This 10-month program is designed for those seeking to enhance their knowledge and skills without the commitment of a final independent project, offering a balanced mix of theoretical and practical learning.
The 10-month Diploma program is structured across three components:
Who Can Apply:
• Students and practitioners from disciplines related to the built environment such as–but not limited to: design, ecology, architecture, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, and the arts.
• Scholars and early-career faculty and teaching assistants in public and private universities.
• Postgraduate students conducting research or practical work related to the built environment.
Tuition Fees: The 2025 Diploma Program is offered at a fee of EGP 36,000.
Payable in three installments. For more details check the Registration page.
This foundational module introduces ethical theory and practice to promote spatial, social, and ecological justice in complex urban settings. Moving beyond traditional western models of “applied ethics”, which prioritize normative frameworks for moral agents, this seminar prepares students to engage in ethical deliberation across urban ecosystems, especially when the intentions, consequences and actors involved in these systems are uncertain.
MoreThis module explores imprints of the art(s) in shaping urban social-cultural landscapes. Participants will examine the power dynamics of the social and the political as they are narrated in realms and levels of the official, the subversive, the planned, the improvised, the individual, the collective, the imagined and the illusory. They will engage with the notion of public accessibility of art, while exploring charged pockets within the city that are not necessarily public or accessible. The module also investigates how artistic approaches and cultural interventions interpret placemaking policies and ambitions, as well as how they respond to city representation across various mediums and diverse cultural and contemporary curatorial practices.
MoreThis module examines how space actively structures human experience and asks what the built environment can teach us about how people organize social worlds, construct political projects, and plan for the future. Using theoretical orientations from cultural anthropology, geography, sociology, political science, and history, this module will investigate how social structures shape and are shaped by contemporary urban spaces.
MoreWith Africa and the Middle East as its focus, this module examines the history of the conservation and management of built heritage. Starting with a review of theories of architectural conservation, the module critiques policies and methods of heritage management and conservation from pre-modern times to the present, with a focus on heritage as a political construct that is embedded in wider issues such as colonialism, nationalism, globalization, development, sustainability and climate change.
MoreThis module explores urban environments through ecological and systems thinking, viewing cities as ecosystems with significant impacts on surrounding landscapes. It examines urban environmental histories and contemporary challenges like climate change, species extinction, loss of natural system complexity, and resource insecurities. The module also explores systems-based ecological design typologies for urban intervention, focusing on their implications for environmental quality and justice.
MoreThis workshop introduces co-production as a transformative approach in urban upgrading, offering an alternative to traditional top-down planning models. By focusing on collaborative partnerships between local communities and various stakeholders, the workshop demonstrates how co-production can foster more equitable, sustainable, and resilient urban spaces. Through a blend of theoretical exploration, practical applications, and hands-on exercises, participants will engage with methodological tools, co-planning practices, and research techniques. The workshop also addresses barriers and challenges in co-production, equipping participants with the skills to contribute to a fairer and more sustainable built environment.
MoreThis workshop introduces participants to different approaches to the built environment in critical social sciences and humanities. The main objective is to give participants the tools to situate their own understanding of the built environment – shaped by different social and educational backgrounds – with wider parallel understandings in society. The workshop’s approach is based on experiential learning, rather than reading or design work, allowing participants to gain a grasp on basic critical thinking methods through walking, note-taking, photography, film, sound, and geotagging.
MoreThis six-session workshop delves into the intersections of geography and political science, emphasizing how spatial and temporal dynamics influence power relations. Through the lenses of geography (locations, territories, and spatial forms) and political science (structures among groups and individuals), participants will examine how sovereignty materializes spatially, creating "states of exception" and reinforcing hierarchies via urban planning, borders, segregation, and infrastructure.
MoreAmid Cairo’s sweeping urban transformations, marked by demolitions, forced displacements, and the erasure of familiar cityscapes, this workshop examines what it means to archive and document the lived experiences and histories that are under threat of being lost. Here, archiving is not merely a preservation of heritage; it becomes a site of resistance, where the absence and dislocation of memory itself bear witness to the forces of erasure at work. In this context, the workshop will engage the question of how to document not only the visible loss but also the intangible—sensory experiences, emotional attachments, and the subjective landscapes of memory that traditional archives often overlook.
MoreThis workshop delves into the dynamic relationship between our built environment and our inner world. Through physical and creative exploration, we will investigate how the spaces we move through—whether streets, squares, gardens, bridges, homes, neighborhoods, or monuments—intersect with our personal and collective histories. How do these spaces shape the stories we tell about ourselves? From these inquiries, participants will develop performance methodologies rooted in their discoveries. The workshop places particular emphasis on spoken word and narrative writing, as expressed through space, body, and voice.
MoreThis workshop introduces urban conservation practices and management policies within a historic and heritage context. The complexity of the urban fabric and the tiers of different users affect the possible interventions and decision making to create a better quality of life and experiences. These intervention and decisions are strongly related integrity, authenticity and sustainability. The participants will engage in understanding the process of creating a conservation management plan through the eyes of different stakeholders.
MoreDespite Egypt leading the world in per capita housing production, millions here find access to adequate housing that is affordable, safe and has proper utilities, a challenge. In this hands-on workshop, participants will be introduced to Egypt's housing policies vis a vis residents’ responses to them, tracing this dichotomy over the past century. With a focus on understanding the diverse housing ecosystem, participants will examine typologies spanning tenure regimes (formal/informalized), social housing programs, commodification and financialization, and the urban-rural divide. Through legislative and data analysis, mapping, and co-production methodologies, this workshop will equip participants with practical skills and theoretical insights to reimagine how housing polices can be more just and realize the right to adequate housing in Egypt.
MoreThe practicum is a two-month, hands-on internship placing diploma students in real-world projects led by our founding organizations (Megawra, 10 Tooba, Mansour for Architecture and Conservation). This experience offers in-depth professional exposure to justice-focused urban initiatives.
Participants will be matched to projects based on the alignment of their skills and interests with project needs, allowing them to apply their knowledge to grassroots urban practice alongside experienced professionals.
| Ethics and Philosophy in Practice (Seminar) | 10/02/2025 | 01/03/2025 |
| Ecologies of Cities | 10/03/2025 | 01/05/2025 |
| The City through a Social Sciences Lens | 10/03/2025 | 01/05/2025 |
| Arts in the City: Marks and Claims | 10/03/2025 | 01/05/2025 |
| Critical Approaches to Heritage and History | 10/03/2025 | 01/05/2025 |
| Co-production in the Built Environment | 30/06/2025 | 12/07/2025 |
| Critical Thinking Methods in the Built Environment | 14/07/2025 | 26/07/2025 |
| Practicum | 01/09/2025 | 31/10/2025 |