INTRODUCTION

The world is becoming more and more urban. In the 1800’s, only 3 % of the world population lived in the cities. In the 1950’s, the percentage reached around 30 %. At the present time, it is more than 50 % of the population and the prediction indicates that probably two third of the world’s population will live in cities by the year 2030. Globally, the Cities represent 2 % of earth’s surface, but use 75 % of its resources. In consequence, mega cities are concerned by the 3 following main dimensions :

· the social dimension (cultural diversity and variety, education, art, living conditions, transport, security, health care, innovation, …)

· the economical dimension (work & mass unemployment, improvement of infrastructure, new technologies, decentralisation, repartition of wealth, capital equipments, …)

· the ecological dimension (energy sources, sustainable development, air and water pollution, noise pollution, traffic jam, water supply, urban sprawl, urban environment protection, public transportation, waste management, …)

DEFINITION OF MEGA CITIES

There are numerous large and wide cities all around the world. At the present time the urban population is estimated to around 3.5 billion of inhabitants and will probably be more than 5 billion by 2030.

The term “mega-cities” was defined for metropolitan agglomerations which concentrate more than 10 millions of inhabitants.In 2011, above 25 cities reached the level of more than 10 million of inhabitants.

The term “Mega-cities” has been a little bit enlarged. At the present time, it is considered as “mega-cities” the 40 most populated cities, and they formed an association “C40 ” to propose some common projects, collective actions and to share innovative solutions, for a sustainable developments. These 40 “Mega-cities” represent a population of around 300 millions of residents, generate 18 % of global GDP and 10 % of global carbon emissions. Some definitions of mega-cities also add the component or criteria of population density.

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The 27 Mega-Cities (Source: Th. Brinkhoff: The Principal Agglomerations of the World, 2012-04-01)

BRIEFING OF OUR MEGA CITY ”THE CAIRO”

Egypt, with its strategic location in the centre of the old world, has become the second most populous country in Africa after Nigeria. Owing to its specific geographic conditions, most urban development in Egypt has taken place in the Nile Valley and Delta, which represent only 4 per cent of its total area. Throughout its long history, urbanization has occurred, and great cities and kingdoms have grown up along the banks of the Nile River. Thus, population and economic activities concentrated in this narrow and limited area, and polarization became the pattern of Egyptian life.
Egypt has a long history of growth and decline over almost 1,400 years. Cairo, its capital, has grown rapidly to reach more than 12 million inhabitants in 1994. It has become the largest urban centre not only in Africa, but also in the Middle East. The city's history has been closely related to that of Egypt, which has been subject to a succession of foreign rulers in the past 2,000 years. A study of the development of Cairo cannot ignore the prevailing political, economic, and social conditions in Egypt, which have affected its growth and shaped all related development policies. Such policies, in recent decades, have led to a massive process of concentration, with the result that Cairo today is not only the capital of Egypt but also its economic, social, service, and administrative centre. The city's size and rapid growth have resulted in serious problems in most aspects of the life of its population. The government has attempted both to decentralize population and activities from Cairo and to reorganize and manage its growth at the national, regional, and local levels.
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Rank and population of cairo in mega cities ANCIENT CAIRO:
|The origins of the present-day Cairo can be traced back to the Egyptian capital of Memphis, which is believed to have been founded in the early 4th millennium BC |
|near the head of the Nile delta, south of the present city. The city spread to the north along the east bank of the Nile, and its location has commanded political |
|power ever since. It was there that the Romans constructed their city called Babylon.When the armies of Islam came into Egypt in the year 640 C.E., the situation |
|in Egypt was rather difficult. The Byzantine rulers did not like their Egyptian subjects, and the Egyptians hated the Byzantines. When the Muslims came, Babylon |
|shut its gates and held out for seven months. |
|There are conflicting stories about exactly how the Muslims were able to conquer Egypt. One says that the Muslims won when they convinced the Copts to help them, |
|and together they threw the Byzantines out of Egypt. Another says that it was the Chalcedonian Patriarch of Alexandria who let the Muslims have Egypt, since he |
|thought that they would kill all of the Copts whose beliefs he found objectionable. |
|Babylon fell to the Muslim forces on the day after Easter, Monday April 9, 641. Once Egypt was under the control of the Muslims, the Copts found that their |
|situation had actually improved. Muslims believe that Christians and Jews are People of the Book because they share belief in the same God, even if they have not |
|accepted the Prophet Muhammad and his message. The Qur'an and hadith both set out provisions for situations where Muslims govern over People of the Book, and call |
|for tolerance and good treatment. In Egypt, the Muslims were willing to let the Copts practice their religion and would leave them alone as long as they paid a |
|poll tax every year. The poll tax was less than the yearly tributes and taxes the Copts had been required to pay to the Byzantines. The Copts also had the option |
|of converting to Islam, but they were not forced to do so. Muslims did not constitute the majority of Egypt's population until around the 10th century C.E.. |
|The armies of Islam that came to Egypt were led by a man named Amr ibn |[pic] |
|al-'As. He was the representative of the Caliph Omar. The Caliphs were the |General view of the ruins of the first Islamic city in Egypt, |
|direct successors of Muhammad as leaders of the Muslim world. By this time, |al-Fustat. There is not much left to see of the old city. |
|the Caliphs had made the city of Damascus their capital. | |
|Amr wanted to make Alexandria his capital, but Omar was concerned that the | |
|yearly flooding of the Nile river would make it too difficult to send troops| |
|into Egypt if it becams necessary. Omar was also secretly worried that Amr | |
|would try to break free and start his own country, so he directed Amr to | |
|found a new city. Amr chose a site east of the Roman fortress at Babylon for| |
|his new capital, which he called al-Fustat. | |
|Amr also built the first mosque in Egypt, which was built over the winter of 640-41 while Amr's armies were laying seige to Babylon. |
|[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |
|This was once the wall of a building|One of the old cisterns that |The once-tiled floor of a house in al-Fustat. Notice the way the buildings |
|several stories high in the city of |provided the water supply for |were constructed right next to each other. |
|al-Fustat. |al-Fustat. Contrast the buildings of| |
| |the old city with modern Cairo in | |
| |the background. | |
|For nearly two hundred years, al-Fustat was the capital of Egypt, and it became one of the most important and influential cities in the world. Travelers to |
|the city in the 9th century describe multi-story buildings that blocked the sun with their height, so that it was necessary to use a torch to light one's way|
|through the streets, even in the daytime. Archaeological remains show that there was an expansive sewer and irrigation system that provided running water to |
|houses, and took the waste-water away. Eventually, however, political events to the east began to effect Egypt, and al-Fustat was soon to be supplanted by |
|another settlement, called al-Qatta'i. |

Building Of New Mosque:

|The Caliphs who ruled the Muslim world from their capital in Damascus were called the Ummayads, and they managed to hold power for a little more than one hundred|
|years, from roughly the 630s until about 750. After that, a new dynasty rose to the east, in Baghdad, and they were called the Abbassids. The Abbassids sent a |
|new governor to Egypt to build a new city, called Medinat al-Askar, or 'City of Canonments.' The new city, built to the north of al-Fustat was supposed to |
|replace that city, but failed to do so. Today, there is little left of Medinat al-Askar. |
|One such influential Turk was a man by the name of Bayikbey, whom the Caliph particularly disliked and feared. In 868 CE, the Caliph offered to make Bayikbey |
|governor of Egypt. Bayikbey decided to send his son-in-law, a man by the name ofAhmed Ibn Tulun to rule Egypt instead. Ahmed took his family and a force of |
|soldiers, and went off to Egypt. As a footnote to the story, the Caliph was not at all pleased that Bayikbey was still around, and had him killed. |
|When Ibn Tulun got to Egypt, he found that Fustat wasn't large enough to house his armies. He set about building yet another city. He selected a site a little to|
|the north of Medinat al-Askar, and began building a city he called Medinat al-Qatta'i, or "City of Sections." The city got this name because it was laid out in a|
|grid-like pattern that lent itself very nicely to being subdivided up into separate sections for the military officers, the soldiers, the merchants, the traders,|
|and other groups. |
|Why Did They Keep Going North? |
|There are two reasons everyone kept going north. First, there were high plains to the north that kept the flood waters out and the mosquitoes to a minimum. |
|Second, the main wind came from the north, meaning that the town garbage dump was usually situated to the south of town. Therefore, if you wanted clean smelling |
|air, you built to the north and put your garbage dump on the south side of town, so that the wind would carry the smell away from town. It worked great if you |
|lived in one of the new settlements, not so great if you lived in one of the old settlements, downwind of the garbage dumps. Al-Fustat flourished until the 11th |
|century CE, by which time there were three towns to the north of it |
|Ibn Tulun was not much more interested in being governor of Egypt than his father-in-law had been, but this was because Ibn Tulun did not want to serve anyone |
|else. Ibn Tulun's idea was to break away from the Abbassids and run Egypt as his own private kingdom. One way he showed that he was independent of the Abbassids |
|was building al-Qatta'i to be a lavish and exquisite new city that would rival the new Abbassid capital, Samarra. |
|In order to accomplish this, he built a large new mosque in the center of town that he named after himself. He also built a large palace, a hippodrome (race |
|course), gardens, a large and renown hospital, or bimaristan, and a large shopping area, or suq. |
|The mosque that Ibn Tulun built is still one of the largest and oldest in the entire Muslim world. It was built over three years, from 876 to 879 C.E. It covers |
|an area of over 80,000 square feet. The outer walls extend for nearly 525 feet on each side, and are over 40 feet high. It can hold over 800 people in the vast |
|courtyard inside. |
|The Mosque of Ibn Tulun |
|[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |
|1) The central fountain and the |2) The large courtyard, which can |3) The cupola over the minbar |4) Close up of the central |
|far corner of the courtyard. |accommodate thousands of workshippers. |allows natural light to enter the|abolutions fountain that |
| | |mosque. |worshippers use to wash before |
| | | |prayer. |
|[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |
|5) Detail of the |Map of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. The numbers correspond to the photographs in this|6) The minaret of the |
|interior of the |section. Arrows indicate which direction the photographer is facing. |mosque was added by |
|mosque, with the | |the Fatimids, as can |
|repeating | |be seen in the North |
|geometric designs | |African design of the |
|of the arches that| |minaret. |
|are common in | | |
|Islamic | | |
|architecture. | | |

|Ibn Tulun lived until the year 883, and he was known as a kind, wise, and generous ruler. He was succeeded by his son,Khumarraweh, who, though kind and generous, |
|was also known to be something of a fool. He was murdered in 895, and his sons who succeeded him were fairly useless. |
|In 905, the Caliph sent troops to reclaim Egypt for the Abbassids under the leadership of Suleiman al-Katib. Suleiman destroyed most of al-Qatta'i, except for the|
|magnificent mosque. He also did what Ibn Tulun had done before him; he took over Egypt and ruled it as his own. Suleiman sent a yearly tribute to the Caliph as a |
|bribe to keep him happy, and he and his sons ruled Egypt until the year 969, when a more powerful force came in from the west. |

During middle ages golden period Of Islam:

|[pic] |In the year 969, Egypt was ruled by a group of people called the Ikhshidids, who were the descendents of Suleiman |
|1) In the early part of the first |al-Katib, the general sent by the Abbassid Caliph to reclaim Egypt from the Tulunids. The Ikhshidids had quickly followed |
|millennium, al-Qahira was one of |the Tulunids' example and had quickly set themselves up as the more-or-less independent rulers of Egypt. The Ikhshids, |
|the grandest and most developed |unlike the Tulunids, cared little for the people of Egypt. They placed a very high poll tax on Egypt's non-Muslim |
|cities in the world, known for its |population, and around this time, barely three hundred years after Islam had first been introduced to Egypt, non-Muslims |
|centers of learning like al-Azhar |still formed the majority of the population. The tax on the non-Muslims effected the Muslims as well. Many of the |
|university, seen here, which is |merchants were Muslim, so if the non-Muslims were made poor by the high tax, they didn't have money to spend, and then the|
|arguably the oldest university in |Muslims became poor. And so, at this point, just about everyone in Egypt was unhappy, except for the Ikhshids, who had |
|the world. |grown rich and lazy. Egypt had grown weak and vulnerable to invasion. |
| |To the west, in what is now Tunisia, another group of people called the Fatimids had set up power. The Fatimids were Shi'i|
| |Muslims, unlike the Muslims in Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, who were Sunni Muslims. The Fatimids wanted to expand |
| |Shi'ism to the greater Muslim world. To do so, they needed to conquer Egypt and Syria. So, they set off to the east, made |
| |hopeful by reports that Egypt was weak and easy to conquer. |
|[pic] |Under the leadership of a man named Gohar al-Siqili (a Greek who had been born in Sicily–Siqil is the Arabic name for |
|2) Al-Aqmar mosque, completed |Sicily–and converted to Islam), the Fatimid armies set out to conquer Egypt |
|in 1125, is one of the few |The Fatimids had little problem conquering Egypt and taking over. Gohar planned to build yet another city, to the north (of |
|buildings that still survive from |course) of Fustat, on high ground. This city was planned to be an exclusive city for the rulers and their immediate family. |
|the Fatimid period. |This would provide a sense of mystery and divine guidance about the rulers, who would be inaccessible to the people. The new|
| |city was called Medinat al-Qahira, or "the city victorious." This is the Arabic name for the city of Cairo to this day. |
|Cairo was built to be a grand city that would inspire awe in everyone that saw it and were deemed worthy to enter its |[pic] |
|walls. The new Caliph of Egypt, al-Mo'izz, was determined to build a city that would rival Baghdad as the most important |3) Al-Aqmar mosque was one |
|and influential city in the Muslim world. He built a new port, repaired roads, sewers and canals, and refurbished the |of the first Fatimid era buildings |
|mosque built by Amr ibn al-'As, which was still considered a very important place. |[pic] |
|Al-Mo'izz also got to work on his new city. High walls were built around Cairo, with two forbidding gates, Bab al-Nasr (the|4) Bab al-Futuh, (the Gate of |
|Gate of Victory) and Bab al-Futuh (the Gate of Conquest) on the northern side, and Bab al-Zuwayla on the south side, from |Conquest), which stands on the |
|which a road led to the Mosque of Ibn Tulun and into al-Fustat. A grand avenue ran between them, separating the palace of |northern side of the old city of al- |
|the Caliph and the palace of his son, al-Aziz. The central section of the road is still known by the name "Bayn al-Qasrayn"|Qahira, and now serves as the |
|or "Between the Two Palaces" even though the palaces themselves are long |backdrop to an active market. |
|Al-Mo'izz died in 975, and his son, al-Aziz succeeded him. Under al-Aziz, the large mosque built in Cairo was established | |
|as a teaching mosque, designed to spread Shi'i ideas to the students who would come to learn in its halls. The mosque was | |
|called al-Azhar, meaning "the Splendid," and it remains to this day one of the most important and influential schools of | |
|Islamic teaching in the world. At this time, Cairo was still a fairly small city geographically. The majority of Cairo's | |
|inhabitants lived around the new city, since the common people were not allowed to enter the royal city of Cairo. Many of |[pic] |
|them lived in al-Fustat. Some people had moved to one of the islands in the Nile river, called Roda Island, and a bridge | |
|made up of 36 boats connected Roda to the mainland. From Roda, a ferry service would take passengers to the other side of |14) The citadel, built by Salah |
|the river, to the small trading village of Giza. Over time, however, al-Fustat began to decay. The old stone buildings |al-Din, still forms an imposing |
|began to crumble, and sections of the city were blocked off because they were too dangerous. |part of the Cairo skyline. |
|The Syrians, this time led by Nur al-Din's nephew, Salah al-Din, tried again in 1167 to prevent the Crusaders from taking | |
|EgyptIn less than a year, Shawar was deposed, and Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi came to power in Egypt. The Crusaders called | |
|him Saladin. | |
|Saladin became the ruler of Egypt, and he left a great impression on Cairo. He refused to live the grand life of the |[pic] |
|Fatimid caliphs, and he did not want to be seen as a religious ruler. He called himself al-Sultan, "the power," and his |15) The Mosque of Sultan |
|longest lasting contribution to the geography of Cairo was the Citadel. Having grown up in Syria, where the Seljuk Turks |al-Nasir Muhammad on |
|built military fortresses on high places and spurs of rock, he decided to emulate this example. He selected a spur of rock |the Citadel, completed in 1335. |
|near the Muqattam range, which forms the geographic barrier to the east of Cairo, and there he set up his place of | |
|government. The Citadel was built like a separate town for the military rulers of Egypt, and remained the center of | |
|government all the way through the 19th century. |[pic] |
|Al-Aziz was succeeded by his son al-Hakim in 996, and al-Hakim remains one of the most intriguing figures in Egyptian | |
|history. His rule was marked by a series of laws against the Christians and Jews, laws against the Sunni Muslims, a large |18) The Mamluks also built a large |
|number of executions for seemingly unimportant crimes, and his own personal eccentricities. He also ordered that the city |cemetary at |
|of al-Fustat be burned to the ground. In 1021, al-Hakim disappeared while on one of his nightly walks through the Muqattam |the pyramids around this knoll. |
|hills, to the east of Cairo. He was never seen again, although his clothes were found several days later, cut by dagger | |
|marks. Legend has it that his sister, whose property he had ordered confiscated, had arranged to have him murdered |[pic] |
|Saladin expanded the walls of the city to an area much larger than had been previously included. One result of the burning | |
|of the older cities by the Crusaders was that the common people had moved into the royal city of al-Qahira, and Saladin set|19) From the top of the knoll, the |
|about making sure that the people were taken care of. Visitors to the city reported about the city's large and effective |Mamluk |
|hospitals, their teaching mosques, which provided an education to boys, and the large number of public works projects |cemetary bears a striking resemblance |
|designed to make movement easier and provide basic services for the people. Saladin was remembered for his generosity and |to some of the Pharaonic-era tombs |
|dedication to the people of Egypt, even though he only spent eight years of the twenty-four years of his reign in Cairo. |that cover the Giza plateau. |
|The rest of the time, he was off conducting military campaigns in Syria, which included making life very difficult for the |[pic] |
|Crusaders |20) The Madrassa (theological |
|Saladin is also remembered for having brought the Mamluks to Egypt. The Mamluks were Christian slaves who were brought from|school) of Sultan Hassan, |
|Turkey, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and they were raised to be good soldiers. They were converted to Islam, and they |completed in 1351, is |
|were brought up to serve God and their country through military service, and they made effective and powerful leaders. |considered by many to be one |
|Older Mamluks were responsible for training the new recruits, and so they perpetuated their own ranks. |of the finest examples |
|After Saladin's death in 1193, there was a lot of arguing over who would get to take control next. In 1249, the Crusaders, |of Mamluk architecture in Egypt. |
|led by King Louis IX of France, invaded Egypt once again. They landed at Damietta, where the Nile River meets the | |
|Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptian armies marched out to meet their enemies, and suffered defeat. At this crucial moment, | |
|al-Salih died. His older son, Turan Shah, was fighting the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan in Iraq, and his second son was | |
|just a baby. In this tense political environment, Shajarat al-Durr made a bold decision. She and several of her husband's | |
|advisors decided to hide the news of his death, so that the Egyptian armies would not lose hope, and so that the French | |
|would not find out that the armies were leaderless. Shajarat al-Durr worked with her husband's chief advisor to control | |
|Egypt. The armies trapped the French at a Delta town called Mansoura, and Louis IX was captured. At this point, Turan Shah | |
|returned home to claim his inheritance and was killed shortly after. | |
| | |
|After the death of Shajarat al-Durr and Aibek, the Mamluks took power in Egypt, and their system of government, which | |
|lasted into the 19th century, was unique and unparalleled by any other government in history. In 1258, the Mongols, led by | |
|Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad and murdered the caliph and his family. The caliph's son managed to escape, and came to Cairo, | |
|where he and his descendants remained the official head of state for centuries, even though they had no real power. At the | |
|same time, however, the Mamluk era, though violent for the Mamluk sultans, was a period of stability in Egypt. The Mamluk | |
|period is often referred to as the golden age of Egyptian Islamic civilization. The Mamluks were great patrons of the arts,| |
|and sponsored the building of hundreds of structures that can still be seen in Cairo today: mosques, madrassas (religious | |
|schools), hospitals, caravanserais, and other public buildings. The Mamluks also sponsored historical projects, hiring | |
|scholars to write encyclopaedias, biographical dictionaries, and chronicles. Trade also flourished under the Mamluks during| |
|the 13th and 14th centuries | |
| | |
|The Mamluks then asked Shajarat al-Durr to take on the role of sultana, the first time in Islamic history that a woman | |
|became the leader of a nation. She ascended to the throne in 1250. Shortly after she was appointed, she married one of the | |
|Mamluks, a man named Aibek, and she conferred the title of sultan upon him. However, Shajarat al-Durr continued to run the | |
|country, signing orders in her own name, and ruling from behind the throne -- literally. Chroniclers tell of an arrangement| |
|whereby Aibek would sit on the throne, and his wife would sit behind him, concealed by a screen, and whisper instructions | |
|in his ear. | |
|By 1257, after several years of this, Aibek tired of being a puppet to his wife, and sought to weaken her by taking a | |
|second wife. When Shajarat al-Durr found out about his plan, she arranged to have Aibek killed. Aibek's son by his first | |
|wife found out what his stepmother had done, and left her to the mercy of his mother and her handmaidens, who beat her to | |
|death and had her body hung in the streets. Regardless of which is accurate, her death marked the end of Ayyubid rule in | |
|Egypt | |
| |It was, however, during the Mamluk era that the status of Christians in Egypt declined. It is estimated that when Salah |
|[pic] |al-Din came to power, the number of Christians in Egypt was about equal to the number of Muslims. Under the Fatimids and |
| |the Ayyubids, the Christians and Jews in Egypt had been left largely alone: so long as they paid the poll tax, they were |
|21) The Madrassa has only one |not mistreated on the basis of their religion. the ratio of Muslims to Christians in Egypt was about ten to one, the same|
|minaret: a second was built, |as it is today. It also appears to have been during this time that Coptic disappeared as a spoken language, and was |
|but it collapsed during an |replaced by Arabic. |
|earthquake in 1360 | |
| |In the late 15th century, the Mamluk system had begun to decline, aided by the loss of the Asian trade to the Portuguese,|
|[pic] |who discovered the route around Africa to India. Egypt was soon to fall to a more powerful force – |
|22) The Madrassa is unique in | |
|that it has four wings, each | |
|devoted to teachings of one | |
|of the four schools of | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| |Ottoman turks attack on cairo: |
| |By 1516, the Ottoman Turks were a powerful force in the region. At this time, the Ottomans were led by a particularly |
| |fierce sultan named Selim I, also known as "Selim the Grim." He was called this because, before he became sultan, he had |
| |murdered as many of his male relatives as he could so he would have no competition for the throne. He had led his armies |
| |into Syria, and the mamluks, realizing that their position in Egypt was being threatened, sent their armies out to stop |
| |the Ottomans. A battle ensued, and the mamluks suffered heavy losses. |
| |Eventually, things changes under the Ottomans. The focus was shifted away from Egypt. The grand mosques, the centers of |
| |learning, the military and political power, all of these things were now centered around Istanbul, not Cairo. Ottoman |
| |domination of the eastern Mediterranean had sent the Europeans out to find a new way to get to Asia |
| | |
| In the 15th century, they discovered the sea route around Africa to Asia, which meant that Egypt was no longer an important trading center. Egypt was |
|essentially cut off from the rest of the world. |
|Egypt was relatively unimportant during this time, and so its culture and society stagnated. However, all of this was to |[pic] |
|change dramatically in 1798. |The Mamluks who stayed behind |
|In 1798, the French army, headed by Napoleon, set out for Egypt. They encountered little resistance as they landed at |built lavish houses for |
|Alexandria and marched up the Nile to take Cairo. While the French confidently strolled around Egypt, their situation was |themselves to mark their status |
|precarious at best. Though Napoleon himself was quite respectful of Islam and proclaimed himself to be freeing the Muslims of|as the source of power in Egypt.|
|Egypt from the tyranny of the Ottoman sultan, the French soldiers were less respectful, and soon began supporting the |This is one such house, Bayt |
|Egyptian Christian population. In addition to this, the French force had been followed by an English naval fleet, which had |al-Razzaz, now in ruins. |
|sunk most of the French ships after the landing at Alexandria. The French were trapped in Egypt. | |
|In all, the French spent nearly 3 years in Egypt, finally leaving by agreement with the English in 1801. However, the |[pic] |
|expedition to Egypt was not just of a military nature. The French brought with them scientists, cartographers, botanists, |The road leading to Bab |
|zoologists, linguists, archaeologists and others, who spent the time in Egypt detailing the country's plants and animals, |al-Wazir, at the foot of the |
|drawing maps, and recording details of buildings old and new. The finished study, called the Description of Egypt, was one of|citadel, contains some of the |
|the boldest scientific projects ever undertaken. The project inspired the imaginations of Europe's scientific elite, and |houses of the wealthier and more|
|ignited interest in ancient Egypt. This was further inspired when a stone was discovered at Rashid in the Nile Delta, a place|influential mamluks of the |
|that the French called Rosetta. The Rosetta Stone, as it is known, provided the key to unlocking the language of the |Ottoman period |
|pharaohs, and brought scientific interest in ancient Egypt to fever pitch. Over the next century, scientists would search the| |
|length and breadth of Egypt in hopes of making a great discovery of a cache of royal treasure from the pharaohs. | |
| | |
| | |
| | |

Muhammad Ali’s Eraa:

|When the French departed Egypt in 1801, the Ottoman sultan appointed a new governor of Egypt, a man by the name of Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali, however, |
|had other, grander ideas than serving as mere governor of a backwater province of the Ottoman Empire. For about the first four years of his rule, he |
|played nice: he did everything the sultan asked, kept the mamluks happy, and calmed the Egyptians after the French had evacuated. Then in 1805, Muhammad |
|Ali began to take steps to eliminate his main competition to power: the mamluks. Muhammad Ali, however, wanted the mamluks to do as he pleased. |
|[pic] |An uneasy peace lasted for the next six years. The mamluks were used to violence, and so took the time to regroup |
|The Mosque of Muhammad Ali was |and plan their next strategy. They were patient, and so was Muhammad Ali. Finally, in 1811, Muhammad Ali decided to|
|built over 24 years, from 1824-48, |extend a peace offering to the remaining mamluk beys and massacred them all. |
|and it was modelled on the Blue |Muhammad Ali had a vision. He was concerned that the armies of the Ottomans were losing battles to the Europeans. |
|Mosque in Istanbul. The mosque made|Muhammad Ali began to build a strong, well-trained army. He brought in Europeans as advisors.The Egyptian army |
|a statement of Muhammad Ali's |became powerful, and became a threat to the Ottoman armies At Muhammad Ali's encouragement, in 1838 the sultan |
|independance from the Ottoman |allowed for the first time direct trade between the provinces of the Empire and foreign merchants. |
|Sultan. |Muhammad Ali's reign came to an end. On his death in 1849, he was succeeded as ruler of Egypt by his son, Abbas. |
|[pic] |Abbas took things more slowly than his father, although he did grant the British the railway concession, which |
|Muhammad Ali built his mosque on |opened up the entire country to modern, efficient transport. For the first time, the Nile River ceased to be the |
|the Citadel, which was still the |chief means of travel throughout the country. |
|home of the ruling family at the |Abbas died in 1854, and was succeeded by his uncle, Said. Said was primarily known for being fat and lazy, and did |
|time. The Citadel is seen here from|little to run Egyptian affairs. There are two things that he is remembered for. First, he was the first ruler of |
|the Madrassa of Sultan Hassan |Egypt to adopt the title "Khedive," although it was not officially the title of the ruler until his successor, |
| |Ismail, came to power. Said's second achievment was the planning and concession for a canal running from the |
| |Mediterranean to the Red Sea. It would become known for the town at its southern end, Suez. Because the Suez Canal |
| |plays such a vital role in Egyptian politics from here on, it is necessary to review the terms under which the |
| |canal was built, and how it was to be run. The Egyptians lacked the ability to finance the building of such large |
| |projects as the Suez Canal, and the Egyptian railway system. They would seek outside lenders, who were usually |
| |British or French |
|. The British lent the money for the railway construction, and the French lent the money for the canal construction under the|[pic] |
|same terms: a British company had to build the railway, and a French company would build the canal. Those companies would |The Citadel has always been|
|then operate the railway and the canal, collect the profits, and use them to pay off the Egyptian debt. In theory, this would|heavily fortified since it |
|work nicely. In practice, however, the lenders charged interest rates that were so high that the profits would barely pay off|was built by Salah al-Din |
|the interest that accumulated, and the principal would rarely be touched at all. In effect, the Egyptians would never get out|in the 1200s. The walls |
|of debt. |have been replaced many |
|This situation became even worse under the reign of Said's successor, Ismail (1863-1879). During Ismail's reign, the American|times. These date from the |
|civil war broke out, and the Europeans, the British in particular, were deprived of their main source of cotton. It turned |Ottoman era. |
|out that the Egyptian delta was the perfect place to grow cotton, and soon the Egyptian economy was booming. Large amounts of| |
|money were coming into Egypt, and Ismail had ideas about how it should be spent | |
|[pic] |. |
|Today, the Citadel is still used |Ismail boldly declared that Egypt would leave the Orient behind and join the countries of Europe, and he began spending large sums |
|for military functions, and much |of money in an effort to turn Cairo into a European city. The city expanded to the west, away from the traditional core of the |
|of it is not open to the public. |city, to the banks of the Nile. There, Ismail built wide boulevards, huge public squares, large palaces for himself, and lined the |
|Here, one of the old palaces has |streets with gas streetlights, trees, gardens, and an opera house. |
|been converted into the Police |In 1869, the Suez Canal was finished, and Ismail planned a huge celebration. He was pleased when the Empress Eugenie of France |
|Museum. |accepted the invitation, and he built her a lavish palace on Gezira island where she would stay during her visit. He also built a |
| |road from the port of Giza to the fabled pyramids, so that she could ride the whole way in her carriage. Both are still in use: the|
| |palace is now a luxury hotel, and the road has become Pyramids Road, one of the main east- west highways in Giza. What Ismail |
| |neglected in his grand plan was the areas where most of the people of Egypt actually lived. |
|In 1882, the French and British landed at Alexandria, and launched a short-lived attack on Urabi's forces. Urabi was defeated and sent into exile, and the Europeans|
|replaced Tewfiq on his throne. Though they did not officially annex Egypt, the real power now rested in the hands of the British consul-general at Cairo, and not in|
|the hands of the Khedive. Egypt had ceased to be an independent country. |
| He expected that most of the people would move to his new areas, and then the most important historical buildings would be preserved, |[pic] |
|while the rest of the old city would be pulled down. This never happened. |Among the additions to Ismail's|
|The problem was this: after the civil war ended, American cotton production resumed. Cotton prices fell, and suddenly the Egyptians |new city was Abdin Palace, |
|weren't making as much money as they had been in the past. Egypt could not afford to pay off its loans, and soon began to default. |which housed members of the |
|Ismail's grand vision of an Egypt fit to join the countries of Europe vanished under the reality of an Egypt that could not pay off its |Khedival family up to the time |
|debt. |of King Farouk's deposition in |
|Frustrated by Ismail's inability to solve the problem, the Europeans pulled strings at the Egyptian court and forced him off the throne |1952. |
|in 1879. For a brief moment, Egypt became a democracy, but within 18 months, Ismail's son, Tewfiq. The Egyptians saw Tewfiq as a traitor:| |
|instead of governing Egypt for the Egyptians, he was governing for the Europeans, taking their advice, and ignoring that of his Egyptian | |
|advisors. In late 1881, an army officer-turned-parliamentarian named Colonel Urabi led a revolt against Tewfiq's government, and | |
|threatened to end the whole monarchical system. This alarmed the Europeans because they felt that, as ineffective as Tewfiq was, he could| |
|be controlled. Urabi, they felt, could not. | |

From 1882 to present:

|From 1882, Egypt was ruled in name by a Khedive, who was from the same family as Muhammad Ali. In fact, however, Egypt was actually ruled by the British consul-general,|
|Evelyn Baring, the Earl of Cromer. The administration of Egypt was divided between the British and the French, and the Egyptians had little say. |

MODERN CAIRO

|[pic] |After completing the unit on Historic Cairo, you might think that Cairo is a city of monuments, living in the |
|1) Muhammad Ali and his successors extended |past. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, Cairo is a bustling city, full of life, one of the most |
|Cairo from the Fatimid royal city to the |important cities in the Islamic world, and a major center for business, trade, education, and culture. |
|banks of the Nile, and built the new section |Hopefully, you have gained a greater appreciation for the historical forces that have created modern Egyptian |
|to resemble a European city with public |society. Although many tourists come to Cairo to see the pyramids and the ruins from the days of the Pharaohs, |
|squares, wide streets, and apartment |much has happened in the last two thousand years that is much more relevant to today's Cairo. |
|buildings. | |
|Let us briefly review the latest developments in the development of the city. You will remember that the Fatimids founded |[pic] |
|Cairo as a royal city, for their elite, not to be used and entered by the average Egyptians. Under the Ayyubids and |2) Heliopolis, seen here from the |
|Mamluks, Cairo was opened to everyone. However, the city remained centered around the Fatimid-era core throughout the |air, was designed as a European |
|Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman eras. |city for wealthy inhabitants who |
|Since 1805, when Muhammad Ali took over, Cairo has undergone a number of physical changes that have dramatically |would live in villas with large |
|transformed the city. At that time, the city was situated about one mile east of the Nile River, but the space between the|lawns, and a tram system that |
|city and the river was swampland, and no one wanted to build on it. |connected to downtown Cairo. |
|[pic] |Muhammad Ali and his successors figured out how to drain the swamp, using technology that was introduced by the |
|3) Qasr al-Baron was the personal home of the|French that they improved on themselves. They drained the Nile Delta, turning it into farmland, and they drained|
|Belgian baron who built Heliopolis, and was |the land west of the medieval city of Cairo. |
|an extravagant blend of Hindu architecture |Mohammed Ali built a new city along the Nile that would serve as a business center, with factories and |
|and Greco-Roman statuary. It is now |warehouses and ports so that the new Egypt would be able to manufacture its own products. He named the city |
|supposedly haunted. |Bulaq. |
|Mohammed Ali's successor, Ismail drained the area to the south of Bulaq. The new land was turned into a European style |[pic] |
|city with wide boulevards and public squares and parks and gardens. They also figured out how to fix the borders of the |4) The city of Helwan was |
|Nile by reinforcing the riverbed, and they built floodgates to keep the city from flooding every year. They built two |originally built as a spa for |
|vast squares in the new city: Midan Sulayman Pasha, or Sulayman Pasha Square, which was the center the new residential |Europeans to escape the heat and |
|area, and Midan Ismailiya, or "Ismail's Square" that was the center of the new business area. Just south of Midan |crowds of Cairo. |
|Ismailiya and the Nile, the Egyptians built a great army barracks called the Qasr el-Nil (Palace of the Nile). Some of | |
|the administrative offices of these barracks are now the main buildings of the American University in Cairo. | |
|[pic] |In the late 1800s more squares were added throughout the city to reflect the new "European-ness" of the city. |
|5) The center piece of Helwan was this park, |And in the early 1900s, Cairo jumped the river to two small islands in the Nile. Two upper class neighborhoods |
|complete with a Japanese style garden |were built - Manial on Roda, and Zamalek on Gezira - so that the wealthy of Cairo could escape the crowded city.|
|featuring pink Buddhas. |Also in the early 1900s, Europeans built the first satellite city around Cairo - called Heliopolis. Also built |
| |for the wealthy citizens of Cairo, Heliopolis was built in the desert to the northeast of the city, and |
| |connected to Cairo by tram. A spa was built at the springs of Helwan to the south of the city, also connected by|
| |tram to the city center. |
|It was after the revolution of 1952 that Cairo's population and development exploded. At the time of the revolution, |[pic] |
|Cairo's population was about two million people. Today, it is impossible to know for certain how many people live in |6) Giza, once a sleepy village |
|Cairo, but it is estimated that between fourteen and twenty million people call Cairo home. The city has expanded to the |along the Nile, has expanded all |
|west bank of the Nile, turning the sleepy village of Giza into a sister city, and has expanded from the desert in the |the way out to the Pyramids, nearly|
|east to the desert in the west, from Heliopolis and beyond to the pyramids. The village of Helwan, once an elegant spa |seven miles away. |
|nearly twenty miles distant from the city center, is now at the southern end of Cairo, and is one of the centers of heavy| |
|industry in Egypt. | |
|In recent years, the Egyptian government has been trying to encourage people to move out of Cairo by building large | |
|satelite cities in the desert. This program has been largely unsuccessful because there are few jobs in the new cities, | |
|and so people who live there must often commute nearly one hundred miles back to Cairo to work. | |
|This sudden growth has led to a number of challenges for the future of Cairo that will be the focus of this second part of our look at the city. The city is |
|plagued by problems of overcrowding, environmental crisis, unemployment, and limited natural resources. In the next lesson, we will look at these problems and|
|see what is being done about them. |

PLANNING OF CAIRO CITY
Since the dawn of civilization, the capital of Egypt has been located in the Cairo metropolitan region for long periods, in areas such as Manf, Lecht, Ono, and Babylon (see fig. 4.1). Few traces of these cities remain today. It was not until the year A.D. 641 that the existing city of Cairo was founded by Amr Ibn-Elass in El Fostat, east of the Nile River. Its location represented the centre of gravity of the whole country in terms of cultivated area, population, wealth, and power. The proximity of the fortress of Babylon (formerly the headquarters of the Roman and Greek armies in Egypt) influenced the choice of this particular site (Moselhi, 1988).
THE EVOLUTION OF HISTORIC CAIRO
Historically, Old Cairo expanded north-east of El Fostat, when the Abbacies built El Askar in A.D. 751 (fig. 4.2). Then Ibn Tolon added a third settlement - El Katae. After A.D. 870 Cairo El Moez (Fatimid Cairo) was built by Gawhar El Sikili along the Nile borders northeast of the previous settlements (fig. 4.2) (Selem, 1983). These four towns primarily performed the role of military settlements. A major mosque and sometimes palace were located in the centre of each settlement.
[pic]
Fig. 4.1 Old locations of the Egyptian capital
Cairo in 1200-1500
In the twelfth century these settlements were united in one agglomeration, when Salah El Din El Ayouby surrounded them with walls and built his fortress (El Qalaa). Only then did Cairo begin to perform its role as a unified city where most of the political, cultural, social, and urban developments took place in the following three centuries and its area reached more than 5 km� (fig 4.3) The city expanded rapidly in the western, northern, and southern directions in the Mamlouk period (A.D. 1200-1500), reaching an area of 43,868 feddans (184 km�). The Mokattam hills form a natural barrier blocking any eastern expansion. Most studies estimated the population of Cairo by that time at almost 1 million inhabitants (Hamdan, 1982).�
Fig. 4.2 The development of Cairo in the Islamic period (Source: based on Moselhi, 1988) [pic]
Cairo in 1500-1800
In the following Ottoman period (1500-1800) the city deteriorated for various economic, political, and military reasons. Economically, the transfer of eastern trade from Egyptian territories to detour around Africa deprived the country of tremendous tax resources. This period was also characterized by political instability and conflict among the remaining Mamlouks, as well as among Ottoman army sections. National revolution against the Turkish rulers and the Mamlouks ensued and many districts in Cairo were badly damaged. After having been an established capital, Cairo became only an administrative base for foreign rulers interested in exploring the country's resources. The city witnessed notable out-migration to other parts of the country, with the result that by A.D. 1800 Cairo's population had decreased to about 260,000 (Moselhi, 1988).

[pic]
Cairo in 1807 The map of the French Expedition is the first analysed cartographic document describing the city’s morphology in the year 1807. The following elements were highlighted for comparison with maps from the subsequent periods:
• Major spines in the street network, such as alMu’izz street.
• Significant monuments such as the city gates
(Bab al-Futuh, Bab al-Nasr and Bab Zuwaila), mosques (al-Hakim, al-Azhar, al-Aqmar, Ibn Tulun), the Citadel, the Aqueduct and the Nilometer on the southern tip of al-Rhoda Island.The urban fabric shown in the French Expedition map is bordered to the north and east by the city fortifications and the Citadel, beyond which extend the large cemeteries. The western part is characterised by the presence of canals and lakes that show the relationship of the city to the Nile.5 Detached from the continuous urban area but closely related to the Nile, al-Fustat6 settlement to the south-west and the harbour of Bulaq to the north-west of the site complete the “pre-modern” structure of the city.
[pic]
(MAP OF CAIRO IN 1807)
The evolution of the city: 1807 – 1888
The map of Cairo drawn by L. Thuillier7 in 1888 represents the development stage of the city during the Khedivial period, with its impressive efforts at modernisation and cosmopolitanism. The introduction of western urban models is best expressed in the Downtown development, which boasted new landmarks reflecting the importance of new institutions and economic structures to the city, as well as social changes. This process introduced new thoroughfares and a diffused process of building renovation into the pre modern fabric. However, it did not change the structure of the historic city.8
Based on an analysis of the 1888 map, the following aspects were highlighted with reference to the persistence of the pre-modern urban morphology, and the character of the modern city which had developed towards the Nile banks:
• New “focal points” reflecting European urban models (such as al-Azbakeya Square, Abdin Palace, the Opera) created at the edge of the historic city, to showcase the modern city centre’s development.
• Canals and lakes filled creating new thoroughfares and residential quarters.
• Roads cutting through the historical urban fabric, such as Mohammed Ali Street, which connects al-Azbakeya Square to the Citadel.
• An urban expansion towards the Nile banks, including the port of Bulaq, the Qasr al-Nil Barracks and the Qasr al-Nil Bridge, the first bridge connecting the island of Zamalek to the mainland.
• New urban patterns continuing the pre-existing fabric, though featuring a different urban morphology based on regular grids and extroverted housing typologies.

[pic] (MAP OF CAIRO IN 1888)
The evolution of the city: 1888 – 1948
The two sheets comprising the “Map of Islamic Monuments” by the Egyptian Survey Authority (ESA) in 1948 were assembled and compared to the earlier maps of
1807 and 1888. This comparative map represented the evolution of Cairo during the early and mid 20th century, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate. Cairo was now developing as the capital city of an independent nation with renewed efforts at modernisation and a cosmopolitan identity, characterised by the strengthening of administrative functions, as well as a population increase. Focal points and landmarks reflected the changing role of the metropolis, with new structures adding to the social and cultural changes affecting the city. Within this new development framework, the following changes were highlighted:
• The completion of the modern city in the lands between the historic city and the Nile.
• The completed street pattern of Downtown Cairo with modern focal points and landmarks.
• Further urban development between the historic city and Khedivial Downtown.
• The development of the Garden City quarter, discontinued developments along the banks of the Nile between Bulaq and al-Fustat, and the construction of a second bridge connecting the island of Zamalek to the mainland.9
• An expansion to the north of the historic city, connected to the railway station at Ramses Square and new industrial settlements.
• The opening of new streets such as al-Azhar in the pre-modern urban fabric.
In this phase, Historic Cairo was linked to the modern city through a continuous urban pattern and new street network, with the historical fabric largely preserved.
[pic]
(MAP OF CAIRO IN 1948)
The evolution of the city: 1948 – 2006
The Cairo map by CAPMAS in 2006 highlighted the fact that the modernization process has continued in contemporary times. No major changes occurred in the morphology of the pre-modern city; nevertheless, the historical fabric was affected by interventions and reconstructions with inconsistent architectural typologies, while the street pattern was modified by minor and diffused street widening and re-alignment programmes.

[pic] (MAP OF CAIRO IN 2006)

FORMATION OF PRESENT CAIRO:

FORMATION OF GCR:
With Mohammed Ali's rule (1805-1849), Cairo began its modernization, an era that reached its peak between 1873 and 1879 in the western part of the city. The extravagant cost of this expansion led to many problems, beginning with high foreign debts and political unrest and ending with the British colonization of Egypt in 1882 (Eddie Ibrahim, 1987). During the colonial period Cairo grew as the ruling centre, to which thousands of foreigners and nationals migrated looking for wealth and power. New districts were built in the west (Garden City and Zamalek), in the north (Heliopolis), and in the south (Maadi) (see fig. 4.4). The old city was left undeveloped to face tremendous problems of high densities, lack of infrastructure, and deterioration in living conditions. At the beginning of the twentieth century the newly formed upper middle class launched a reform strategy in most fields, such as education, banking, industries, and recreation, and migrated to the new districts. Cairo expanded rapidly and reached more than 1 million inhabitants in the late 1920s. Interclass inequalities widened in the following decades leading to major social, economic, and political problems and laying the foundations for the 1952 revolution against British colonization and the royal regime.
Subsequently, massive industrial and housing projects were undertaken by the new government, particularly in the Cairo zone. New districts appeared in the northern, southern, and western parts of the city. The Cairo metropolitan area emerged, with a population of 5 million in 1970 (El Shakhs, 1971; Moselhi, 1988). After the 1973 war, the policy of the government moved from a socialist, centrally planned, and public-sector-dominated economy to the so-called "open-door" policy. The latter aimed at encouraging the private sector and attracting international and Arab investment. A large part of such investment was directed to Cairo and its region, fostering further rapid urban development. By 1980 the population of Greater Cairo was 8 million.
[pic]
FORMATION OF ILLEGAL SETTELEMENTS
Informal and illegal housing appeared in this period in many areas on the outskirts of the city and in the City of the Dead. Such trends continued in the 1980s and 1990s. The following are descriptions of the four main types of slums found in Greater Cairo.
[pic]
It is estimated that in 1994 more than 4 million people were living in illegal settlements in the Greater Cairo Region (GCR). The efforts of the government to control the growth of the city have not been sufficient and it kept growing in most directions, particularly to the west and north, to reach an estimated population of over 12 million in 1994.

[pic]

Fig. 4.4 Districts in the Greater Cairo Region (Source: General Organization for Physical Planning)
THE URBAN GROWTH OF CAIRO:
The process of urbanization itself is a result of rural-urban migration. Moreover, in Egypt, high rates of natural increase partly account for rapid urban growth rates. In 1907 the inhabitants of urban areas accounted for 19 per cent of the total Egyptian population, rising to 33 per cent in 1947, 43 per cent in 1976, and 44 per cent in 1986. UN studies suggest that the urban population in Egypt will exceed 50 per cent of the total population by the year 2010 (UN, 1993). However, such figures should be treated with care. On the one hand, the 1986 census showed that around 2.25 million Egyptians (mostly from urban areas) were at that time living outside Egypt. On the other hand, the growth rates in rural areas in the late 1980s and 1990s exceeded those of urban areas. High rates of natural increase in rural areas may be attributed to the fact that the adoption rates for birth control and family planning procedures have not been as high as in urban areas, while growth has also occurred because of the sharp increase in urban land prices, which has driven many to build on cheaper land in rural areas surrounding the cities.
Within the urban sector, large centres, particularly Cairo, have witnessed higher rates of growth than medium- and small-sized centres. Thus, whereas the population of Egypt has increased by more than 5 times in the twentieth century, Cairo's population has increased by nearly 16 times (table 4.1), with the result that its share of the national population increased from nearly 9 per cent in 1940 to 18 per cent or more in the 1960s and 1970s, and was estimated to be 21 per cent in 1994. It is clear that the real demographic change in Cairo's modern history began in the nineteenth century when death rates began to decline while birth rates stayed constant. The figures in table 4.1 show that the growth rate of GCR surpassed the national average except in the periods 1930-1940 (World War II) and 19601976 (owing to the 1967 war). Between 1976 and 1986 the open-door policy (see below) boosted economic and urban development and consequently population growth in the GCR.Table 4.1 Population growth of Cairo and Egypt, 1800-1986
|Year |Cairo |Egypt |Cairo as % of national population |
| |Population ('000) |% growth rate |Population ('000) |% growth rate | |
|1800 |200 |2.0 |3,000 |1.2 |6.7 |
|1900 |600 |2.3 |10,000 |1.3 |6.0 |
|1920 |875 |3.1 |13,000 |1.4 |6.7 |
|1930 |1,150 |2.2 |15,000 |2.3 |7.7 |
|1940 |1,525 |4.1 |19,000 |1.0 |8.0 |
|1950 |2,350 |4.1 |21,000 |2.2 |11.2 |
|1960 |4,784 |2.2 |26,000 |2.4 |18.4 |
|1976 |6,776 |3.5 |38,200 |2.8 |17.7 |
|1986 |9,514 | |50.500 | |18.8 |

VISION FOR FUTURE CAIRO
OBJECTIVES OF THE EGYPTIAN VISION:
“In 2050, Egypt would become an advanced country (economically and socially) and acts effectively on the regional and international level
- Raise quality of life standards to become one of the best 30 countries around the world instead of the current ranking (84) of the 100 countries.
- Raise human development standards to become one of the best 30 countries in the world instead of the current ranking (111) of the 180 countries.
- Raise quality of the Egyptian production (Made in Egypt).
- Reach higher rates in sustainable economic development (not less than 7.5% per year) .
- Achieve social equity (between different segments of society).
- Restructure the demographic distribution of Egypt, to enhance the benefit of Egypt's geographical location and its natural potentials.
- Build an integrated society in which all can enjoy the rights of citizensship.
- Maximize the effectiveness of Egypt’s regional role on the Arab, Islamic, and African level.
COMMUNITIE’S OPINION ON THE FUTURE OF CAIRO:
People citizens wants the city:
1. Economically prosperous with jobs opportunities to its inhabitant.
2. Has a tourist, culture leading role in the region and all over the world. 3. Vibrant, place for every one.
4. Plenty of vibrant cultural activities.
5. Secure and safe city.
6. Interconnected, filled with green spaces.
7. Provide good living conditions for all citizens.
8. Clean city.
9. Although of its density it is not congested, available of all means of quality of life.
10. Provide adequate housing for all different society levels.
11. Provide all modern means of transportation at reasonable prices that suit all society levels.
BASIC PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE THE VISION:
1. G.C.R should be competitive at the national ,international level.
2. Investment & Exploitation of GCR potentials as the capital of Egypt (social, historical, cultural, tourism). 3. Preservation and rehabilitation of historical and heritage zones.
4. Precise urgent needs for social ,culture, economic and urban development to improve quality of life for CAIRO citizens.
5. Provision and increase job opportunities, investment of human capacity.
6. Upgrade poor, deteriorate and informal existing areas, provide new adequate residential areas compatible with government plans to limit informal zones in order to create good and health society.
7. Relocation of land uses that cause pollution far from the city center.
8. Improvement and creation of roads, tunnels and transportation networks within the GCR at regional, national and international level
9. Upgrade infrastructure network.
10. Create green grid from green areas and parks to upgrade living condition. 11. Enhance the coherence and integration between the existing urban areas and new urban communities.
12. Identify and create a network of investment projects (culture, administration, tourism, religious, social….) in order to attract investors and implement projects of 2050 vision with their participation and integration.
13. Implement existing and approved mega projects as priority projects due to their regional and national importance such as relocation of ministries and public institutions outside the core of the city.
14. Encourage the participation of civils and citizenss as an important issues to the sustainable development of the Cairo 2050 projects.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CAIRO:

Cairo,(Arabic: El Qahira), Egypt, the nation's capital and the largest city in Africa. It is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Cairo is on the Nile River near the head of the delta, about 100 miles (160 km) south of the Mediterranean Sea. East of Cairo stretches the Eastern Desert, west of the city the Western Desert; both are part of the Sahara. The Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza are just southwest, beyond the Nile.

Physical features of cairo includes its:

* Geography

* Mountains

* Rivers

Month |Jan |Feb |Mar |Apr |May |Jun |Jul |Aug |Sep |Oct |Nov |Dec |Year | |Record high °C (°F) |31
(88) |36
(97) |40
(104) |42
(108) |44
(111) |48
(118) |44
(111) |42
(108) |44
(111) |41
(106) |37
(99) |33
(91) |48
(118) | |Average high °C (°F) |18.9
(66) |20.4
(68.7) |23.5
(74.3) |28.3
(82.9) |32.0
(89.6) |33.9
(93) |34.7
(94.5) |34.2
(93.6) |32.6
(90.7) |29.2
(84.6) |24.8
(76.6) |20.3
(68.5) |27.8
(82) | |Daily mean °C (°F) |14.0
(57.2) |15.0
(59) |17.6
(63.7) |21.5
(70.7) |24.9
(76.8) |27.0
(80.6) |28.4
(83.1) |28.2
(82.8) |26.6
(79.9) |23.3
(73.9) |19.5
(67.1) |15.4
(59.7) |21.8
(71.2) | |Average low °C (°F) |9.0
(48.2) |9.7
(49.5) |11.6
(52.9) |14.6
(58.3) |17.7
(63.9) |20.1
(68.2) |22.0
(71.6) |22.1
(71.8) |20.5
(68.9) |17.4
(63.3) |14.1
(57.4) |10.4
(50.7) |15.8
(60.4) | |Record low °C (°F) |−1
(30) |−2
(28) |3
(37) |3
(37) |10
(50) |10
(50) |17
(63) |14
(57) |16
(61) |11
(52) |2
(36) |−2
(28) |−2
(28) | |Precipitation mm (inches) |5.0
(0.197) |3.8
(0.15) |3.8
(0.15) |1.1
(0.043) |0.5
(0.02) |0.1
(0.004) |0.0
(0) |0.0
(0) |0.0
(0) |0.7
(0.028) |3.8
(0.15) |5.9
(0.232) |24.7
(0.972) | |Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 mm) |3.5 |2.7 |1.9 |0.9 |0.5 |0.1 |0.0 |0.0 |0.0 |0.5 |1.3 |2.8 |14.2 | | % humidity |59 |54 |53 |47 |46 |49 |58 |61 |60 |60 |61 |61 |55.75 | |Mean monthly sunshine hours |217 |232 |279 |300 |310 |360 |372 |341 |300 |279 |240 |186 |3,416 | | Geography:

Astronaut view of Cairo

Cairo is located in northern Egypt, known as Lower Egypt, 165 kilometres (100 mi) south of the Mediterranean Sea and 120 kilometres (75 mi) west of the Gulf of Suez and Suez Canal.[65] The city is along the Nile River, immediately south of the point where the river leaves its desert-bound valley and

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branches into the low-lying Nile Delta region. Although the Cairo metropolis extends away from the Nile in all directions, the city of Cairo resides only on the east bank of the river and two islands within it on a total area of 453 square kilometres (175 sq mi).[66HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo"]HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo"[67]

Until the mid-19th century, when the river was tamed by dams, levees, and other controls, the Nile in the vicinity of Cairo was highly susceptible to changes in course and surface level. Over the years, the Nile gradually shifted westward, providing the site between the eastern edge of the river and the Mokattam highlands on which the city now stands. The land on which Cairo was established in 969 (present-day Islamic Cairo) was located underwater just over three hundred years earlier, when Fustat was first built.[68]

Low periods of the Nile during the 11th century continued to add to the landscape of Cairo; a new island, known as Geziret al-Fil, first appeared in 1174, but eventually became connected to the mainland. Today, the site of Geziret al-Fil is occupied by the Shubra district. The low periods created another island at the turn of the 14th century that now composes Zamalek and Gezira.LandHYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reclamation" reclamation efforts by the Mamluks and Ottomans further contributed to expansion on the east bank of the river.[69]

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The streets of Islamic Cairo, adorned byIslamicHYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_architecture" architecture, are narrower and older than those in the city centre

Because of the Nile's movement, the newer parts of the city—Garden City, Downtown Cairo, and Zamalek—are located closest to the riverbank.[70] The areas, which are home to most of Cairo'sembassies, are surrounded on the north, east, and south by the older parts of the city. Old Cairo, located south of the centre, holds the remnants of Fustat and the heart of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, Coptic Cairo. The Boulaq district, which lies in the northern part of the city, was born out of a major 16th-century port and is now a major industrial centre. The Citadel is located east of the city centre around Islamic Cairo, which dates back to the Fatimid era and the foundation of Cairo. While western Cairo is dominated by wide boulevards, open spaces, andmodernHYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_architecture" architecture of European influence, the eastern half, having grown haphazardly over the centuries, is dominated by small lanes, crowded tenements, and Islamic architecture.

Northern and extreme eastern parts of Cairo, which include satellite towns, are among the most recent additions to the city, as they developed in the late-20th and early-21st centuries to accommodate the city's rapid growth. The western bank of the Nile is commonly included within the urban area of Cairo, but it composes the city of Giza and the Giza Governorate. Giza has also undergone significant expansion over recent years, and today the city, although still a suburb of Cairo, has a population of 2.7 million.[67] The Cairo Governorate was just north of theHelwanHYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helwan_Governorate" Governorate from 2008 when some Cairo's southern districts, including Maadi and New Cairo, were split off and annexed into the new governorate,[71] to 2011 when the Helwan Governorate was reincorporated into the Cairo Governorate.

CLIMATE:

In Cairo, and along the Nile River Valley, the climate is a hot desert climate (BWh according to the Köppen climate classification system[72]), but often with high humidity due to the river valley's effects. Wind storms can be frequent, bringing Saharan dust into the city during the months of March and April (see Khamasin). High temperatures in winter range from 19 °C (66 °F) to 29 °C (84 °F), while night-time lows drop to below 11 °C (52 °F), often to 5 °C (41 °F). In summer, the highs rarely surpass 40 °C (104 °F), and lows drop to about 20 °C (68 °F). Rainfall is sparse and only happens in the colder months, but sudden showers do cause harsh flooding.

MOUNTAINS:

Egyptians consider the Mokattam Mountain to be the only real mountain in Cairo, though many outsiders would consider it more of a hill. It is four or five hundred feet high and lays immediately to the east of the city.
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Historically, the Mokattam Mountains are first known to us for its quarries of limestone and other deposits that were worked from the

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Old Kingdom, when it was quarried for stone to build the Great Pyramids of Giza, through the Pharaonic Period, and into the archaic Islamic Period.
RIVERS:

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The Ohio River (Seneca: ohi:yó[2]) (Shawnee: Pelewathiipi or Spelewathiipi [3]) is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River in the United States. At theconfluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi (Ohio at Cairo: 281,500 cu ft/s (7,960 m3/s);[4] Mississippi at Thebes: 208,200 cu ft/s (5,897 m3/s)[5]) and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream. It is approximately 981 miles (1,579 km) long and is located in theEasternHYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_United_States" United States.

The river had great significance in the history of the Native Americans, as numerous civilizations formed along its valley. In the five centuries prior to European contact, theMississippianHYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippian_culture" culture built numerous regional chiefdoms and major earthwork mounds in the Ohio Valley, such as Angel Mounds near Evansville, Indiana, as well as in theMississippiHYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Valley" Valley and the Southeast. For thousands of years, Native Americans, like the European explorers and settlers who followed them, used the river as a major transportation and trading route. Its waters connected communities. The Osage, Omaha, Ponca and Kaw lived in the Ohio Valley, but under pressure from the Iroquois to the northeast, migrated west of the Mississippi River to Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma in the 1600s.

René-Robert HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle"CavelierHYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle", HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle"SieurHYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle" de La Salle led an expedition to the Ohio River in 1669. His French party were the first Europeans to see the river. After European-HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European-American"Americansettlement, the river served at times as a border between present-day Kentucky and Indian Territories. It was a primary transportation route for pioneers during the westward expansion of the early U.S. The Ohio flows through or along the border of six states, and its drainage basin includes parts of 14 states. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes many of the states of the southeastern U.S.

During the 19th century, the river was the southern boundary of the Northwest Territory. It is sometimes considered as the western extension of the Mason–Dixon Line that dividedPennsylvania from Maryland, and thus part of the border between free and slave territory, and between the Northern and Southern United States or Upper South. Where the river was narrow, it was the way to freedom for thousands of slaves escaping to the North, many helped by free blacks and whites of the Underground Railroad resistance movement.

The Ohio River is a climatic transition area, as its water runs along the periphery of the humid subtropical and humid continental climate areas. It is inhabited by fauna and flora of both climates. In winter it regularly freezes over at Pittsburgh but rarely so as it travels further south toward Cincinnati and Louisville. At Paducah, Kentucky in the south, near the Ohio’s confluence with the Mississippi, it is ice-free year round. Paducah was founded there because it is the northernmost ice-free reach of the Ohio. In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated: "The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted."[6]

PROMINENT PLACES:

Cairo Egyptian museum houses the world's finest collection of Egyptian antiquities, including the treasures of Tutankhamen. In the Museum of Islamic Art are masterpieces from throughout the Islamic world. Notable too are the Coptic Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. The 19th-century Abdin Palace, part of which is preserved as a museum, is the residence of the president of Egypt.

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The National Cultural Center, inaugurated in 1988, houses a museum, a library, and several theaters. On Gezira which rises 614 feet (187 m) and is topped by an observatory.

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The old Muslim quarter has many Islamic architectural treasures, particularly its mosques. Among these are Al Azhar Mosque (971), Mohammed Ali Mosque (early 1800's), Ibn Tulun Mosque (870's), and Sultan Hassan Mosque (mid-1300's). Two necropolises—the Tombs of the Caliphs and the Tombs of the Mamelukes—contain splendid tombs and monuments amid widespread ruins. Thousands of people live in the necropolises because of scarcity of housing in the city.

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Al Azhar University, founded in the 10th century as an integral part of Al Azhar Mosque, is the oldest Muslim university in the world and one of Islam's chief theological schools. Cairo University (1908), American University (1919), and Ain Shams University (1950) are some of the largest universities in Egypt.

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ECONOMIC FEATURES OF CAIRO:
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Paris resembling buildings in downtown Cairo. In the centre is the statue of Talaat Pasha Harb, the father of the modern Egyptian economy.

Cairo is the economic center of Egypt, with two-thirds of the country's gross national product generated in the greater metropolitan area. The great majority of publishing houses and media outlets and nearly all film studios are there, as are half of the nation's hospital beds and universities. This has fueled rapid construction in the city.

Industrialization, which began in the nineteenth century, grew rapidly following the 1952 revolution and revolved primarily around textiles (based on Egypt's traditional economic mainstay, long-staple cotton) and food processing. Other industries include iron and steel production and consumer goods. Today the majority of Cairo's work force is employed in service sector jobs, especially in government, financial services, and commerce. The tourism industry is a major source of revenue for the country, along with weapons sales, petroleum, and Suez Canal tariffs (following nationalization of the canal on July 26, 1956). Foreign aid from other countries is also an important source of income.
Although government agricultural subsidies, cheap public transportation, and low-cost medical care help keep Cairo's cost of living relatively low, the average Cairene still struggle to make ends meet, often holding down two or more jobs, or going overseas to find work and send money home. The poorest are forced to send their children to work as early as eight or nine years of age, often in "sweatshops" producing manufactured goods.
Currently the population of Greater Cairo is estimated to be growing at roughly 2.0 per cent annually.However, the labour force is probably growing at over 3.0 per cent per annum, due to the large youth bulge in the population pyramid now reaching working age. Greater Cairo is a rare phenomenon of a third world mega-city where, since the 1980s net in-migration has almost stopped. The metropolis’s expansion is fuelled by natural increase and the incorporation of surrounding rural populations.3 This fact, clearly supported by census figures and various studies, seems however to be ignored by most Egyptian observers, and the view is commonly held that rural migrants continue to pour into THE URBAN ECONOMY

As the capital and primate city of Egypt, the economy of Greater Cairo largely reflects that of the nation and,indeed it probably contributes half of the Gross Domestic Product. In spite of many calls for decentralisation of the bureaucracy, government is heavily concentrated in the capital, and it also contains most of the higher-order private sector services. With the establishment of industrial zones in the new towns of Sixth of October and Tenth of Ramadan (30 and 50 km from the city centre respectively), Cairo has also become the focal point of most modern manufacturing. Finally, Cairo has a well-developed tourist economy, catering both to Western tourists and Gulf Arabs, and it also enjoys an important position as a regional centre for conferences.Paralleling the formal economy, Cairo also has an immense informal economy, made up of hundreds of thousands of small and micro-enterprises. The informal sector absorbs over half of the city’s labour force and informal employment is expanding at a faster rate than formal employment. Also, as estimated in the recent work of Lima’s Institute for Liberty and Democracy,informal investment in residential real estate in Greater Cairo is valued at over US$ 36 billion, representing 39 per cent of the city’s total (Sims, 2000, p 38).

Female participation in the labour force is slightly higher in Cairo than the nation as a whole (19.7 per cent versus 15.3 per cent), with female employment showing a marked concentration in the ranks of the civil service (59 per cent of Cairo’s female labour force), (Institute of National Planning, 1998, p. 132).

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CAIRO:

Social characteristics of any country define its culture:

CULTURE IN CAIRO:

Cairo has a legacy that spans millennia – even though the present city was built just over a thousand years ago – and stands as a monument to one of the longest-lived empires in the world. With a population of nearly 7 million, the city is the largest in the Arab world and one of the most densely populated on the planet. Cairo also is a very cosmopolitan city, incorporating elements from hundreds of cultures as well as from its own checkered past. The area in which Cairo was built was home to many great cities in Ancient Egypt, and Cairo is located near many of the major cultural sites of Egypt, including the Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx.

RELIGION

Cairo has one of the richest religious histories in the Middle East. It is the focal point of Coptic Christianity, which broke from the Eastern Orthodox and Western churches in the fifth century. More than 90 percent of Egypt’s Christians are Coptics, and they comprise roughly 15 percent to 20 percent of Egypt’s population. The vast majority of Cairo’s population is Sunni Islam, and Islam permeates the culture. Unlike many Middle Eastern countries, however, the government is secular: Although new laws must agree with the laws of Islam, the constitution forbids parties from holding political agendas. Shi’a Muslims number in the low thousands, as do followers of Baha’i.

ARCHITECTURE

Buildings and history play a crucial part in the culture of Cairo, and the city is famed for its abundance of Islamic architecture – leading to one of its epithets, the "City of a Thousand Minarets." There are many extremely well-preserved mosques in Cairo that are still in use by the city’s Muslim population. These include the ninth century Mosque of Ibn-Tulun and the enormous 19th century Muhammad Ali Mosque. Just outside of the city lie some of the most iconic architectural structures in the world: the Great Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. These are artifacts from the Dynastic Age of Egypt, and for natives of Cairo provide a concrete link to the extensive history of their culture.

CUISINE

Cairo is located just north of the lush Nile River Valley, and the cuisine makes extensive use of fresh vegetables. Bread is the core of any meal in Cairo, and the standard bread is a thick form of pita. Bread is such an integral part of the Egyptian diet that it is subsidized by the government, and bread lines can be seen throughout Cairo. Many of the foods seen in Cairo can be seen throughout the Middle East, including baba ghanoush, tahini, and falafel. The most iconic dish in Cairo is kushari, which is made with macaroni noodles, lentils and rice.

ART AND MUSIC:

Cairo has an eclectic range of art and music, some dating back thousands of years. The Egyptian National Museum is located in Cairo, and has visual art going back to the great Dynastic Age. Modern visual art relies heavily on multimedia, and work by artists such as Abdel Hadi Al Gazzar and Gazbia Sirry is on display in galleries throughout Cairo. The contemporary music scene includes both modern pop music, which draws from the Western mode, and traditional folk music, incorporating traditional harps, flutes and the stringed oud.

LANGUAGE

Arabic is the official language in Cairo, and is the most common language spoken throughout the city. Although English is widely spoken in the major tourist arias, particularly by taxi drivers and other tourist service personnel, it is far less common in other areas of the city.

TRADITIONAL DRESSING:

Egypt had a range of traditional costumes. The farmers (fellahin) basically wear gallibayas. In the cities the upper classes adopted the clothes of their conquerors - Ottoman Turks from 1500s, and later European from 1798. To the south theNubians have their own distinctive costume and across the desert the Bedouin also have a separate style of clothing.