Yahia Shawkat
Co-founder and Research Coordinator
Yahia Shawkat is a housing an urban researcher who specialises in housing policy analysis and strategies, data visualization and historical mapping. With a focus on spatial justice and the right to housing he co-founded the research studio 10 Tooba in 2014. Here, he developed a number of projects, including the Built Environment Observatory, an open knowledge portal advocating equitable urban and housing policies, and the Built Environment Deprivation Index (BEDI).
As housing rights officer at EIPR (2013-2015), Yahia focused on commodification-based eviction, the deadly building collapse phenomenon and produced a series of housing policy notes on the exclusionary social housing programme. In 2012, he directed the Right to Housing Initiative producing an infographic book and 10 short documentaries.
Yahia is a regular guest lecturer, and has published books and articles including Egypt’s Housing Crisis: The Shaping of Urban Space (American University in Cairo Press, 2020) and co-edited Nashtari kul shay’ (We Buy everything, Dar al-Maraya, 2022). He has also contributed to Mada Masr, al-Shorouk, Open Democracy, Heinrich Boell, MEI, among others. Yahia has consulted on housing policy for the watchdog BIC, as well as UN-Habitat and UNHCR.
He received the 2018 IHS AI Urban Professional Award (Runner up), and has been the 2010 recipient of the National Award for Architecture. In 2008 Yahia curated the Egyptian Pavillion at the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale. He holds a BSc in Architecture from Cairo University.