URBAN CONSERVATION PROJECTS OF CAIRO: A CRITIQUE OF THE LOCAL LITERATURE
Introduction
Historic Cairo is one of the major World Heritage sites; it embraces a massive amount of built heritage and rich traditional societies. Since the 1980s, Historic Cairo (HC) has undertaken many preservation efforts orchestrated by various organizations. However, the urban conservation process of HC has provided almost nothing in the way of critical assessment or objective examination, while consuming plenty of resources. The crux of this chapter is to observe and explore the local literature produced toward the urban conservation process of HC. Although the literature resources are limited to the last 35 years of local newspapers and relevant scientific magazines, the study attempts to highlight some vital and effective sources to help us understand a way out of the continuing dilemma of uncertainty toward the urban conservation of HC. However, the study will provide an overview of experiences of urban conservation and the different key players within the process of criticism. It is necessary to investigate the modes of criticism of local writers and experts forming the main argument of this study. Revealing different trends of criticism of urban conservation in HC through various critics’ feedback, this chapter classifies them into three categories: (a) critical commentary, (b) theoretical criticism for awareness, and (c) public criticism. This chapter highlights the essentiality for rigorous assessment rather than subjective criticism in order to introduce approaches based on post-operative and quantitative analyses toward reviewing the urban conservation interventions.
Urban conservation interventions within Historic Cairo
Historic Cairo consists of many urban quarters and displays a rich built heritage with distinctive architectural styles. Despite three managing authorities and several policies produced during the 1960s and 1970s to increase urban conservation, a precipitous decline in the condition of building stock occurred because of undirected and weak policies. Later, a remarkable change occurred in the national economic strategy, encouraging foreign expertise to interfere in the conservation process under the supervision of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). Most of the international missions focused on restoring monuments without developing the surrounding urban context. However, the immense number of monuments that were dispersed throughout the dense and complex urban fabric challenged the SCA. Opportunely, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized the potential of HC and declared it a World Heritage Site in 1980 to meet a tourism-led conservation challenge (UNESCO 1985). Clearly, this was the first initiative for an urban-scale development rather than preservation of individual historic buildings. In addition, further international agencies joined the horde via successful restoration projects. Policies displayed the narrow scope of decision-makers by focusing on the development of individual buildings rather than urban conservation. Thus, the ambiguous differentiation between preservation and conservation kept emerging in Historic Cairo.
Since 1995, the strategic objectives shifted toward proper conservation methods by introducing new managing agencies, such as the Historic Cairo Restoration Centre (HCRC) located at the citadel complex and the Architectural Heritage Preservation Committee, both of which report to the Prime Minister. These centres worked on designating built heritage and proposing development plans. Unfortunately, the HCRC suffered lack of implementation due to its inferiority compared to other government organizations. Despite these challenges, other urban conservation agencies developed several other quarters, such as the development of Darb Al Asfar, the rehabilitation of Darb Al Ahmar, and the establishment of Azhar Park (by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture), the development of the Coptic Quarter, and the upgrading of the Gamalia Quarter (with UNDP/USAID funds). Generally, historic quarters were losing their beauty and visual harmony and were eventually filled up with spontaneous unpleasant architecture that is short on style and identity. In 2003, the Ministry of Culture introduced the National Organization for Urban Harmony (NOUH) to promote beauty and harmony measures in deteriorated quarters. However, to complete the overall picture of involved stakeholders, some other key players need to be mentioned.
Critics and channels of criticism
There are various key players involved in the process of urban conservation, which according to Nakamura and Smallwood (1980) constitute four groups. The first group are the policy-makers; they formulate directives and indirectly monitor the implementation process with low interference. The second group are the formal implementers, which includes government agencies provided with legitimate and clear authority to carry out directives. The third group are the intermediaries, who assist in the implementation process. The last group of actors are generally the examiners, evaluators, or critics of the process and final product. Usually they are expert practitioners or academics aware of the field of conservation of historic quarters and their production is the focus of this study. This group tends to criticize and share their observations through the public local media, or by consultation reports, if required.
Critics tend to distinguish the objectives of the urban conservation schemes and final outcome via a series of criticism channels. Simply, they provide critical insights of the developing programmes from a professional perspective. Critics operate in a free environment, where any feedback is potentially useful. Therefore, it is vital to highlight their literature to clarify their up-to-date and flexible reflections toward the urban conservation interventions. Critics discuss how the interventions can be improved to achieve their goal, exploit the types and levels of resources, and express the projects’ outcomes toward target populations. All these questions may be difficult for other key players to tackle, yet they are accomplished through the literature of critics.
FIGURE 11.1 Examples of Egyptian architecture magazine covers – Alam El-Benaa (left) and Medina Magazine (right)
Source: author.
Local channels of criticism