Cairo's Urban Code: Informality as a New Way of Life in the City (original) (raw)

This Dissertation’s main focus surfaced when I became more exposed to Architecture and learned more about how cities function and grow. It has made me question the existence of these spreading settlements that are deemed by the government and the upper class of Egyptians, as ‘informal’ in the sense of lack of safety and basic services and infrastructure. I started questioning everything; while being an Egyptian citizen for all my life and living in Africa’s largest city. Growing up in the middle of the busy city of Greater Cairo, I began to realise how often one sees an informal settlement when in commute; these micro cities and societies that have been operating and existing in-between neighbourhoods and blocks for more than 50 years, started to become visible to me. I live in a neighbourhood that is considered formal, safe, and registered on the grid, but just 100 meters away, there’s a group of informal settlements that coexist. Over the summer of 2017, I spent some time visiting some of these settlements and studied the culture and the self-supporting community system that exists within. While these informal micro-cities lie on the country’s grid, they act as their own, almost separate, organism that operates within the cracks and crevices of the city. I also got a chance to relate to the people living there and create a bridge of communication between both informal and formal communities which allowed me to pick a more concentrated topic within the wider scope. The intention is to broaden the limited view of squatter settlements and informal communities around the world. The use of the term ‘informal city’ is the way of summarizing a lifestyle that has become a global phenomenon in recent years and explaining why architects should understand this particular urban practice. Informality is not a school of thought; there is a whole spectrum of views, based upon a narrative about the city between architects and non-architects and between ‘First’ and ‘Third’ world countries. The premise is that informal cities will serve as a base and of reference for evaluating the fundamental problems of cities today.

Sign up for access to the world's latest research.

checkGet notified about relevant papers

checkSave papers to use in your research

checkJoin the discussion with peers

checkTrack your impact