CLIMATE FUTURES RESIDENCY

AUGUST 2026 - OCTOBER 2026

RESIDENCY 1: READING THE VALLEY

The first residency focuses on understanding the current realities of Shigar.

Two practitioners will spend two weeks researching, observing and engaging with local

communities and stakeholders.

Areas of inquiry may include:

Climate change and glacier retreat
Water systems and environmental pressures
Tourism growth and visitor behaviour
Agriculture and changing livelihoods
Land use and development patterns
Community perspectives on the future of the valley

Resident Responsibilities:

Spend time in the community
Conduct interviews and meetings
Attend site visits
Participate in one public conversation or webinar
Maintain a record of their research and observations
Present findings at the end of the residency

Output:

Written observations
Interviews
Photography
Maps
Data and references
Key findings and questions

This research becomes the foundation for the residency.

RESIDENCY 2: IMAGINING FUTURES

The second residency builds directly on the findings generated in residency one.

Two new practitioners will be invited to respond to the research through planning, design,

policy and strategic thinking.

Areas of inquiry may include:

Climate adaptation
Regenerative tourism
Heritage-sensitive development
Public space and community infrastructure
Agricultural innovation
Long-term planning framework

Resident Responsibilities:

Review all July research materials
Meet with community stakeholders
Develop future scenarios and recommendations
Participate in one public conversation or webinar
Present proposals at the end of the residency

Output:

A set of recommendations and future scenarios for Shigar, including visual material, diagrams, planning concepts or policy suggestions where relevant.

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ADVISORY BOARD

TARIQ ALEXANDER QAISER

Tariq Alexander Qaiser is a Karachi based architect, environmentalist, writer, poet, filmmaker, photographer and lover of nature. With 39 years of experience in architecture, he specialises in designing schools and hospitals. He has been visiting faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston for eight years, lecturing on airborne infection control and healthcare design.

Tariq is the author of three bilingual books and has showcased his films, photographs, and paintings in 13 group and solo gallery exhibitions. Recently he contributed his work to the Lahore Biennial 03 and exhibited his film The End of Holocene, at the Lahore Fort. Time Magazine featured an 8-page spread on Tariq in their July 2022 Oceans Issue, highlighting his efforts to preserve Karachi's island mangroves. Tariq spoke on behalf of Pakistan at COP27 in Sharm al Sheikh, Egypt, presenting his film 'A STORY OF SURVIVAL.' Currently, Tariq is actively engaged in awareness creation for mangrove conservation and environmental regeneration efforts, through art, film, writing and public speaking. He continues to manage his architectural practice & finances his environmental work through this.

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JAVERIA MASOOD

Javeria Masood is a governance and strategic foresight practitioner working on climate resilience, crisis response and institutional transformation across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Her work examines how public institutions, infrastructure, and political decision-making shape everyday experiences of climate risk, inequality, and resilience under conditions of uncertainty and stress. Moving between policy processes and place-based inquiry, she brings together systems thinking, ethnography, and community knowledge to understand how climate futures are formed, governed, and negotiated in the present. Her practice is grounded in anticipatory governance, with a focus on how societies prepare for and respond to compounding climate and crisis risks. She works across governments, the United Nations system, and multilateral institutions, translating between institutional design and lived realities.

Her current work includes food systems under climate stress and crisis, alongside broader inquiries into how infrastructure, governance, and social systems shape uneven climate futures.

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SAMIR SADRUDIN

Trained in Canada and the United States, Samir spent much of his career in Canada working on a wide range of projects both locally and internationally. His work in China, the Middle East and Pakistan provided opportunities to engage with diverse contexts, each presenting its own unique challenges and requirements. These experiences broadened his perspective, allowing him to travel extensively and develop an adaptable approach to architecture and design.

In Pakistan, he spent 17 years with the Aga Khan University, leading healthcare and education projects across Pakistan, Afghanistan, East Africa and the United Kingdom. This role offered the opportunity to contribute to projects that shaped the University's long-term development, making it one of the most rewarding periods of his professional career.

He currently leads Naheed Mashooqullah Studio for Interior Design and Architecture, undertaking residential, retail, commercial and hospitality projects across Pakistan, with selected international commissions. Among the most fulfilling aspects of his practice has been the design of hotels in the northern regions of Pakistan. Together with his wife, Naheed, he is also building their home in Hunza, a deeply personal project that reflects a longstanding connection to the region.

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SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a two-time Academy Award–winning filmmaker and cultural leader whose work explores the intersection of storytelling, social justice, and climate resilience. Over the past decade, she has built one of Pakistan's most sustained bodies of climate-focused media and educational programming, using film, books, animation, and public engagement to make the climate crisis accessible to new audiences.

Through SOC Films, she has produced more than fifteen films documenting the human impact of climate change across Pakistan. Her initiatives include Pakistan's Climate Change Heroes, a nationwide film and book project celebrating local environmental changemakers, and Champions of Climate Change, a documentary series highlighting communities adapting to the climate crisis. She also produced Pakistan's first Urdu-language animated series on climate change for children, encouraging environmental awareness through stories about biodiversity and conservation.

In 2022, she founded the Patakha Pictures Film Fund, whose Her Earth Advocates initiative supports women filmmakers telling stories about climate change, environmental justice, displacement, and resilience.

She is also the founder of Neela Asmaan, a new cultural institution in the Karakoram that brings together artists, scientists, technologists, and researchers to explore creativity, culture, and climate futures. Located in one of the world's most climate-vulnerable mountain regions, Neela Asmaan reflects her commitment to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and advancing new approaches to environmental stewardship.

She believes that powerful stories can shift perspectives, inspire action, and help shape a more just and sustainable future.

RESIDENTS

Residents will be announced soon.