Cairo: Cairo University announced that two student teams from the Faculty of Engineering's Department of Architectural Engineering won first and second places at the 7th edition of the Urban Farm 2026 international competition.
According to State Information Service Egypt, the global competition was organized by the University of Bologna in Italy, in cooperation with the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain, concluding with broad international academic participation.
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Out of 14 competing teams comprising 74 students from top global universities, only 9 teams qualified for the final phase following rigorous evaluations by an international jury of seven experts. Cairo University students outperformed teams representing Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Hungary, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
The "Urban Revival Studio" team, consisting of third-year architectural engineering students Farida Omar Abdel-Mottaleb Morsi and Mishkat Omair Abdullah Al-Noor, won the first-place prize. Meanwhile, the "Radix Sant Cosme" team, which included third-year student Dareen Ashraf El-Sayed and postgraduate student Abdel-Rahman Khaled Zahran, secured second place.
Cairo University President Mohamed Sami Abdel-Sadek stated that this achievement reflects the university's prominent regional and international standing and embodies its strategy to prepare globally competitive graduates. He added that the university pays great attention to supporting student innovation and providing an environment that channels ideas into pioneer projects supporting sustainable development goals.
For his part, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Mohamed Shawky expressed pride in the milestone, noting that it reflects the faculty's commitment to linking education with practical applications and contemporary global challenges, particularly sustainability and urban development.
Mohsen Mohamed Abou El-Naga, Professor of Sustainable Built Environment and academic supervisor of the teams, explained that the competition aimed to develop multi-functional spaces integrating agriculture, education, and recreation, while promoting smart, sustainable urban agriculture to enhance social interaction and sustainable food research.
The international Urban Farm competition launched in 2019 and stands as one of the most prominent academic competitions specialized in sustainability and urban design. Cairo University students have maintained a distinguished presence since its inception, with the 2019 winning team receiving a presidential honor from President Abdel Fattah El Sisi during the World Youth Forum in Aswan.
This year's edition saw the participation of prestigious global institutions, including Cairo University, the University of Bologna (Italy), KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (Sweden), the Technical University of Munich (Germany), the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences in Budapest (Hungary), and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).