Anwar Jaber, PhD

Dr. Anwar Jaber is an architect and assistant professor at the Waterloo School of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering. Her interdisciplinary research explores the meaning and change of architecture and urbanism, focusing on the socio-politics of cities in political transformations. She investigates contexts experiencing conflicts, settler colonialism, and inequity, with a particular interest in the role of architecture in nation-state formation in the Middle East and Arab countries. Born and raised in East Jerusalem, Dr. Jaber holds an MPhil and a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Cambridge in England.

Dr Jaber brings international experience from the Middle East and Europe. In addition to practicing as an urban planner for marginalized Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, her research on emerging national-political institutions in Palestine attracted funding from various bodies such as Said Foundation, Cambridge Trust at the University of Cambridge, the AMTD Foundation.

• Socio-politics of architecture and urbanism

• Architecture and space in nation-state formation

• Cities, conflict and reconstruction

• Memory, museums and symbolism

• Equity, justice, and urbanism in the global south

• Architecture and urbanism in Palestine/Israel

• Islamic architecture and Arab urbanism

• Indigenous spaces of sovereignty

• 2020, Doctorate Architecture, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

• 2014, Master of Philosophy Architecture and Urban Studies, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

• 2013, Bachelor of Engineering in Architectural Engineering with a concentration in Urban Planning, Birzeit University, Palestine

• 2021-2023 AMTD Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, University of Waterloo, Canada

• 2021 Palestinian American Research Center Fellowship, USA

• 2015-2020 Cambridge Trust Doctoral Scholarship, University of Cambridge, UK

• 2013-2014 Said Foundation Scholarship, University of Cambridge, UK

• 2022-2024 Racial Equity and Environmental Justice Committee

• 2025-2026 Admissions Committee

• 2025-2026 Graduate Committee

• Frequent examiner at: University of Cambridge (UK), Laurentian University (CAN), University of Toronto (CAN), University of British Columbia (CAN), Birzeit University (PAL)

• Society of Architectural Historians

• British Society for Middle Eastern Studies

• Architectural Humanities Research Association

• The Middle East Studies Association

• Engineering Association, Jordan and Palestine

• ARCH 392 - Design Studio
  • Taught in 2022
• ARCH 442 - Contemporary Architectural Theory
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2025
• ARCH 610 - Architectural Research and Analysis
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025
• ARCH 640 - Contemporary Theory, Culture and Criticism
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2025
• ARCH 684 - Special Topics in Architecture
  • Taught in 2021, 2024
• ARCH 693 - Thesis Research & Design Studio II
  • Taught in 2023, 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Jaber, A. (2025). Problematizing Ramallah’s Role as a “Cultural” Capital: Arafat and Darwish National-Cultural Memorial Sites. In Ihab Saloul & Britt Baillie (Eds.), The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Cultural Heritage and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan. (forthcoming)

• Jaber, A. (2025). Caring for a Nation: Palestinian Dar Al-Tifel Al-Arabi, East Jerusalem. In T. Bissett & A. Peliowski (Eds.), Toward an Architectural Genealogy of Care: A Reader. ARQ (Santiago) and DPR (Barcelona). (forthcoming)

• Jaber, A. (2025). Navigating Palestinian Sovereignty: Personal Reflections of a Palestinian Scholar with Lived Experience. In R. Abu Ghannam (Ed.), Timely Reflections on Spatial Justice. (forthcoming)

• Jaber, A. (2024). Hiding Behind Colonial Roots: Investigating the Reconstruction of the Palestinian Presidential Headquarters (the Muqata’a) in Ramallah. In R. Abu Ghannam, E. Desrochers-Turgeon, P. Swaranjali, & F. Goffi (Eds.), Architectures of Hiding. (pp. 153-164). Routledge.

• Jaber, A. (2018). Creating Margins at the Centre: Israeli Bypass Roads in the Palestinian Beit Hanina Neighbourhood, East Jerusalem. Accord Insight 4: Borderlands and Peacebuilding: A view from the Margins. Conciliation Resources. Issue 4, pp. (12-13).

• Jaber, A. & Avdolous, E. (2017). Duplicity: Editorial Preface. SCROOPE: Cambridge Architecture Journal. University of Cambridge, Issue 25, pp. (5-8).

• Jaber, A. Butmeh, W & Hamada, M. (2014). Towards a Better Ecotourism: Deir Qidees Ecolodge in Palestine. This Week in Palestine. Issue 192. pp. (45-48).

• Episode 140— Conflict Architecture, Truth & Reconciliation, interview with Anwar Jaber, Beyond the Bulletin Podcast University of Waterloo
• Ahmad, H. (2020). The Reification of Ramallah: Undermining a Palestinian Capital in Jerusalem. Al-Shabaka. Retrieved September 20, 2023, from https://al-shabaka.org/memos/the-reification-of-ramallah-undermining-a-palestinian-capital-in-jerusalem/
• Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, University of Waterloo
• University of Waterloo Welcomes Three Postdoctoral Scholars