10Tooba is an interdisciplinary group that conducts applied research on the built environment in Egypt, with topics related to urban inequality, informality, housing, public space and service provision. They use the lessons learned from the ground to inform their policy recommendations and research.

Bayt Yakan is a privately-renovated 17th-century house located in al-Darb al-Ahmar, which is now the headquarters of its renovator’s professional practice, Turath Conservation Group, and NGO, Center for Revitalization of the City. The center organizes events and workshops for the community with a particular focus on heritage, community development and art/culture.

Cairobserver is an online platform open to public contributions, dedicated as an outlet for Cairenes to engage with urban and architectural issues in Egypt. Between 2011 and 2016, various printed versions have been produced.

CILAS is a liberal arts institute which seeks to make critical and interdisciplinary education accessible as an alternative to more traditional forms of pedagogy. Its core principles revolve around urban embeddedness in the community and critical thinking.

CLUSTER (Cairo Lab for Urban Study, Training and Environmental Research) is an independent urban research and design platform located Downtown Cairo with a strong focus on public space and informal urbanism. It organizes conferences, symposia, talks, and walking tours to engage critical urban questions facing the city and public space.

DUCO is a company promoting street art, intervening in the urban landscape through wall painting. DUCO seeks to enhance the visual experience of the city and make people see the potential of space, promoting artists from the community in the design of specific projects.

The House of Egyptian Architecture is a museum dedicated to Egyptian architecture and is located in Hassan Fathy’s former house in Darb al-Labbana, including a virtual library gathering architecture-related work. It organizes workshops, children’s activities, and hosts cultural events.

Lala is a studio looking to provide community services in Darb al-Labbana, working mainly with volunteers, and making its practices close to that of a charity. It hosts events related to heritage, art and culture, having a strong emphasis on education.

Madd is a non-formalized group of researchers and practitioners critical of top-down urban planning. Among its main project was the Maspero project which aimed at creating and formalizing a participatory framework for urban planning, integrating local stakeholders in the process.

Megawra is based in and concentrating its efforts on Al-Khalifa neighborhood in Historic Cairo. It seeks to achieve heritage protection through a context-based approach, and through not only technical renovation but also community empowerment and a renewed sense of heritage ownership.

Shadow Ministry of Housing is an online blog critically discussing governmental policies pertaining to housing, such as rent, cost, and utilities. It opposes the process of evictions and tries to create an alternative discourse focused on the right to housing, and has published articles in Arabic in order to be more accessible.

Takween is an urban development company engaged in design, construction and research activities, towards a more integrated urban development approach. It’s online platform Tadamun promotes citizens’ equal right to their city, as well as a shared responsibility towards it.

Transport for Cairo is a company mapping Cairo’s public transportation network, triggered by the global trend towards the right to information through open data, and aiming to launch a mobile app and share their work on Google Maps in order to make it available and useful to commuters and policy-makers.