Jamel Akbar

However, Jamel remains occupied with theories of architecture, urban design and planning in terms of the individual’s and properties’ rights vs the quality of the built environment. He has lectured on these topics worldwide and is the author of three books, several research reports, and many articles. His book Crisis in the Built Environment is an investigation of the patterns of responsibility and their manifestations on the built environment as revealed through patterns of decision-making processes by rules, regulations, and conventions. He expanded the concept of Crisis in an Arabic book titled I’marat al-A’rd fi al-I'slam. His most recent book, Qas al-Haq which took him more than 20 years to write (about 1700 pages) is an attempt to explain patterns of economic behaviours, empowerment, justice, equity, industrialization, globalization, sustainability and the societies progress.

Jamel is the recipient of The King Fahd Awards Competition for Design and Research in Islamic Architecture in 1986; and of the 2007 First Award of the Organization of Islamic Capitals and Cities. Jamel is much proud of a letter of recommendation from his mentor N. John Habraken who taught at MIT for 14 years. In his letter, Habraken stated: "I do not believe in all my years of teaching to have met another student who matched the combination of research skills and ability for theoretical constructs that he brought with him to MIT"

From 1984 to 2016, Jamel taught at the University of Dammam. However, in 1990 he taught at MIT as a visiting associate professor. He held few academic positions at University of Dammam such as vice dean and department chairman. He also participated in several external academic activities such as serving as a technical reviewer for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for three cycles. For five years he served as the Head of the "Scientific Editing Team" of the "King Abdullah Project for the expansion of the Holy Mosque in Mecca". He was the Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Umran Society (the equivalent of Architects, Urban Designers and Planners Scientific Associations in other countries).

Jamel Akbar studied architecture at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia from 1972-1977. Then he went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1978-1984 where he had both M.Arch.A.S. and Ph.D. degrees. During his studies at MIT, he had the chance to teach several courses with Prof N. John Habraken and Stanford Anderson.

Jamel Akbar (born 26 May 1954, Taif, Hijaz, Saudi Arabia) is an architect, educator, and theorist. His theoretical contributions are in the field of the built environment. His major contribution is in measuring the quality of the built environment through concepts such as responsibility, control, ownership and interventions. His work concentrates on humans' and properties’ rights among individuals, institutions and the State. By comparing such rights in different cultures he developed conclusions concerning economic and social settings and their ramifications on the quality of the built environment.