Attiq Uddin Ahmed is an architect and urban designer by training. Director of Newsweek Pakistan, Associated Group and the Zohra and Z Z Ahmed Foundation as well as the CEO of AEDL – his  architectural design practice is based in Lahore. He is also the director of the Office for Conservation and Community Outreach (OCCO), an urban think tank devoted to mapping and understanding Lahore. Mr. Ahmed has served as a faculty member teaching architecture and urban design at the National College of Arts and Beaconhouse National University, as well as lectured at Syracuse University. He is currently working on a book titled ‘Surrealistan: Heroic adventures in architecture in Pakistan’.  He is a graduate of the National College of Arts and of Columbia University (New York). He is also a freelance journalist and photographer contributing to various publications in the country; some of his work has been published in  'Absolutely Public - Crossover: Art and Architecture.'