a Bachelor degree in Architecture with a major in Urban Planning and Design from Ain Shams University, Cairo. He, then, obtained his MA in human settlements (PGCHS – Catholic University of Leuven) as well as a Post Graduate Certificate in spatial and regional planning after completing the European Module for spatial development and planning (New Castle University). He graduated with a PhD on the topic “Networking and networks as tools for regional development and planning: Human settlements’ development potentialities in the Western part of Egypt” from the department of Architecture, spatial planning and landscape (Catholic University of Leuven). Since April 2014, Serag holds the position of an associate professor of urban and regional planning at the Department of Urban Planning and Design at Ain Shams University. Starting from December 2010, he coordinates the MSc IUSD. He is currently interested in the impact of politics on urbanism as a new line of research, as well as , urban and regional strategic planning and development.

Marwa Abdellatif obtained a B.Sc. in Urban Planning and Design (Ain Shams University, Cairo, 2000) and a M.Sc. in ecotourism in the Western Desert of Egypt (ASU, 2006), and received her PhD on the topic of ‘Paradigms for Spatial Planning – Transformations in the Planning System of Egypt’ (ASU, 2013). She currently holds the position of an assistant professor at the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Ain Shams University. She is particularly interested in exploring new pedagogical approaches for education of spatial planning. She participated in a number of workshops in Egypt and Germany on higher education. In 2011, she co-founded ‘Letaarfo’ initiative to deepen the understanding of the interwoven relationships of people and places. She is a programme coordinator of the MSc. IUSD at Ain Shams University, Cairo.

Urban Planner, Designer and Educator

Ayat’s work focuses on planning and design theories; urban change, global cities, new urbanism, and landscape architecture, generally speaking she is fascinated by anything that affects the city.

She obtained her Ph.D degree from Cosmopolis (Centre for Urban Research), in the Vrije Univesieit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. She received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Ain Shams University (ASU), Egypt and eventually earned her spot as a Researcher and Assistant professor in the same Department. In addition to her teaching at ASU and research contributions at the VUB, Ayat, has also been involved on a more practical level with several planning and design firms.

contact: ayat.ismail@eng.asu.edu.eg


or visit her Academia profile https://shams.academia.edu/AyatIsmail

Abdulmoneim Alfiky is an Assistant Professor at the Urban Design & Planning Dept.– Ain Shams University. He Has a B.Sc. in Urban Planning & design, an M.Sc. in Urban Environmental management and a PhD in Regional Planning & Modelling. His professional experience focuses on strategic and regional planning in rural areas of the Egyptian Nile Delta & Valley. He actively participated in several EU Funded projects between Ain Shams University and various European universities. He is currently involved in two research projects funded by the STDF on Urban Heat island & Smart management of Unplanned Areas. He joined the IUSD Coordination Team at Ain Shams University in 2013. And From August 2014, he held the position of the IUSD Projects Coordinator. However, Since March 2022, he holds the Academic Coordinator position of IUSD at Ain Shams University.

Rainer Goutrié holds a diploma in architecture from University of Stuttgart. During the years 2000-2005 he was working as a project architect in different companies planning and constructing public buildings and residential houses. He won several prices in architectural and urban planning competitions. From 2004 until 2010 he was working and teaching in the department of urban planning and design, chair of Prof Dr.-Ing. Helmut Bott, University of Stuttgart. His field of work was the urban planning education of 2nd year students and design classes for higher semester students. These mainly international related design classes and study trips lead him to e.g. Turkey, France, Netherlands and Brazil. In 2010 he started working as the coordinator of the “international module”, a compulsory part of Bsc. education that means working or studying abroad and he organizes the international office of the faculty of architecture and urban planning. Since 2016 he is part of the IUSD course coordinator team at University of Stuttgart.

After completing her diploma in architecture and international urbanism from TU Berlin (DE), a Masters from Ball State University (USA), Josefine (*1980) obtained her PhD in 2014 from TU Berlin on the topic: Embodiment of the Urban-Relational Space in the Mega City of Guangzhou. Between 2009 and 2014 she has been teaching and researching at the Habitat Unit, department of International Urbanism at TU Berlin. Her research and writings span the fields of spatial theory, housing, governance and rapid urbanization with a geographical focus on Asia. Some of her recent publications include a co-authored monograph on urban villages in south China Beyond Urbanism (LIT 2014), a co-edited volume From Local Action to Global Networking: Housing the Urban Poor (Ashgate 2015), and reflections on the urban informality discourse(Geographische Zeitschrift 2011 (9)).

Shaharin Elham Annisa was born in Bangladesh but grew up in Oman, completing her Bachelor’s degree at the German University of Technology (GUtech) in Oman, studying Urban Planning and Architectural Design (UPAD).She joined the UPAD department at GUtech after her graduation and worked as a teaching and research assistant for two years. Her bachelor thesis focused on creating a series of public squares at the city center of Al Buraimi (a border city of Oman). Furthermore she was involved in the design, construction and monitoring phase of Gutech’s Eco friendly house; a result of a competition which her team of students, academic staff and consultants had the opportunity to receive funds to win and construct. She finished her Master’s degree in University of Stuttgart in the program Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable design (IUSD) research on understanding the spatial effects of migration and livelihood of Bangladeshi immigrants in Oman (Gulf context). During her master studies she was part of the EZBET project based in Cairo working on the development of informal settlements. Her interests lie in earthen construction, urban informality and migration studies.

Ahmed Toimah has about 12 years of academic, professional and practical experience in the field of spatial planning and regional and rural development. His academic experience includes an MSc thesis in “Interaction between urban and rural settlements”, a PhD thesis in “Urban rural balance” and a teaching experience in planning, housing and rural development courses. His professional experience includes participation in a wide range of projects including strategic planning, regional development and urban design for a number of government agencies, international organizations and private sector, and that was in cooperation with different consulting firms in Egypt, United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Libya. Also he has practiced farming and ranching for more than 10 years in his family farms in Monfeia governorate and Wadi El-Natroun. Ahmad Toimah has a wide network in various rural local communities and agricultural business community. Since 2012 Ahmed was teaching the IUSD  elective "Rural Development" at the Ain Shams University in Cairo.

Studied architecture at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Mexico (B.S. 1998) and received the Master of Excellence in Architecture at the Berlage Institute, Postgraduate Laboratory of Architecture (2002). Marisol Rivas Velázquez collaborated with several offices in Mexico and Belgium, among them the renowned offices of Teodoro González de León/ Mexico City, Ricardo Legorreta/ Mexico City and Stéphane Beel/ Ghent. She is a founding partner of the Ulm based practice "Architecture, Urbanism + Research Agency" (www.a-u-r-a.eu). Marisol Rivas Velazquez has been Visiting Professor at the ITESM Monterrey (2003 and 2004), Lecturer at the University of Technology, Munich (2005) and research assistant at the Institute of Design.Studio1 of Leopold-Franzens-University in Innsbruck (2005-2010). Since 2010 Marisol is research assistant at the Department of International Urbanism were she has been teaching and coordinating studies and research projects. In both her professional and academic practice Marisol's research interest evolve on the topics of culture conflicts, tourism and informal urban development with special focus on African and Latin American cities. She is teaching in the "Integrated Research and Design Project" Module within the IUSD at University of Stuttgart.