Executive Director & Cofounder 

Jasmin Aber is a German licensed Architect, trained in the UK (RIBA I & II certification from Royal Institute of British Architects), an Urbanist with 25+ years of experience as a design practitioner (UK, Germany, US), an academic with published papers and contributing book chapters, an educator, mentor, and co-curator of architecture and design exhibitions. She is the co-founder and executive director of the CEL Center for Architecture + Design (501c3), a unique design non-profit (501c3).

CEL Studio-LAB: a Public Interest Design (PID) studio committed to providing Architecture, Design, Planning services also to under-served and under-invested communities. CEL Exhibitions: City’s cultural venue for architecture, design, and the built environment, informed by the complexity of the City’s urban fabric and in dialogue with the local and global community. CEL design and the City think-tank: social innovation, urban innovation (Smart Cities), and social Justice by design. CEL is committed to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Jasmin has experience leading large teams of design and planning professionals. Her research work and design practice take a particular interest in equitable culture-led planning, utilizing City’s arts and cultural assets (music, art, and heritage) for placemaking and equitable, sustainable economic development where potential.  Her research works pivots; Urban Innovation the role of new media and technology (Ai).

As a contributing research member of the ‘Shrinking Cities International Researchers Network’ (SCiRN) initiated at UC Berkeley California Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD) in 2002. SCiRN’s teams of international scholars study the phenomenon of urban decline around the world, make mitigation strategies and policy recommendations on a case-study basis.

Amongst her design awards; National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Katherine Dunham recognition award, Missouri Humanities award, and German DAAD award (IFU 2000 Women& Globalization). A TEDx speaker and fellow: Planning and Designing for Creative Collisions and Innovation.

Languages: She writes and speaks fluently: English, German, Farsi, and basic French.