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Co-funded by the
Creative Europe Programme
of the European Union

CLUSTER Cairo Lab for Urban Studies


CLUSTER — Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research — was founded in 2011 in Downtown Cairo, as a platform for urban research, architecture, art, and design initiatives. CLUSTER engages critical discourse while being grounded in professional practice, with an emphasis on participatory design processes.

CLUSTER’s scope of activities includes research, mapping, design, programs and training. Previous design implementation projects range from Downtown and Cairo’s urban core to informal areas on its peripheries as well as a number of ongoing projects in Alexandria, Mansoura, al-Minya, Amman, Beirut, Tunis and Tangier.

CLUSTER aims at establishing a space for critical urban discourse and design practice, negotiating the blurred boundaries between formal/institutional regulations and everyday urban informality.

CLUSTER has extensive expertise in research & mapping activities on Alexandria’s cultural heritage and urban development. Departing from an urban and architectural starting point, they collaborate with artists intervening in public spaces, allowing to widen the research’s perspective and dissemination to a large audience. They will co-curate both residency programs’ strands in Egypt, assuring a strong embedment in the local realities, challenges and opportunities. CLUSTER will also organize a visual showcase and public presentation part of the caravan residency outcomes. Their network, alongside the Institut Français in Alexandria, will contribute to the project’s communication and dissemination in Egypt.