Informality, Culture, and Informal Urban Development: a Comparative Study between Cairo and Istanbul (2013) (original) (raw)

In Cairo and in Istanbul, as in many other cities of the global south, informal settlements are the product of a process of rapid uncontrolled urbanization, containing “inequality” in dealing with its citizens, and accompanied by the failing of government’s role in providing appropriate housing. Self-help/built settlements have been the alternative by the rural-urban migrants and urban poor to fulfill their need for housing. In cities such as Istanbul and Cairo, which have a pioneering role for the country in the global competition, informal areas have been largely ignored by neo-liberal state regimes (Sims, 2011). It is not a mere coincidence that in both cities almost 60-70% of their inhabitants live in such informal settlements. Rapoport has discussed in his different writings that culture and space correlate in urban form (1977, 1990). It is striking, how many similarities can be found in the formation of informal settlement of Istanbul and Cairo while studying the relation between culture and the urban development patterns. Yet, urban mismanagement in these cities affects daily life significantly in a negative way; new definitions of urban poverty arise, new ways of inequalities come to forth, and new traps of discrimination reveal. Lifestyle influences the organization of the city through whatever variables (ethnic, religion, class, and income) so that the city is a collection of different groups, and subcultures. Urban informality turned to be a “new” way of life (Al Sayyad, 2004). Comparing and exploring the relation between the development of informal settlements and culture is the aim of this research. This demands a critical reflection to the understanding of various disciplines such as cultural anthropology and urban sociology. Theories about informality and imperfection are to be criticized by trying to develop a new way of looking at informal settlements. Arguing that informality is not a choice. We believe that crossing through theories could benefit the understanding of informality and imperfection, not only in Cairo and Istanbul, but also in many other cities. The main research question will be: how the urban development of informal areas could be considered as the outcome of the interaction between cultural factors and the urban context within the struggle of global competition? Based on selected case study areas in Cairo and Istanbul, a comparative and qualitative exploratory fieldwork research using grounded theory will be presented: our observations will be introduced via photos, videosin addition to quotes from semi-structured interviews. This research concludes that “informality” is an outcome of interrelated cultural factors, which share in the urbanization of Cairo and Istanbul through interacting with the urban context of the area, including the “formal” system.