Nasser Rabbat, Ph.D., is the Aga Khan Professor and the Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT. He is an architect and a historian, with a focus on Islamic architecture, urban history, and post-colonial studies. His books include, The Citadel of Cairo: A New Interpretation of Royal Mamluk Architecture, Thaqafat al Bina’ wa Bina’ al-Thaqafa, al-Mudun al-Mayyita, and Mamluk History Through Architecture: Building, Culture, and Politics in Mamluk Egypt and Syria. He is the editor of Making Cairo Medieval, and The Courtyard House between Cultural Reference and Universal Relevance. He regularly consults on design projects and lectures extensively in the US and abroad.