Introduction to Cairo
Cairo is a megacity of over 20 million people straddling the Nile between Upper and Lower Egypt. While earlier settlements go back to Ancient Egypt, Cairo proper was founded over 1000 years ago as the capital of the Fatimid dynasty, and has since shifted and expanded in multiple directions. Since the late nineteenth century, modern Cairo has been developing rapidly to cope with an exponential increase of population and pressure on land.
Not unlike most cities in the Global South, Cairo has been experiencing over the past few decades informal housing development around its peripheries in response to the gradual erosion of urban welfare programs. Today, the informal economy constitutes up to 50% of Egypt’s GDP, while around two-thirds of Cairo’s housing stock is produced informally. Further, informal modes of local trade, transportation and infrastructure are all a manifestation of communities’ creative response to the absence of the state’s provision.
The question of how to engage cities teaming with informality remains a core concern among researchers and practitioners alike, articulating a fine line between romanticization of self-built neighborhoods, and outright dismissal of unplanned districts. The challenge is to first understand the internal logic of these seemingly chaotic structures, then develop methods and tools to engage them on their own terms. Cairo, thus, offers an exceptionally rich laboratory to test the above questions and define a new role for architects, urbanists and creative actors.