Urban Regeneration of Public Space – Al-Alfi Street – Downtown Cairo

Abstract

Urban regeneration has been an accepted strategy for reviving city centers around the globe in Western Developed settings and in developing cities for decades. In Cairo, post January 25th Revolution, the Egyptian government sought an approach to upgrade several sites in downtown classical Cairo, to set new conditions for use of public space, to redistribute the power of authority and re-define the rules for the claim of public space of the city. The Cairo Governorate officially launched many projects within the same period; mainly focusing on refurbishing squares and streets, facades face lifting, controlling vendors' trespassing and regulating car parking space among other regulations within Downtown area. However, having accepted and acknowledged the governmental intentions of the regeneration projects a question poses itself as to 'How the community perceives and cherishes those initiatives?' More important questions are raised regarding the regeneration of Al Alfi Street, the case study that addresses the governmental attempt in down town Cairo in 2015. It brings to light the dynamics enacted between different stakeholders. A research is conducted by adopting participant observations, surveys, questionnaires, and interviews with the local community and different stakeholders to understand their perception and appreciation to the '2015' urban regeneration attempt. The findings of the paper set the urban regeneration principles in a discussion aiming at assessing the stakeholders' involvement versus their goals and measuring their satisfaction with the outcome of the project, while still posing the question of the meaning of urban regeneration to the local community and to alternative scenarios that could yield more successful outcomes.

Classification of Heritage Residential Building Stock and Defining Sustainable Retrofitting Scenarios in Khedivial Cairo

“…The same was true for residential areas. The wealthy class occupied this area, while the communal, less privileged houses turned towards the out boundaries [62,63,66].…”

“…Figure 3 The urban tissue of Khedivial Cairo was considered to be a turning point of urban design in Egypt in the nineteenth century. It was characterized by wide streets intersecting in the form of a network and penetrated by some of the main streets to meet in large squares, where statues of important Figures were placed [53,62].…”

Public spaces in City life as Socio-cultural Hubs. Selected Public Spaces of Cairo as Case studies.(Dept.A)

“…The city squares were adorned with fountains, statues, portraits, and other works of art, as was the case in most absence of belonging to the space, city, and to the country itself, [4].…”

“…More recently, the current wave of 'Occupy' protests has adopted the image of turning various public spaces into a 'Tahrir Square' Figure (5). Dalia A. Taha: Political Role of Urban Space Reflections on the Current and Future Scene in Cairo-Egypt absence of belonging to the space, city, and to the country itself, [4].…”

Adaptation of Physical Setting to the Appearance of the Jiung Night Market at Public Open Space in Jakarta

“…Public space is a city element with high proximity to the people [7] due to the existence of different activities such as recreation, sports, appointments, and commerce [8] with spontaneous [9]. Its use, especially for trading activities, is usually with low supervision and this causes the risk of losing the space due to the expropriation of rights by traders [10] and [11]. Moreover, the unofficial and unplanned change and takeover of the spatial functions have an impact on the environment [12] due to the fact that the informal activities usually conducted in the space have the ability to change its social and cultural conditions [13] and influence image of a Street [14].…”