Alaa Dia is a Phd Student in Urban Studies at the University of Basel. He is currently working as a researcher for the project “Infrastructure space and the future of migration management: the EU Hotspots in the Mediterranean borderscape” addressing the power of infrastructure in transforming borders, handling the spatial and architectural aspect of the project. Alaa’s studies interest lies on the intersection between Architecture and Migration studies. He has received both his Bachelor and Master in Architecture at the Lebanese University in Beirut, and his postgraduate Master in Urban Design from ETH Zürich where he studied the influx of refugee communities in Germany. Prior to joining the project, Alaa worked as researcher and teaching assistant in ETH Zürich, Department of Architecture (D-ARCH).