Alaa Dia is a researcher, lecturer, and architect in Urban Studies at the University of Basel, where he teaches in the Critical Urbanisms Master’s program. His work examines how borders are designed, built, and inhabited, with a focus on infrastructure, migration governance, and design politics. He holds a PhD in Urban Studies from the University of Basel, a Master’s in Urban Design from ETH Zürich, and a Master’s degree in Architecture from the Lebanese University. His research has analysed EU reception and identification centres across the Mediterranean, with particular attention to how border infrastructures shape mobility, containment, and everyday spatial practices.

• Critical Border Studies and Migration Governance
• Science and Technology Studies (STS)
• Border Architecture and Infrastructure 
• Critical Cartography and Visual Methods

• Mediterranean
• European borderlands
• Switzerland