Francesco Siravo
Culture-Based Economic Development
Technical Director - Conservation
Francesco Siravo is an Italian architect specialised in historic preservation and town planning. He received his professional degrees from the University of Rome, ‘La Sapienza’, and studied historic preservation at the College of Europe, Bruges and Columbia University, New York. Since I991, he has worked for the Historic Cities Programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) with responsibility for planning and building projects in various Islamic cities, including Cairo, Lahore, Mopti, Mostar, Penang, Samarkand and Zanzibar.
Before joining AKTC, he consulted for local municipalities, governmental and international organizations, including UNESCO, UNDP and ICCROM, and in projects financed by the World Bank. Previous work included the preparation of conservation plans for Rome, Lucca, Urbino and Anagni in Italy, and for the old town of Lamu in Kenya. He has been visiting lecturer at ICCROM, the University of Rome and Cassino, and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as written books, articles and papers on various architectural conservation and town planning subjects, including Zanzibar: A Plan for the Historic Stone Town (1996) and Planning Lamu: Conservation of an East African Seaport (1986). His latest publication, Issues in Urban Conservation, was awarded the 2021 Antoinette Forrester Downing Book Award by the Society of Architectural Historians.