There was also a talk by SODIC architect Marcus ElKatscha on the design principles of the new EastTown and WestTown developments (these are up-scale suburban downtowns meant to cater to the residents of 6th of October and Kattameya). ElKatscha’s presentation didn’t go over that well with the mostly young, artsy, lefty crowd (he got a lot of questions like “Don’t you only want to attract a certain kind of people?”). For me, the fact that the planned developments are upscale isn’t necessarily a problem–every city in the world has “fancy” neighborhoods, and our beloved Downtown Cairo used to be one. And the idea of providing the already existing Eastern and Western suburbs of Cairo with some sort of downtown is actually quite intelligent–it’s clearly what’s missing. But the architectural style was quite bland, and what troubles me more is the deployment of the terms “mixed-use.” The new developments will mix commercial and residential space, and ElKatscha seemed to suggest that in of of itself this lent diversity to the proposed neighborhood, whereas I think it’s quite clear that it will be socioeconomically homogenous. ElKatscha also described Downtown, Garden City, Maadi and Helipolis as “mixed use,” something I found very confusing. I live in Garden City and it’s overwhelmingly residential–whereas all of central Cairo (including lower-class, unplanned neighborhoods) strikes me as the essence of “mixed use.” Finally, SODIC’s planners claim their mixed-use downtowns will cut down commuting time and be environmentally responsible–but while the wealthy house-wife who lives there may be able to walk to the mall, I wonder how far all the servers, shop assistants, cleaners and domestic workers will have to commute (I didn’t see that the plan included any low income housing). In any case, it was fascinating to get this glimpse into the future of Cairo’s development, although I hear that in the current economic climate all these developments have slowed if not come to a complete halt.
Mapping Cairo’s future
Just before I left Cairo, last weekend, I attended this symposium on “Urban Trajectories in Cairo.” It was organized by new entity called Pericenter Projects, and included videos and talks by artists, designers, architects, sociologists. It was very interesting. I particularly enjoyed a new video by Aglaia Konrad, entitled “Desert Cities,” which consists of 58 minutes of footage of (rather forlorn-looking) developments all around the edges of city. And a talk entitled “Legalizing an Urban Tumour” by designer Marwan Fayed, who presented a number of “case studies” of the creative adjustments of Cairo residents to their urban surroundings, as well as a number of suggested design interventions based on the observed needs of city residents–these included an “expandable” koshk and a bus stop whose roof projected into the street to shade bus passengers waiting scattered in the street. (I’m trying to get the whole presentation online).
pericenter sounds interesting.
elkatscha deserves praise for braving the lefty cairo arts crowd! either that or he was expecting a sales pitch to a wealthy art-loving demographic. i think many of these ‘gated master-planned mixed-use’ developments springing up around cairo’s outskirts represent the private sector coming in to fill the vacuum left by the authorities’ urban planning failures.
sodic’s architectural plans may be on the ‘bland’ side but in the context of other developers’ aesthetic inclinations i think they deserve some praise for avoiding the kitschy pastiche-y pseudo-retro dubai-inspired stylistics all too common globally.
projecting bus stop roofs over the streets sounds fun but getting commuters onto pavements (which involves getting working pavements i know) is a less interesting but more genuine ‘design intervention’.
The most important take out from Markus El Katsha’s presentation is that SODIC’s projects are delivering on a pressing need. Cairo is bursting at the seams. Originally designed for 5 million people it now holds over 20 million inhabitants! Cairo’s population is growing by 430,000 every year! Where are all these people going? They are living in non-regulated and non-planned homes. We need properly planned urban areas. The last time that anything was master-planned properly was Heliopolis over 100 years ago. Similar to what the Baron Empain envisioned, SODIC’s Eastown and Westown are meant to create urban hubs to the East and West of Cairo. So that people living in Kattameya and Sheikh Zayed (each estimated to reach over 2.5 million population in the near future) do not need to get into their cars and commute to Mohandesseen or down town Cairo for all their needs – be it work, shopping or recreating. Eastown and Westown are designed to be poles for services, entertainment, civic needs as well as residential and office space. If Cairo is to grow in a more structured way then more master-planning is required – and SODIC’s projects are a huge step in the right direction. SODIC could have built another gated community in these areas, but they chose to do something more meaningful and more useful for the future growth of Cairo. Thank you Markus for your presentation! We all can’t wait for Eastown and Westown to come up!