COSMOPOLIS. City, Culture
& Society
Free University Brussels
Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel
Tel: + 32 (0) 2 629 37 41
Fax: + 32 (0) 2 629 33 78
cosmopolis@vub.ac.be
Dr. Ahmed Zaib KHAN MAHSUD (member since 2011)
Current Position
Senior / Postdoc Research Associate, Project coordinator: SECOA [EU FP-7]
Postdoc @ KULeuven, Project coordinator: SPINDUS [IWT-SBO]
Visiting Professor @ KULeuven & UGhent, Master of Architecture & Urbanism programs
Contact
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
WE DGGF, 6F326, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Phone: 0032 2 629 31 85
Fax: 0032 2 629 33 78
Email: akhanmah@vub.ac.be
Academic background
Dr. Ahmed Zaib Khan Mahsud is a visiting professor and post-doctoral research associate at the Department of Architecture, Urban design and Planning at KU Leuven, in parallel to his appointment at VUB. Besides involvement with Masters programs at KULeuven [since 2001], he is also a visiting lecturer in masters of urban design & planning program at UGhent [since 2009]. Sustainable urban development is his main area of expertise with particular focus on the emerging field of ‘sustainable urbanism’ in relation to ‘globalisation and urban futures’, and within that to the issues of ‘urban form’, ‘multiple scale levels’, ‘nature-settlement dialectics’, ‘environment-development politics’, ‘design-based research & synthesis-based design’. Trained as an architect-urban designer / planner with over 10 years of practice experience in housing and urban development, Ahmed completed a PhD on critical relationship between theory & practice of urbanism (2008) and developed expertise on ‘Ekistics’ (the science of human settlements), the oeuvre of the Greek architect / planner C. A. Doxiadis and his ‘City of the Future’. He broadened his research into historiography, issues of globalisation and sustainability dialectics as the Agha Khan post-doctoral fellow at MIT (Cambridge, 2008-09), while teaching modernism and green consciousness in architecture & urbanism, and conducting regional landscape & urban design studios at the graduate level. He has lectured extensively on issues of sustainable urbanism, urban form & ‘city of the future’ at several universities in North America, Europe and South Asia.
Diploma’s
Postdoctoral fellow @ School of Architecture + Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA, 2008-09 PhD in architecture, urban design & planning, KULeuven, Belgium [April 2008] Advanced Graduate Certificate Course in environmental impact assessment, KULeuven, Belgium [June 2003] Master of Architecture in Human Settlements, KULeuven, Belgium [September 2001] Bachelor of Architecture, NCA, Lahore, Pakistan [January 1995]
Research
Project Coordinator: SECOA, [EU FP-7 ‘environment’ theme], Solutions for Environmental Contrasts in Coastal Areas – symbiotic relationship between urban growth, human mobility and resources use / users, COSMOPOLIS, VUB, 2011 - ongoing Project Coordinator: SPINDUS [IWT-SBO project – spatial innovation, planning, design & user involvement] -Spatial quality in the planning and urban design fields - ASRO dept., KULeuven, 2010 – ongoing Project & Research Coordinator: PROSPECIVE URBAINE / Exploring Urban Futures in European Cities, DG-regions [EU Commission] in collaboration with SOCIAL POLIS [FP-7], URBAN-NET & PUCA, P&D Research group, KULeuven, 2010 - 2011. Interdisciplinary Project Proposal: Transition Management in the built Environment [TMinBE], IOF [Industrial Onderzoek Fonds]-fellowship, P&D Research group, KULeuven, March, 2011 [submitted]. FWO postdoc [ranked] proposal: SCALING SUSTAINABLE URBANISM: Re-imagining Urban Form as a factor of Sustainability, P&D research group, ASRO, KULeuven, 2010. Postdoc Research Fellow: SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT: Globalization & Sustainability as a dialectical framework for design was developed for issues of socio-spatial and environmental sustainability within the realm of urban design. MIT, Cambridge, USA, Sept. 2008 – June 2009. Scientific Research Collaborator: CITY OF THE FUTURE [COF]: Compilation of doctoral research, KULeuven, Belgium, Oct. 2007 – Feb. 2008. Doctoral Researcher: HOUSING, URBAN DESIGN & PLANNING: Research on theory and practice of the Greek architect/urbanist C. A. Doxiadis, modern architecture and urbanism during 1950s-60s [Urban Design, Human Settlements, Environmental Movement]. Doxiadis’ practice of Ekistics theory – Islamabad plan for 3 million inhabitants – was reformulated as key themes for sustainable urbanism as conclusion, KULeuven, Belgium Sept. 2003 – Sept. 2007.
Teaching
Visiting professor @ KULeuven & UGhent in Belgium, since 2009
Master of urban design & planning, UGhent, 2009-10. Course: History & theory of urbanism – North-West European Megalopolis seminar Master of Architecture in Human settlements [MAHS] + Urbanism & strategic planning [MAUSP], KULeuven. Course: Critical Review of Sustainable Development strategies and Policies – Human Settlements Discourse
Adjunct / Associate professor History & theory of Architecture & Urbanism @ NCA [National College of Arts]; BNU (Beacon-house National University); COMSATS Institute of Technology; Lahore & Islamabad, Pakistan, since 2008
Design studios [reviewer / critic] & teaching @ MIT, Harvard and Brown universities, Cambridge & Providence [Rhode Island], USA, 2008-09
Water, Landscape & Urban Design studio: Graduate program, School of architecture and planning (SA+P), MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), USA. Landscape & Urban Heritage Conservation studio: Graduate program, SA+P, MIT, USA. Reader / teaching associate: Historiography of Islamic Architecture, Graduate program course, SA+P, MIT, USA. Reviewer / critic - South Asia Across Disciplines, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA. Invited Reviewer - Urban Design Studio, Department of Architecture, Building, and Planning, Technical University Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2005-06.
Graduate and under-graduate Thesis reader in Architecture & urban design @ KULeuven, NCA, MIT, since 2004 -
Associate Academic Staff (AAS) and Lecturer @ MAHS, ASRO, KULeuven, Belgium, 2003-07
Critical Review of Sustainable Development strategies and Policies; and Human Settlements in development Colonial & Postcolonial Urbanism Urban Studies: Research Methodologies Urban Analysis & Research methods
Visiting Lecturer – Course: Design process and interior architecture, Huner Kada: School of Art & Architecture, Islamabad, 1996-98.
Selected publications
Mahsud, Ahmed Zaib K. ‘Achieving a dynamic urban form: A multi-scalar synthesis of landscape and urbanism,’ in: Ekistics: the Science of HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, Vol. 74, Athens: ACE / ATO (in press). Mahsud, Ahmed Zaib K. (2010). ‘Rethinking Doxiadis´ Ekistical Urbanism: Sustainability and Globalization as a dialectical framework for Design’, in Positions: On Modern Architecture + Urbanism, NAI [Netherlands Architecture Institute] and University of Minessota Press, pp. 6-39. Mahsud, Ahmed Zaib K. (2010). ‘Korangi as a Cornerstone of the Greater Karachi Resettlement Housing Program (1958-59),’ in: V.d'Auria, et al., Human Settlements. Formulations and [re]calibrations, Amsterdam, SUN Academia, pp. 53-57. Mahsud, Ahmed Zaib K. (2010). ‘Reinventing Modern Urbanism: Doxiadis´ ‘City of the Future’ in the Plan for Islamabad 1959-63,’ in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (under review). Mahsud, Ahmed Zaib K. (2009). ‘Extrovert Synthesis in the Design of Islamabad: Doxiadis´ ambition for an evolutionary national style of the new capital,’ in: Constantinos A. Doxiadis and His Work, Bogdanou, Myrto A., et al. (eds.), Athens: Technical Chamber of Greece, pp.95-125. Mahsud, Ahmed Zaib K. (2008). ‘Doxiadis' Legacy of urban design: Adjusting and amending the Modern,’ in: Ekistics: the Science of HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, Vol. 73, No. 436-441, Athens: ACE / ATO, pp. 241-263. Mahsud, Ahmed Zaib K. (2007). ‘Representing the state: Symbolism and Ideology in Doxiadis´ plan for Islamabad,’ in: The Politics of Making: Theory, practice, product, Mark Swenarton, et al. (eds.), London and New York: Routledge, pp. 61-75. Mahsud, Ahmed Zaib K. (2007). ‘Dynapolis and the Cultural Aftershocks: The Development in making of Islamabad and the Reality today,’ in: Journal of Research in Architecture and Planning, Vol. 6, pp. 5-18
Other relevant activities
Thinking about reinventing Urban Design
Formulating a strategic vision for the unfolding of social welfare states in the SAARCCAR region. The word SAARCAR is coined that literally means ‘Governance’ in most of the south Asian languages and stands for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation with Central Asian Republics.
Favourite Urban Spot
'Prince Gunion khan’ square in the imaginary utopia of ‘2121’ A.D.
Studiedag: Naar een Brussels onderwijs? Vers un enseignement bruxellois? 30/05/2012
Het Brussels Studies Institute (ULB, FUSL, VUB) organiseert op 30 mei een studiedag over onderwijs in Brussel.
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