Professor Ashraf Salama

Head Of School

School: Architecture and Built Environment

Ashraf Salama is academic, scholar, and Chair in Architecture. He is Professor of Architecture and Urbanism and Head of the Department of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Northumbria at Newcastle. He is co-Director of the UNESCO/UIA Validation Council for Architectural Education. Professor Salama has chaired and led three schools of architecture over the past 25 years in Misr International University, Cairo, Egypt (1996-2001), Qatar University, Doha, Qatar (2009-2014), and the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom (2014-2020). He is an honorary professor of architecture at the University Putra Malaysia and has held tenured and visiting positions in Egypt, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. He holds B.Sc. MSc. and PhD in architecture and has received his education at Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.

Securing more than £2.0 million funded research over his research career, Professor Salama has published over 200 research outputs in the international refereed press including authoring and editing 17 books. His research experience involves extensive PhD supervision and examination, where more than 25 PhD theses have been completed as primary/principal supervisor and more than 40 PhD theses have been examined with successful completion. He is the chief editor of the Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research and honorary editor of Open House International. Professor Salama is the UIA 2017 Recipient of Jean Tschumi Prize for Excellence in Architectural Education and Criticism. He is a licensed architect in Egypt since 1987, practiced in Egypt (1987-92) and the United States (2001-2004). He has been a consultant to the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism in Egypt (1996-2001), urban design consultant to a number of authorities and development agencies in the Middle East since 2004 and, from 2001 to 2004, the Director of Research and Consulting at Adams Group Architects, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Expertise Research Profile || Books (Authored / Edited) || Book Chapters || Journal Articles || Conference Proceedings || Critical Essays || Editorials and Reviews || Pedagogical Publications

Metrics: Web of Science || Scopus || ResearchGate || Google Scholar

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
The Routledge Companion to Architectural Pedagogies of the Global South, Harriss, H., Salama, A., Gonzalez Lara, A. 1 Jan 2023
Influence and Resistance in Post-Independence Egyptian Architecture, El-Ashmouni, M., Salama, A. 22 Jul 2022
Including local actors' perspective in neighborhood sustainability assessment: evidence from Dubai's sustainable city, Dessouky, N., Wheeler, S., Salama, A. 4 Sep 2024, In: Smart and Sustainable Built Environment
People–Place Narratives as Knowledge Typologies for Social Sustainability: Cases from Urban Contexts in the Global South, Salama, A., Patil, M., Elsemellawy, A., Abudib, H., Almansor, N., MacLean, L., van Riel, K. 4 Apr 2024, In: Buildings
A mobile application tool for co-assessing urban open spaces – a test case of the Grey’s Monument, Newcastle, UK, Salama, A., Patil, M. 4 Jul 2025, In: Journal of Urban Design
Pedagogical Traditions in Architecture: The Canonical, the Resistant, and the Decolonized, Salama, A., Burton, L. 30 Nov 2023, In: Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review
100+ Books That Shaped Our Understanding of People-Place Dialectics: A discourse for architects, urban designers, and planners, Salama, A., Patil, M. 15 Mar 2025
Agile by Design: Embracing Resilient Built Environment Principles in Architectural and Urban Pedagogy, Butt, A., Salama, A., Rigoni, C. 30 Jun 2025, In: Architecture
Learnings/Unlearnings Reader #3: Emancipating and Emancipated Pedagogies – Decolonising and Co‐Creating Our Future Built Environment, Salama, A., Schalk, M. 19 Jun 2025
Urban resilience and sustainability through and beyond crisis – evidence-based analysis and lessons learned from selected European cities, Salama, A., Patil, M., MacLean, L. 21 Feb 2024, In: Smart and Sustainable Built Environment

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Architectural Education and Design Pedagogies: Global Perspectives and Challenges of Inclusivity, Health, and Resilience 2022
Invited talk: Contemporary Perspectives on Decolonizing Architectural Knowledge: Implications for Education, Research, and Practice 2022
Examination: PhD Examiner, School of Architecture, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia 2022
Examination: PhD Examiner, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom 2022
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: The Great Green Wall Initiative Webinar 2022

PGR Supervision

Preeti Pansare Inclusivity Index for Urban Public Open Space: Tool for Assessing and Assisting Design Start Date: 01/10/2022
Eda Seyok Examining Quality of Urban Life in Post-Industrial Cities Start Date: 01/10/2022

Further Information

Selected Books:

Salama, A. M. & Patil, M. P. (Eds.) (2025). 100+ Books That Shaped Our Understanding of People-Place Dialectics: A Discourse for Architects, Urban Designers, and Planners. (Glasgow: ABC2 Publishing).
Harriss, H., Salama, A. M., & Gonzalez Lara, A. (Eds.) (2023). The Routledge Companion to Architectural Pedagogies of the Global South. (Routledge International Handbooks). Routledge.
El-Ashmouni, M. M., & Salama, A. M. (2022). Influence and Resistance in Post-Independence Egyptian Architecture. (Routledge Series in Architecture and Urbanism in the Global South). Routledge.
Salama, A. M. (2021). Transformative Pedagogy in Architecture and Urbanism. (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Salama, A. M., & El-Ashmouni, M. M. (2020). Architectural Excellence in Islamic Societies: Distinction Through the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. (Routledge Series of Architecture and Urbanism in the Global South). Routledge.
Wiedmann, F., & Salama, A. M. (2019). Building Migrant Cities in the Gulf: Urban Transformations in the Middle East. Bloomsbury / I. B. Tauris (Imprint).
Salama, A. M. (2015 & 2016). Spatial Design Education: New Directions for Pedagogy in Architecture and Beyond. Routledge.
Preiser, W. F. E., Davis, A. T., Salama, A. M., & Hardy, A. (2014). Architecture Beyond Criticism: Expert Judgment and Performance Evaluation. Routledge.
Salama, A. M., & Wiedmann, F. (2013 & 2016). Demystifying Doha: On Architecture and Urbanism in an Emerging City. Routledge.

Selected Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:

Patil, M. P., Mahgoub, Y., Salama, A. M., Tahoun, Z., Johnston, L., Hamza, N., & Al-Oufy, A. (2025). Cultivating Sustainable Architecture and Built Environments through Cross-cultural Education. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment. AOP.
Salama, A. M., & Patil, M. P. (2024). A Mobile Application Tool for Co-assessing Urban Open Spaces – A Test Case of the Grey’s Monument, Newcastle, UK. Journal of Urban Design, 1-27. AOP
Patil, M. P., Salama, A. M., Arnfield, J., & Alvanides, S. (2024). YouWalk-YouReclaim: A Co-Assessment Approach for Active University Campus Environments. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment. AOP
Salama, A. M., Patil, M. P., Elsemellawy, A. N., Abudib, H. H., Almansor, N. A., MacLean, L., & van Riel, K. (2024). People–Place Narratives as Knowledge Typologies for Social Sustainability: Cases from Urban Contexts in the Global South. Buildings, 14(4), Article 1001.
Salama, A. M., Patil, M. P., & MacLean, L. (2024). Urban Resilience and Sustainability Through and Beyond crisis – Evidence-based Analysis and Lessons Learned from Selected European Cities. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, 13(2), 444-470.
Salama, A. M., Salingaros, N. A., & MacLean, L. (2023). A Multimodal Appraisal of Zaha Hadid’s Glasgow Riverside Museum—Criticism, Performance Evaluation, and Habitability. Buildings, 13(1), Article 173.
Burton, L. O., & Salama, A. M. (2023). Sustainable Development Goals and the Future of Architectural Education – Cultivating SDGs-Centred Architectural Pedagogies. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, 17(3), 421-442.
Dessouky, N., Wheeler, S., & Salama, A. M. (2023). The Five Controversies of Market-Driven Sustainable Neighborhoods: An Alternative Approach to Post-Occupancy Evaluation. Social Sciences, 12(7), Article 367.

Latest Projects:

TRANSABE-EDU: Transcending Architecture and Built Environment Frontiers: A Cross-Cultural Educational Initiative
Award Holders: PI, Ashraf M. Salama; Co-I, Madhavi P. Patil
Funder: British Council: £29,575.00
Dates: 15/02/24 → 15/02/25

Accepting PhD Students:

Topics of interest include multiculturalism, lifestyle trends and housing transformations; socio-spatial practice of migrant communities; knowledge economy and sustainable urban qualities; quality of urban life frameworks and testing of models and domains; cultural identity and image- and place-making; examining the spatial characteristics of urban traditions; user-centred assessment studies (POE/BPE); and decolonised architectural pedagogies.