Cairo is a city where three eras of history, and their urban formations, cohabitate, not always in harmony, writes Abou Zeid Rageh Cairo is not one city; in reality, it consists of three successive cities clearly separated from one another. The first city is the "heritage city" built during the Islamic eras prior to the 19th century. The second city was built in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, during the rule of the Mohamed Ali dynasty. It can be called the "Alaweyad city", and is sometimes known as the "Khedive city". The great expansions around the city in all directions that took place recently, in the second half of the 20th century marks the emergence of the third, or "informal city". Each one of these three cities carries the distinct architectural and urban characteristics -- and even lifestyle -- of the historical epoch to which it belongs. Moving from one city to another is like moving from one historical era to another. A walk through Cairo is indeed a walk through history. The first, or medieval city This city was built over the period of about 13 centuries, by the Tolounians, the Fatimids, the Ayyoubis, the Mameluks, and the Ottoman dynasties. Each dynasty added to the city great buildings and monuments that made Cairo the largest and the greatest open museum of Islamic architecture in the world. The urban fabric still has the characteristic of a medieval Islamic town: narrow and covered crooked streets, houses with inner courts and neighbourhoods set closely together. Members of each craft guild lived and worked in a neighbourhood of their own, usually named after them. It was a socio-economic entity, forming with other neighbourhoods the general urban and social pattern of the city. The city has two main arteries: Al-Moezz Street, which extends from Bab Zeweila in the south to Bab Al-Foutouh to the north, and Marssina and Saleeba street, which runs from Al-Sayyeda Zeinab Square in the west to the Citadel Square in the east, passing by Ibn Tuloon Mosque. On both sides of these two main streets lie world famous mosques, as well as wikalas (warehouses and lodgings for merchants), khans (hotels), souqs (trading centres), sibeels (water fountains) and medrassas (schools). The whole city was surrounded by a high stonewall with two gates on each of its four sides. The second, or Al-Alaweyad city The second city was established by the Mohamed Ali dynasty after Egypt closed the Ottoman-Mamlouk chapter and started new era at the beginning of the 19th century. From that time onwards, Egypt adopted an open door policy to Western culture and civilisation; Western influence gradually increased to cover almost all walks of life. Large foreign communities -- Greeks, Italians, Armenians and others -- became integral part of the Cairene social fabric. Khedive Ismail played a leading role in the construction of this cosmopolitan city. He spent part of his youth in Vienna and Paris, where he saw Haussman planning the "city of light" as we know it today. When he was named as Wali of Egypt, he made his policy clear: to make Egypt part of Europe. He summoned one of Haussman's assistants to help him in the planning of new Cairo. He moved the seat of power to Abdeen Palace after it had remained for 1,000 years in the Citadel. He established the ministries district beside his palace, constructed Mohamed Ali Avenue with its famous arcades to connect old Cairo with his new capital and planned the downtown district to be the business centre of the city. The city centre, indeed, looks almost like a Parisian quarter; it has a French character in its planning and distinguished Western styles in its buildings. After building Aswan Dam at the beginning of the 20th century, the Nile took its final stable course and it became possible for urban development to move westward. Garden City and Zamalek were built in the west. Maadi was built in the south and Heliopolis in the north. Urban expansion continued and over passed the river to the Giza side. These neighbourhoods were inhabited by the upper class of Egyptian society and also by the wealthy foreign community at that time. They had different European architectural styles. Al-Maadi was built in English countryside cottage style, while in Zamalek and Garden City distinguished villas were built in French and Italian styles. Such an excellent neo- classical architectural collection -- before many were demolished -- was rarely found in any other city outside Cairo. In Heliopolis, there was an attempt to give its buildings an Islamic look, despite the fact that it has a Western urban layout. These neighbourhoods were well planned according to European standards at the time: wide streets, large green areas and low population density. Both the planning and the design expressed the lifestyle of the district's dwellers. The middle classes, particularly governmental employees, have their own neighbourhoods: Abbassia, Shoubra, Al-Rodah and others. The planning of these neighbourhoods was linear in character. A main single wide street in the middle, acting like a backbone for the neighbourhood, with a network of narrow streets stretching out on both sides. The main street was the shopping and entertainment centre of the area. Also here, urban planning and architectural character expressed the life pattern and cultural values of the inhabitants of these districts. The old city has a genuine Islamic character in architecture and urban setting, while the Alaweyad city has its obvious European form and style. Yet both have great historical value. The planning of each represents a cohesive culture and unity of thought, and expresses a stable and harmonious social order. But both cities were two separate closed communities. They were two different worlds living side- by-side without much human or cultural contact. This was a story of two cities; the old and the new, before they were faced with radical changes in the second half of the 20th century that undermined their social and urban systems, and let two great civilisations to go with the wind. Winds of change The change that took place in the Egyptian society, particularly in cities within the second half of the 20th century was deep and complex. It has more that one aspect. First, is the general trend in Third World societies towards industrialisation and urbanisation; second, is the high rate of increase of population. Mid-20th century, Egypt had a population of about 20 million inhabitants. Now it has about 76 million. Cairo then had two million inhabitants. Presently its population reaches over 12 million. The third change is the huge migration from rural areas to cities, particularly to big urban centres as Cairo and Alexandria. Most of these migrants are of limited income groups without any handicraft or vocational skills, and they work mostly in marginal activities. They brought with them to the cities the rural way of life that they were used to back in their villages. There was no national or regional or local planning to manage these changes or direct their course. Thus the door was wide open for the huge expansion of informal settlements around the city that we may call the third or "informal city". The third, or informal city The vast expansion that took place during the last 50 years resembles a fast and sudden urban explosion extended outward from the nucleus of the city toward its outside edges. Nasr City was built in the east, Al-Mohandiseen in the west, and large extensions were added to existing districts such as Maadi in the south and Heliopolis in the north. Huge informal neighbourhoods were built, outside the official supervision of the government, surrounding the city from all directions. The urban quality of life in these informal neighbourhoods is extremely low. They lack proper living conditions: high population density, shortage in utilities and a lack of social services. Streets are narrow -- not wide enough, sometimes, to allow the passing of ambulances, police and fire-fighting trucks. Natural lighting and ventilation are not sufficiently available. Buildings were poorly constructed and without any architectural merits. In brief, they are merely functional in an urban chaos. While the other two cities represent cultural values, this third city represents nothing of the sort. The third city was built in a revolutionary era. Harmony, beauty and high standard of urban life were not a priority for all decision makers. Different channels were opened between the three cities that led to a mixing of diversified activities, a clash of behaviours and attitudes, and general architectural distortion in all of these three cities. It should be noted that the last city was built in only 50 years, yet its area is about six times the area of the other two, which took more than 1,000 years to build together. The diagrammatic shape of Cairo is like three consecutive circles; the old city is located in the centre of the first circle, followed by the Alaweyyad in the second circle, then the informal city in the outer circle. Cairo today A special study of the quality of urban life in the largest 100 cities of the world was recently undertaken. The study included numerous indicators such as population density, share of green area per individual, level of noise, pollution, and the quality of living environments, etc. The city of Melbourne in Australia occupied first place, while the city of Cairo was down at 84th. Population density, for instance, reaches an average of 36,000 persons per kilometre- square -- reaching 100,000 in some neighbourhoods -- while density in large Western cities does not exceed 8,000. The share of each individual in green space areas is only 30 centimetres square for Cairo, while in Western capitals it amounts to 18 metres square on average. Meanwhile, Cairo's air pollution almost reaches the highest level globally. The total number of inhabitants living in informal areas in Greater Cairo is estimated to be six millions. Informal settlements have spread quickly and widely with the housing crisis during the late decades. About 60 per cent of units built during this era were informal units. While informal neighbourhoods are surrounding the city from the outside, besieging it from all directions, marginal housing, huts and single-room living, are concentrated in the old city and its neighbouring districts. Single-room living is when a whole family, males and females of different ages, are jammed in one sole room without any utilities. They share with other families a single toilet. Twenty per cent of families in Cairo dwell in one room. This rate increases in some districts; for instance, it is over 40 per cent in Bab Al-Shaareyya and Al-Khalifa. It is worth mentioning that the number of people living in the City of the Dead amounts to 600,000 persons. Informal housing outside, and marginal housing inside, are suitable incubators for all sorts of social distortion. The Alaweyad city has its share of urban distortion. Commercial, financial and tourist activities crept into residential areas like Zamalek and Garden City. This creeping business led to the demolishing of many villas with large gardens, replaced by high towers and massive concrete constructions. Commercialism and business investments have not much regard for aesthetics. Consequently, these neighbourhoods have lost a great deal of their architectural wealth and urban harmony. * The writer is ex-Chairman of the National Research Centre of Housing and Building.
