Egypt

Cairo’s street vendors and the contestation of public space

Street vending is at the heart of larger questions concerning the contestation and negotiation of public space in Cairo.

User-driven housing construction: lessons from Cairo

In Cairo, informal modes of housing production create a resilient and user-generated city.

Reimagining Cairo through its passageways

The Cairo Laboratory for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research is redesigning city passageways to activate underused public spaces downtown.

New New Cairo: How to make sense of Egypt’s capital plans

Last month, Egypt’s Housing Minister announced plans to build a new capital city not far from Cairo. Could the new city be just another ‘castle in the sand?’

A pastiche of the streets in Cairo

Photographer Roy M Gunnels documents life on Cairo’s Muizz Street.

The man next to the governor: how a police state ruined a city

In June of 2013 a group of heritage activists, architects, and concerned citizens organized a protest outside the Cairo governorate regarding the speedy deterioration of historic Cairo. The historic city had been suffering for years but since 2011 the process of deterioration had increased to an unprecedented pace with new constructions rising in the small plots between registered buildings and with architectural details disappearing from buildings daily.

10 must-watch videos to understand Egypt’s urban challenges

Right to Housing is an initiative that aims to link contemporary urban challenges with the notion of the “right to housing.” If that right is constitutionally protected and guaranteed, urban activists argue, it could lead to the drafting of policies that will respond to the many negative aspects of urban and rural life in Egypt. … Continued

Burgers, neighbourhoods and Egypt’s non-system

With new restaurants opening every week in Cairo it may appear that the government has been promoting and encouraging entrepreneurship and facilitating the opening of new restaurants and cafes in some parts of the city as a way to stimulate the local economy towards recovery. While the revolution seems to have been nearly all but … Continued

Cairo’s informed/informal brick cities

Informal communities are quite a fashionable topic these days. Most people use the term ‘informal communities’ as a more polite/academic way to say slums, favelas, etc. These words conjure up images of shanty towns in places like India and Brazil. The reality is that there is a huge gradient of community types that fall under … Continued

Two court cases and the future of Cairo

In the midst of recent political turmoil there have been developments in two court cases which have gone largely unnoticed. In both cases private property was targeted for confiscation using state institutions as a vehicle for private investment to acquire these properties. In both cases the state mobilized its security apparatus and even used lethal … Continued

Call for papers: Cities’ identity through architecture and arts

Conference will investigate new approaches developed in architecture and contemporary arts and will focus on the basis of urban life and identities.

Roberto Cimetta Fund: Open Call for Travel Grants

The Roberto Cimetta Fund is launching the second 2015 open call for travel grants from 1st to 30th April 2015. Artists and cultural operators living and working in the Euro-Arab geographical region can apply in Arabic, English or French. Priority is given to mobility from the South and East of these regions.

The open call concerns two separate mobility funds: the RCF/Valletta 2018 Fund, and the RCF/Conseil Général Bouches-du-Rhône Fund. This call is therefore open for travel related to specific criteria of Valletta 2018 (indicated on RCF’s website), as well as travel from or to the Bouches-du-Rhône and from the cooperation zones of this county (indicated on RCF’s website).

Cairo: Restoration? And the Limits of Street Politics

In this piece, I argue that the city of Cairo has witnessed unprecedented urban transformations for the past 4 years, owing to urban wars and confrontations during the two regimes that followed Mubarak’s ouster. Street politics, although mesmerizing, have been highly exhausting. With the reemergence of the army in civil life, after the ousting of … Continued

“Egypt Desert Dreams” — Dispelling the myth of desert development in Egypt

David Sims offers well-rounded critique of desert development policies in Egypt over past 50 years.

When revolution meets design studio: Initiating academic debate on “a new urban order” in Cairo

Report on an initiative led by the Architectural Department at Cairo University to develop the graduation projects of the class of 2011 into a contribution to the ongoing restructuring of the city and public space.

The impact of urban planning policies on urban division in Cairo

This paper investigates the relationship between urban policies and socioeconomic division on a micro level.

Collective planning process: a driving seat for formalising urban informality in Egypt

This paper examines the Detailed Plans for Urban Expansion Areas (DPUEA) for cities in Egypt.

Sustainable community and user-controlled housing processes in Cairo, Egypt: ‘no-harm’ principle as a regulatory mechanism

Sustainable communities cannot be achieved without genuine community participation, especially in housing decision-making processes. User-controlled housing is increasingly perceived as a credible means for community involvement in housing processes.

(Re) making trajectories: Eviction, control and power

The City of Cairo has experienced a major shift in its urban planning attitude and practice since the mid 1970s. The article examines how institutional claims over space reassembled alternative definitions of quality of life in one of Cairo’s oldest quarters, and how ambitious planning schemes were mostly driven by entrepreneurial rather than societal goals.

Urban Egypt: On the Road from Revolution to the State? Governance, the Built Environment, and Social Justice

Building on the work of “TADAMUN: The Cairo Urban Solidarity Initiative,” and in light of global experiences in participatory local governance, this article argues that reforming local government through institutionalizing communication channels between citizens and the state and broadening their engagement through coalitions, creating new channels for government accountability and responsiveness, and providing more equitable services, may help meet the demands for social injustice generated by the 2011 Revolution and consolidate the democratic process in Egypt.

Residents Lead: User-Controlled Housing Practices and Attitudes in Poor Communities in Cairo, Egypt

It is argued that low-income public housing in Cairo has witnessed shortcomings in responding to its inhabitants’ needs. The expert-based, top-down approach in housing processes, widely adopted in most developing countries, including Egypt, is argued to be the main reason for these shortcomings.

Community-led infrastructure development in informal areas in urban Egypt: A case study

This article examines how infrastructure development takes place outside of formal government involvement through the successful implementation of self-help projects by the residents of an informal area in Egypt. Drawing on a case study of community-based efforts in Ezbet el-Haggana, one of Cairo’s largest informal areas, this study focuses on how residents have organized to … Continued