Overview
The 2026 edition of for Cities Week brings together a small group of urbanists and researchers for a week-long collective research initiative in Islamabad, Pakistan (25th April - 1st May 2026).
This is not a program—it's an autonomous research collective. We're looking for 8-10 people who want to explore Islamabad independently, share daily insights, and contribute to a collaborative publication.
What to expect:
- Self-directed fieldwork with your own research agenda
- Daily evening sessions to exchange findings
- Connection with local urbanists and researchers
- Co-creation of a research journal/zine
We welcome researchers, practitioners, and students working in urbanism, architecture, planning, creative arts, and related fields who can work independently and contribute meaningfully to collective knowledge.
What is "for Cities Week"?
for Cities Week is an annual collective research initiative organized by for Cities and hosted in cities across Asia. The program typically unfolds in two phases—a collaborative research period with invited participants, followed by a public presentation or exhibition. This year, however, the focus is entirely on the research process itself, and participants are expected to actively join and contribute to the program rather than produce an exhibition.
Throughout the week, we engage in shared inquiry through workshops, talk sessions, and guided city walks, creating space for dialogue between local contexts and broader urban questions.
Previously held in Tokyo, Kyoto, Cairo, Ho Chi Minh City, and Chiang Mai, for Cities Week has engaged more than 1,000 urbanists across its various public programs and past exhibitions.
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan
Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, is a distinctive planned city located at the foothills of the Margalla Hills. Conceived in the 1960s with modernist visions of green boulevards, sector-based organization, and civic centers, the city has since grown beyond its original masterplan—shaped by ecological systems, migration, and the everyday practices of its diverse communities. Situated between mountains, rivers, and protected forests, Islamabad offers a compelling lens through which to examine how cities at the edge of nature negotiate questions of climate, culture, and coexistence.
This Year’s Theme: "Heights"
"Heights" is a framework for examining how cities are shaped by elevation, verticality, and hierarchical structures.
Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, is a planned city located at the foothills of elevated terrain.
Its topography, urban layout, and zoning reflect specific ideas about governance, order, and modern development. These conditions make Islamabad a useful site for investigating how “height” operates not only as a physical condition, but also as a social, political, and environmental one.
For for Cities Week 2026, "Heights" functions as a shared theme under which participants develop their own focused urban research.
Height may refer to physical elevation, buildings, and infrastructure, but also to power relations, institutional hierarchies, access, visibility, climate, or everyday spatial experience.
Participants are invited to use "Heights" as an analytical lens to study how cities are planned, organized, and experienced—asking how vertical distinctions are produced, maintained, and contested in Islamabad.
Possible Individual Research Topics
(Examples – participants are not limited to these)
Each participant is expected to develop one independent research focus under the shared theme *Heights*. Below are examples of how the theme might be interpreted.
1. Verticality & Urban Form
- High-rise housing, administrative buildings, and symbolic architecture
- Vertical density versus horizontal expansion
- How height communicates authority or modernity
2. Altitude, Climate, and the Body
- How elevation affects climate, air, temperature, and daily life
- Bodily experiences of height: walking, breathing, viewing
- - Urban ecology at the foothills and hillsides
3. Power, Governance, and the Capital City
- Height as a metaphor for political hierarchy
- Spatial separation of military, administrative, and civic zones
- Visibility and distance in capital-city design
4. Vantage Points and Ways of Seeing
- Who looks down on the city, and from where?
- Hills, viewpoints, and controlled perspectives
- Surveillance, security, and restricted views
5. Aspiration, Progress, and “Levels” of Development
- Height as a symbol of national ambition
- Development narratives embedded in planning
- Whose aspirations are elevated, and whose are not?
6. Spiritual and Symbolic Heights
- Mosques, religious landscapes, and spiritual elevation
- Silence, retreat, and transcendence in urban space
- The relationship between sacred height and everyday life
7. Margins, Lows, and Invisibility
- Communities and practices excluded from “high” urban ideals
- Informal settlements, service labor, and overlooked infrastructures
- What remains at ground level—or below—when cities aim upward
8. Thresholds and Transitions
- Edges between hills and city, plan and practice
- Zones of transition: public/private, formal/informal
- Moments where height is negotiated rather than fixed
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What happens during the week
Collective touchpoints:
- Opening dinner with local collaborators
- Morning meetups with local students and practitioners
- Daily evening sessions to share findings
- Closing presentations
Organized activities (optional):
- One-day heritage tour led by Darr Studio
- 1-2 lectures curated by local partners
Your own time:
- Independent fieldwork based on your research agenda
- Meetings you arrange with locals
After field reserach in Islamabad
- Submit your research essay (3000-5000 words) for our collaborative publication
※ Schedule is subject to change
Ar Samman Qayyum, Darr Studio
Samman Qayyum is an architect, urbanist, and Assistant Professor working at the intersection of climate resilience, community engagement, and cultural heritage. She is the founder of DARR Studio, a research and design practice focused on locally grounded, climate-responsive architecture and urbanism. Through teaching, research, and participatory design, her work bridges academia and practice, engaging communities and young professionals in reimagining sustainable futures across Pakistan and beyond.
Instagram
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Laajverd
Laajverd is a research and practice-based organisation working on the intersections of cultural geography, design and arts. For the past decade, we have been working with local mountain communities to document and conserve cultural practices whilst providing a platform to local academics and heritage workers to engage in ethical practices of preserving and promoting cultural assets. As an academically engaged organization we are involved in policy making, setting up community museums and documenting the fragile cultural landscape, particularly with respect to the changing climate.
Instagram
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Tehzeeb Hassan (Visual Artist )
Tehzeeb Hassan is a visual artist whose work is rooted in the urban and cultural landscapes of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. His practice engages with local art styles, street culture, and political expression, translating everyday realities into bold visual narratives. Through site-specific and public-facing artworks, he explores identity, power, and place, contributing to contemporary dialogues within Pakistan’s evolving art scene.
Website
Instagram
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Contribution Fees
This is a self-initiated, non-profit collective. Any contributions go directly toward:
- Commissioning editorial and design work for our collaborative publication
- Honorariums for local organizers and collaborators in Islamabad
We're experimenting with sustainable models for cross-border urban research that don't rely on institutional funding or commercial frameworks.
The participation fees are used to cover the operational costs of running a collective research program that brings together diverse urban practices—often overlooked—to learn across countries and disciplines and explore more sustainable ways of shaping cities.
(Transportation and accommodation are not included. All prices are tax included.)
(1) General Participants: USD 300 (tax included)
This fee applies to participants joining the program from outside the local area.
You'll cover your own:
- Flight tickets to Islamabad / daily transportation in Islamabad
- Accommodation
- Local expenses
- Research costs
(2) Local Residents / Local Participants : USD 20 (tax included)
This special rate is available for local residents or those currently living in the host region, in order to encourage local participation and community involvement.
Eligibility
We welcome a small and diverse group of participants working across architecture, urbanism, planning, design, anthropology, geography, and other related fields. We are particularly interested in applicants who are curious about cities as lived, ecological, and cultural processes rather than fixed objects.
This program is suited for those who are interested in:
- Field-based urban research grounded in observation, walking, mapping, and on-site engagement
- Critical observation and collective discussion as a method of learning and knowledge production
- Developing situated questions, rather than arriving with predefined solutions or outcomes
Applicants do not need to have a fully formed project in advance. Instead, we value curiosity, openness, and a willingness to engage critically and collaboratively with place, people, and context.
Students and participants from other disciplines are also very welcome to apply, as long as they are motivated to work across fields and contribute actively to the collective research process.
How to apply
Please fill in the application form.
for Cities will contact you within a week after your application.
Application form for for Cities Week 2026 Islamabad
FAQ
Q: Is there a designated accommodation location?
A: You will need to arrange your own accommodations, including airfare and local transportation. We will inform you later about the area where the two for Cities representatives will be staying and their base of operations. Please use this information as a reference when choosing your area.
Q: What should I budget for transportation and accommodation costs?
A: Round-trip airfare from Japan is approximately 50,000 yen, and accommodation through Airbnb ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 yen per night.
Q: I have remote work that I need to do while on location. Is that okay?
A: Yes, that's absolutely fine. You will manage your own daily schedule. Participation in local activities is entirely optional. Independent activities are also possible.
Q: What about overseas insurance?
A: Please arrange your own insurance coverage at your own responsibility. We typically use Safetywing. Depending on the coverage level, enrollment is possible for around 40-50 dollars per month.
Q: Can I get a receipt?
A: Yes, we can issue receipts.
Q: Can I participate even if I'm not confident in English?
A: Yes, of course you can. While for Cities will provide support as much as possible, we encourage you to use this as an opportunity to actively practice your English.
Contact
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.
✉️ info@forcities.org
Subject: ”for Cities Week Islamabad”
About for Cities
We are an urban experience design studio based in Tokyo and Kyoto. Our activities, both domestic and international, range from research, planning, and editing in the fields of architecture and urban development to organizing exhibitions and developing educational programs, all with the aim of enriching the everyday life of "cities" beyond the borders of countries and fields. Our platform "forcities.org" collects ideas on how to make cities more interesting i.e. urbanism, and is building a network with urbanists in Japan and abroad. So far, we have held "Urbanist School," a school for learning skills necessary for urbanists, and "for Cities Week," an urban festival, in Tokyo, Nairobi, and Cairo. We practice the training for young talents and offer proposals for future sustainable urban development while getting involved in the local community.
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