Understanding Cairo

Sims David

Description

New paperback edition, with a post-revolution afterword
This book moves beyond superficial generalizations about Cairo as a chaotic metropolis in the developing world into an analysis of the ways the city's eighteen million inhabitants have, in the face of a largely neglectful government, built and shaped their own city. Using a wealth of recent studies on Greater Cairo and a deep reading of informal urban processes, the city and its recent history are portrayed and mapped: the huge, spontaneous neighborhoods; housing; traffic and transport; city government; and its people and their enterprises.
The book argues that understanding a city such as Cairo is not a daunting task as long as pre-conceived notions are discarded and care is taken to apprehend available information and to assess it with a critical eye. In the case of Cairo, this approach leads to a conclusion that the city can be considered a kind of success story, in spite of everything.
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Acknowledgments
Foreword Janet Abu-Lughod
Introduction
1. Imaging Cairo
2. Cairo is Egypt and Egypt is Cairo
3. A History of Modern Cairo: Three Cities in One
4. Informal Cairo Triumphant
5. Housing Real and Speculative
6. The Desert City Today
7. Working in the City
8. City on the Move: A Complementary Informality?
9. Governing Cairo
10. Summing Up: Cairo Serendipity?
Postscript: Revolutionary Cairo One Year On
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Sociology
• Urban

Informations

• Publié par: The American University in Cairo Press
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781617973888
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Understanding Cairo

First published in 2010 by The American University in Cairo Press 113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018 www.aucpress.com
Copyright © 2010 David Sims
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Dar el Kutub No. 2378/10 ISBN 978 977 416 404 0
Dar el Kutub Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sims, David
Understanding Cairo: The Logic of a City Out of Control / David Sims.—Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2010
p.       cm.
ISBN 978 977 416 404 0
      1. Cairo (Egypt)—Description and Travel    I. Title
916.216
1 2 3 4 5 6  15 14 13 12 11 10
Designed by Adam el-Sehemy
Contents
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Acknowledgments
Foreword Janet Abu-Lughod
Introduction

1  Imaging Cairo
2  Cairo is Egypt and Egypt is Cairo
3  A History of Modern Cairo: Three Cities in One
4  Informal Cairo Triumphant
5  Housing Real and Speculative
6  The Desert City Today
7  Working in the City
8  City on the Move: A Complementary Informality?
9  Governing Cairo
10 Summing Up: Cairo Serendipity?
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Maps
Map

0   Greater Cairo Base Map 2009.
00  Central Greater Cairo Base Map 2009.
1.1  Cairo built-up area in 1798 compared to 2009.
2.1  Greater Cairo topography, 2006.
3.1  Built-up area of Cairo in 1950 compared to 2009.
3.2  Greater Cairo in 2006: extents of the three cities.
3.3  Greater Cairo’s formal and informal cities, 2005.
3.4  Greater Cairo peri-urban areas, 2008.
4.1  Informal areas of Greater Cairo by typology in 2000.
4.2  Recent informal development on desert land in the al-Suf and ‘Atfih areas.
4.3  Large informal areas of Greater Cairo in 2008.
6.1  Greater Cairo: new town boundaries in 2009.
6.2  Sixth of October boundary expansion.
6.3  Greater Cairo’s western desert in 2009.
6.4  Greater Cairo’s eastern desert in 2009.
7.1  Greater Cairo: main formal industrial areas in 2007.
7.2  Distribution of establishments in Greater Cairo 1996.
8.1  Greater Cairo: metro lines 1–4.
8.2  Greater Cairo: regional roads and second Ring Road.
8.3  Greater Cairo expressways in 2007.
Illustrations
Figure

1.1   Typical older housing in Qaytbay village.
1.2   Typical street in the Northern (Mamluk) Cemeteries.
2.1   Urban and rural areas of Giza’s urban fringe according to the 1996 Census.
3.1   Part of Mohandiseen.
3.2   Public housing estate of ‘economic’ units, 1960s, Helwan.
3.3   Part of Madinat Nasr, developed in the 1970s.
3.4   Al-Nahda public housing estate.
3.5   Contrasting fabrics: Dokki versus Bulaq al-Dakrur.
3.6   Semi-structured informal area, part of the shiyakha of al-Masakin al-Amiriya.
3.7   Extensive infill between villages of Dar al-Salam and al-Basatin.
3.8   Informal expansion in al-Munira al-Gharbiya.
3.9   Informal infill between villages of Saft al-Laban and Kafr al-Taharmus.
3.10  Tenth of Ramadan New Town, started in the late 1970s.
3.11  Off-plan developments near pyramids of Giza, started in the late 1970s.
3.12  Population growth of component parts of Greater Cairo 1946–2006.
4.1   Informal housing construction off the Ring Road in al-Baragil, 2001.
4.2   Village-style informal buildings, al-Bashtil, Giza.
4.3   Recent classic informal buildings, al-Munira al-Gharbiya.
4.4   Recent classic informal buildings in Khusus, next to Ring Road.
4.5   New one-off tower blocks in Bulaq al-Dakrur.
4.6   One-off tower blocks on fringe of Bulaq al-Dakrur, 2009.
4.7   Informal one-off tower buildings in Dar al-Salam.
4.8   Evolution of different types of informal housing in ‘Izbit Bikhit.
4.9   Slum pocket behind former Rod al-Farag wholesale market.
4.10  Tight living in old raba ’ type housing in ‘Izbit Bikhit.
4.11  Informal development by converted agricultural strips in al-Bashtil, Giza.
4.12  Recent informal development on hillsides in Wadi Pharaon.
4.13  Contrasting urban fabrics over nine hundred years.
4.14  Two apartment units in an informal building in Manshiyat Nasir.
4.15  Three apartment units in an informal building in Zenin (Bulaq al-Dakrur).
4.16  Two apartment units in an informal building in Imbaba.
4.17  Horizontal expansion into agricultural land in the shiyakha of Helwan al-Balad.
4.18  Recent detail of informal area of al-Khanka.
5.1   Typical narrow lane, Bulaq al-Dakrur.
5.2   Older public housing blocks circa 1985 in Sixth of October.
5.3   Different public housing types, Sixth of October.
5.4   Demolished ground-floor shop in public housing in Sixth of October.
5.5   Example of Mubarak Youth Housing in Sixth of October.
5.6   Largely vacant public housing, al-Shuruq New Town, 2006.
5.7   National Housing Program housing blocks, Sixth of October.
5.8   Example of ibni baytak self-built housing, Sixth of October.
5.9   National Housing Program block under construction, Sixth of October.
6.1   Part of industrial zone of Sixth of October, started in 1983.
6.2   Panorama of part of Sixth of October.
6.3   Central spine of New Cairo in relatively built-up area.
6.4   Panorama of mature part of Sheikh Zayed.
6.5   Patchy development in al-‘Ubur New Town.
6.6   Patchy development in al-Shuruq New Town.
6.7   Transport problems inside Sixth of October.
6.8   New Cairo on the way to the American University in Cairo campus.
6.9   Successful gated residential compound, al-Shuruq New Town.
6.10  New Cairo subdivision, zoned for four-story apartment blocks.
6.11  Still uninhabited New Cairo subdivision, zoned for multistory villas.
6.12  Sparsely inhabited subdivision, started in 1988, Sixth of October.
6.13  Off-plan villa subdivisions and gated compounds near Giza Pyramids.
6.14  Off-plan gated community al-Sulimaniya.
6.15  Off-plan government technology park, ‘Smart Village.’
8.1   Passenger transport in Greater Cairo, 1971–98.
8.2   Minibuses competing for passengers, Munib.
8.3   Minibuses stopping for passengers at Ismailiya Canal Road off-ramp.
8.4   Informal public transport interchange on Ring Road.
8.5   Clogged main road serving north Bulaq al-Dakrur.
8.6   Narrow unpaved lane in very dense residential area, ‘Izbit al-Matar.
8.7    Tuk-tuk repair shop, Waraq al-‘Arab.
9.1   Government water main serving informal areas of Manshiyat Nasir.
9.2   Local sewers and house connections, ‘Izbit Bikhit.
Tables
Tables

2.1  Urban Egypt Household Income and Expenditure Distribution by Decile (2004/2005).
3.1  Evolution of the Population of Greater Cairo and Its Component Parts (1947–2009).
4.1  Large Informal Agglomerations in Greater Cairo (2006).
6.1  New Towns around Greater Cairo.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
  ADSL broadband connection AUC The American University in Cairo CAPMAS Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics [al-Jihaz al-Markazi li-l-Ta‘bi’a al-‘Amma wa-l-Ihsa’] (Arab Republic of Egypt) CEDEJ Centre des Etudes et Documentations économiques et juridiques (independent French research center in Cairo) CNN Cable News Network GDP Gross Domestic Product GOPP General Organization for Physical Planning (affiliated to MHUUD) (Arab Republic of Egypt) GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (a German federally owned sustainable development organization) HECIS Household Expenditure, Consumption and Income Survey. See Bibliography under Arab Republic of Egypt, Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, Household Expenditure, Consumption and Income Survey. HSUE Housing Study for Urban Egypt, 2008. See Bibliography under United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Housing Study for Urban Egypt. IAURIF Institut d’Aménagement et d’Urbanisme de la Région d’Ile-de-France (French government organization) IDSC Information Decision Support Center (Arab Republic of Egypt) IGN Institut Géographique National (French government mapping agency) ILD Institute for Liberty and Democracy (Lima, Peru) INTA International New Towns Association (The Hague) JICA Japanese International Cooperation Agency (government organization) MHUUD Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Development (Arab Republic of Egypt) NGO Nongovernmental Organization NHP National Housing Program (2005–2011) (Arab Republic of Egypt) NUCA New Urban Communities Authority (Arab Republic of Egypt) SEAM Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency: Support for Environmental Assessment and Management Programme SME Small and Micro-Enterprises SPOT Satellite images from Spot Image S.A. (website: http://www.spotim