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With most of the world`s population living in cities and urban areas, cities are currently seeking new strategies to integrate nature into the built environment. Urban waterways, and their adjacent urban areas, have been typically the main concern of these strategies. Urban waterfronts, although often sites of heavy development, are rarely designed to reflect the innate human need for contact with nature, commonly known as 'Biophilia'. Within this context, the main objective of this paper is to explore biophilic indicators in Central Cairo's waterfront, under the guidelines of 'Biophilic Urbanism' approach, which expands the practice of biophilia on the scale of cities and urban areas. The paper follows an analytical case study approach. Methods of data collection included a literature review, on-site observations, concurrent with semi-structured interviews when possible, and an online survey. An in-depth analysis of data was then carried out to assess the degree of integration of the Nile waterfront within the urban fabric of the city to identify biophilic perceptions in the waterfront. Results demonstrate that users of the Nile waterfront are rarely allowed physical access to the water. Visual access is mostly provided, with minor exceptions. Other cross-cutting findings indicate a lack of longitudinal and lateral social connectivity to the waterfront, lack of continuous appropriate pedestrian trails, and a general lack of green spaces and public amenities.

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PurposeThe world has recently faced the outbreak of an existential threat. Since December 2019, many aspects of life have changed owing to a devastating pandemic, COVID-19. The second wave started spreading in different parts of the globe. This article focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on Cairo city, regarding three upper-middle-class districts as a case study. Based on a literature review, a theoretical framework is proposed to analyse how residents changed their living, work, and leisure time habits during the outbreak of the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachA retrospective survey was conducted among the residents of three districts to investigate the new living model of adaptive, spontaneous urban and architecture design tactics that transfer people’s actual life, work, and leisure arrangements into future planning considerations.FindingsThe results reveal relevant observations about the adaptation of the existing environments of home, work, and leisure activities. From these results, different considerations and new norms emerge for housing typologies in post-pandemic Cairo.Originality/valueThe conclusions of this study introduced the new term “the fifth place” as a space-time place that could serve as a motivation for urban designers and architects to design space typologies considering the emerging circumstances.