Kareem Ibrahim

Egypt

Member of the Master Jury 2019

Kareem Ibrahim is an Egyptian architect and urban researcher who worked on UNDP’s Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project and on the Aga Khan Trust for Culture’s Darb al-Ahmar project. The latter project was an ambitious urban revitalisation programme aimed at bringing sustainable improvements in the living conditions of one of Cairo’s historic inner- city districts by upgrading housing, public buildings and open spaces and developing the social and economic opportunities in the local community.

In 2009, he co-founded Takween Integrated Community Development in Cairo as a social enterprise that adopts an integrated approach in areas  of urban conservation, participatory urban development, informal areas’ upgrading, gender-sensitive urban design, placemaking and policy research, in collaboration with local and international organisations. Mr. Ibrahim is also co-leader of Tadamun: The Cairo Urban Solidarity Initiative (an initiative of Takween and American University in Washington DC) aimed at encouraging citizens to claim their right to the city and its democratic management.

He also worked as a consultant on various projects in the areas of urban conservation and revitalisation, participatory urban development, upgrading of informal areas, gender-sensitive urban design, placemaking and development of urban policies. Partners in these projects include UNESCO, UNHCR, UN Women, UN-Habitat, L’Agence Française de Développement, the European Investment Bank, the German Technical Cooperation, the British Museum and USAID.

Between 2010 and 2017, he worked as Senior Development Manager for one of Cairo’s largest real estate development projects. Currently, he is the Director of the “Rediscovering Esna’s Cultural Heritage Assets” Project, which is aimed at revitalising the city centre of one of Upper Egypt’s historic cities.

Mr. Ibrahim was trained at the faculty of Engineering of Cairo University.