transforming streets from polluted spaces to safe parks for
all.
In the 1930s, Downtown Cairo became not just a chic
residential district, rather it was also introduced to several
commercial activities which helped in changing it into a
mixed-use district. It became a popular hangout area for
commercial and entertainment services with many casinos,
cinemas, street cafés and restaurants. One of its main dominant streets was Al-Alfi Street, a wide long street that runs
from Orabi Square to Al Gomhuria Street and divided twice
with two streets Zakaria Ahmed then Emad ElDin. Since the
1920s, the street—in general—was an entertainment hub
with many cinemas and theatres on both sides, not to mention its role as a hub for nightlife and casinos frequented by
European expats seeking entertainment. Many famous
restaurants, cafes and dessert shops were also established
then and still running today.
4.2.1 The Initiative
In the mid-1990s, the western zone of the street—ending
with Emad ElDin Street—was officially pedestrianized. This
process of pedestrianization and refurbishment was envisioned as a pilot project carried out by Cairo Governorate for
a future pedestrian friendly city center. Accordingly, traffic
was banned creating a safer space for people with day and
night entertainment activities of fast food, restaurants, cafés
and cabarets to match with the new nature of the street.
However, there was no real social upgrading introduced, just
paving, installing basic street furniture and cleaning up
building frontages.
The approach back then was more experimental than a
well-studied tactic due to the lack of a clear strategy concerning traffic, urban design, activities. Stakeholders were
not involved in the decision-making (Attia et al. 2017;
Shahine 2018; El Khorazaty 1998).
4.2.2 The Intent
With the turn of the new millennium, the government promoted more trails for beautifying and pedestrianizing
Downtown. In 2009, an international competition was
launched to revitalize Downtown Cairo and the Al-Alfi
passageway was already considered to be a ready model to
admire.
The proposed regeneration plan of the street at that time
focused on new flooring material (concrete and tiling for
pavements), back-to-back seats and adding few bushes. The
outdoor spaces were used as extensions for the cafés and
restaurants without any boundaries or specific order. The
street users stated the negatives in the insufficient number of
seats, poor lighting, less security subsequent to street fights
started by teenagers, jobless youth and mixed social standards. They suggested maintaining building façades, lighting
the street, introducing seating and greenery plus increasing
security and allowing regulated traffic for longer durations
by daytime (Abdelhadi et al. 2009).
After the uprising of 2011, a state of chaos and behavioural disorder started overwhelming the whole area;
wooden chairs in some pedestrian streets were either dismantled or removed and vehicles started storming those
streets. Street vendors occupied sidewalks, squares and wide
portions of the main streets in downtown Cairo. An
invasion led to a consistent pace of deterioration of many
streets.
In 2014, a group of researchers conducted a field survey
to detect the current negatives in Al-Alfi Street. Locals,
mainly, complained about the absence of security, the lack
of cleanliness and scarcity of maintenance. They also
brought attention to the fact that wooden benches were
attracting homeless people and encouraging delinquent
attitudes of young lovers, and most importantly not including the residents and shop owners in the decision-making
process. That is why the café owners ‘deliberately destroyed
the public benches for their own benefit to place their own
seats and rent them to passers-by’, leaving no space for
pedestrian activity. Moreover, the governorate reserves the
right to rent spots in front of each café or store to anyone
ready to pay even if he does not have a shop on Al-Alfi
Street (Attia et al. 2017). In the same year, a governmental
initiative called ‘The state of Downtown’ was launched, with
the focus of clearing the streets and squares from all street
vendors and an overall regeneration of the whole area.
Several meetings were held weekly organized by Cairo
Governorate, headed by the Governor and attended by representatives from the Governorate, local authorities and
experts from different organizations and institutions.
Sahar Attia (a former Co-chair General Assembly of
Partners at UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign) describes
how the regeneration started this time and the role of different stakeholders:
…The regeneration project was initiated by Cairo Governorate,
the owner of Al-Alfi Street, while mobilizing different stakeholders to participate in the project each with a specific role.
Cairo Governorate, GOPP and NOUH represented the governmental institutions involved in the project; who were responsible
for issuing legislations and making all decisions regarding
design aspects of the regeneration project. Other stakeholders
funded the project namely Ismailia Company upgrading its
owned property. Misr Real Estate assets part of Misr Insurance
holding Company sponsored the painting of buildings’ façades
based on the approved design. Private owners of businesses and
shop owners had to adjust their shop frontages based on the
agreed upon design. Other involved stakeholders included the
consultant, the review committee and the governorate advisors
of academicians and professionals, and the contractor.
Researchers and postgraduate students were involved in conducting before and after surveys. Finally, Social Media Companies were responsible to bring the project to the local
community awareness… (Attia et al. 2017)
140
S. Ashour and B. Braker
all.
In the 1930s, Downtown Cairo became not just a chic
residential district, rather it was also introduced to several
commercial activities which helped in changing it into a
mixed-use district. It became a popular hangout area for
commercial and entertainment services with many casinos,
cinemas, street cafés and restaurants. One of its main dominant streets was Al-Alfi Street, a wide long street that runs
from Orabi Square to Al Gomhuria Street and divided twice
with two streets Zakaria Ahmed then Emad ElDin. Since the
1920s, the street—in general—was an entertainment hub
with many cinemas and theatres on both sides, not to mention its role as a hub for nightlife and casinos frequented by
European expats seeking entertainment. Many famous
restaurants, cafes and dessert shops were also established
then and still running today.
4.2.1 The Initiative
In the mid-1990s, the western zone of the street—ending
with Emad ElDin Street—was officially pedestrianized. This
process of pedestrianization and refurbishment was envisioned as a pilot project carried out by Cairo Governorate for
a future pedestrian friendly city center. Accordingly, traffic
was banned creating a safer space for people with day and
night entertainment activities of fast food, restaurants, cafés
and cabarets to match with the new nature of the street.
However, there was no real social upgrading introduced, just
paving, installing basic street furniture and cleaning up
building frontages.
The approach back then was more experimental than a
well-studied tactic due to the lack of a clear strategy concerning traffic, urban design, activities. Stakeholders were
not involved in the decision-making (Attia et al. 2017;
Shahine 2018; El Khorazaty 1998).
4.2.2 The Intent
With the turn of the new millennium, the government promoted more trails for beautifying and pedestrianizing
Downtown. In 2009, an international competition was
launched to revitalize Downtown Cairo and the Al-Alfi
passageway was already considered to be a ready model to
admire.
The proposed regeneration plan of the street at that time
focused on new flooring material (concrete and tiling for
pavements), back-to-back seats and adding few bushes. The
outdoor spaces were used as extensions for the cafés and
restaurants without any boundaries or specific order. The
street users stated the negatives in the insufficient number of
seats, poor lighting, less security subsequent to street fights
started by teenagers, jobless youth and mixed social standards. They suggested maintaining building façades, lighting
the street, introducing seating and greenery plus increasing
security and allowing regulated traffic for longer durations
by daytime (Abdelhadi et al. 2009).
After the uprising of 2011, a state of chaos and behavioural disorder started overwhelming the whole area;
wooden chairs in some pedestrian streets were either dismantled or removed and vehicles started storming those
streets. Street vendors occupied sidewalks, squares and wide
portions of the main streets in downtown Cairo. An
invasion led to a consistent pace of deterioration of many
streets.
In 2014, a group of researchers conducted a field survey
to detect the current negatives in Al-Alfi Street. Locals,
mainly, complained about the absence of security, the lack
of cleanliness and scarcity of maintenance. They also
brought attention to the fact that wooden benches were
attracting homeless people and encouraging delinquent
attitudes of young lovers, and most importantly not including the residents and shop owners in the decision-making
process. That is why the café owners ‘deliberately destroyed
the public benches for their own benefit to place their own
seats and rent them to passers-by’, leaving no space for
pedestrian activity. Moreover, the governorate reserves the
right to rent spots in front of each café or store to anyone
ready to pay even if he does not have a shop on Al-Alfi
Street (Attia et al. 2017). In the same year, a governmental
initiative called ‘The state of Downtown’ was launched, with
the focus of clearing the streets and squares from all street
vendors and an overall regeneration of the whole area.
Several meetings were held weekly organized by Cairo
Governorate, headed by the Governor and attended by representatives from the Governorate, local authorities and
experts from different organizations and institutions.
Sahar Attia (a former Co-chair General Assembly of
Partners at UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign) describes
how the regeneration started this time and the role of different stakeholders:
…The regeneration project was initiated by Cairo Governorate,
the owner of Al-Alfi Street, while mobilizing different stakeholders to participate in the project each with a specific role.
Cairo Governorate, GOPP and NOUH represented the governmental institutions involved in the project; who were responsible
for issuing legislations and making all decisions regarding
design aspects of the regeneration project. Other stakeholders
funded the project namely Ismailia Company upgrading its
owned property. Misr Real Estate assets part of Misr Insurance
holding Company sponsored the painting of buildings’ façades
based on the approved design. Private owners of businesses and
shop owners had to adjust their shop frontages based on the
agreed upon design. Other involved stakeholders included the
consultant, the review committee and the governorate advisors
of academicians and professionals, and the contractor.
Researchers and postgraduate students were involved in conducting before and after surveys. Finally, Social Media Companies were responsible to bring the project to the local
community awareness… (Attia et al. 2017)
140
S. Ashour and B. Braker