Toka Magdy Abufarag

Urban designer and researcher with international experience in architecture, heritage conservation, and sustainable development. Holds an MSc from BTU Germany and a BSc from AUC, with published work presented at COP27 and UIA 2023. Experienced in project development with UN-Habitat and active in academic, public, and private sectors. Skilled in design, research, and stakeholder engagement, with strong digital and language capabilities.

• Participant in joint Urban Design Workshop – ELBTRAUER, Workshop on Adaptive reuse of historic urban patterns enabling resilient sustainable urban transformations implementing new mobilities, Hamburg, Germany, December, 2023, Cairo University, Beirut Arab University, and IU Hamburg; funded by TA’ZIZ SHORT-TERM MEASURES 2023 award

• Participant in joint Bazar Abbas Restoration & Conservation Training, Port Said, Egypt, November 2023, BTU, GU, and Al-Yakaniya; funded by the British Council

• Participant in joint Urban Regeneration Workshop – City by the Water, Alexandria, Egypt, November 2023, Alexandria University, Kassel University, AAST, and Goethe Institute; funded by the DAAD

• Participant in joint Urban Design Workshop – Reimagining Bazar Abbas, Workshop on Exploring Urban Recovery Scenarios, Cairo & Port Said, Egypt, September 2023, BTU, GU, UN-Habitat, and AAST; funded by the British Council

• Preserving built environments for a more sustainable future: Built heritage as a contributer to the SDGs (2023), UIA 2023 CPH World Congress, Authors: Virginia Bassily, Toka Abufarag, and Sherif Goubran

• Heritage Buildings’ Façades as Facilitators for Local Sustainable Development: The Case of Cairo’s El Korba Area (2022), MDPI Heritage Special Issue, Authors: Virginia Bassily, Toka Abufarag, and Sherif Goubran [Additionally presented at COP27 in Sharm EL Sheikh]

• Women’s Perception of Spatial Safety and Participation in Historic Cairo’s Street Markets (2022), ICUP, Authors: Toka Abufarag, Sara Samir, Aya Elshabshiri, Sherif Goubran

• Vertical Farming as a Nature-based Solution for Sustainable City Regeneration: a Life Cycle Assessment (2022), ICUP, Authors: Sara Samir, Toka Abufarag, Sherif Goubran

• What can we learn from the characterization of New Cairo’s urban voids? (2022), ICUP, Authors: Aya Elshabshiri, Mahmoud Elkady, Toka Abufarag, Sherif Goubran

• Participant in joint Urban Design Workshop – Crises, Heritage and Urbanity on “Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Historic Districts and Preservation of Architectural Heritage after Armed Conflict 2021-22”, BTU, GJU, and AUB; funded by the DAAD

• Recipient of The Doria Shafik Endowed Award for research related to women empowerment, AUC Spring 2021

• Team Leader to Second Place Winner Team in Shell: Imagine the Future competition, 29/6/2020