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Language: en

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I am Mohammad al-Asad

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the Director of the Center for the Study 
of the Built Environment in Amman, Jordan

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and I would like to thank you

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for joining us for this 
Aga Khan Trust for Culture Open Online Course

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entitled “Enhancing the Quality of Urban Life”

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This course will specifically look at 
projects from all around the world

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that have received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

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and have contributed to
improving the quality of life for city residents

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Although these projects are 
primarily connected to Muslim communities

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the messages that they convey
are very much universal in nature

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The Aga Khan Award for Architecture 
completed its first cycle in 1980

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since then, it has gone through thirteen cycles,
and is currently in its fourteenth cycle

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which will be concluded in 2019

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Since its inception around four decades ago

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over 115 projects have received 
the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

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some of these projects are urban in nature

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some of them are architectural in nature

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but nonetheless have had an urban impact

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In this course, we will be presenting to you

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fifteen of these urban and architectural projects

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that have had an impact on the
quality of life in the city

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We will be presenting these 
projects to you under seven categories

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The first category is 
public buildings that function as urban landmarks

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The second category relates to urban infrastructure

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The third category addresses projects

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that connect the city to the surrounding natural context

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The fourth category deals with the 
creation of open public spaces in the city

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The fifth category deals with 
improving the quality of housing for the urban poor

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The sixth category addresses the
protection and revitalization of the city's built heritage

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And the seventh and final category

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addresses the needs and challenges 
relating to post-conflict cities

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I will be presenting to you ten
of these fifteen projects that belong to five categories

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My colleague Lara Zureikat,
the Associate Director

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of the Center for the Study of the Built Environment

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will be presenting to you five projects 
that belong to two categories

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As we present these projects and categories to you

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we would like you to keep a couple of
issues in mind

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The first is that you will notice that a 
number of these projects

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may very well belong to more than one category

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However, we will be
presenting those projects to you

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within the context of the category that we feel 
they are best connected to

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Moreover, we would like you to keep in mind

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that these projects have received 
the Aga Khan Award for Architecture

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since its inception, that is over a 
period of about four decades

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As a result, we will present
to you information about these projects

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at the time they were conceived

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and at the time that they received the Award

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and obviously the condition of these projects

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may very well have changed between now and then

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Nonetheless, these projects remain 
as relevant today to the concerns of urban life

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as they were when they were 
conceived and when they received the Award