LEARNING FROM LITTLE DAMASCUS: A COMMUNITY - LED MODEL OF PUBLIC SPACE IN GREATER CAIRO’S DESERT CITIES

Cities are rapidly urbanizing around the world. In fact, metropolises are home to 54% of the world’s population, and this number is expected to increase to 66% by 2050 (UN Habitat, 2016). As a result, cities are expanding to accommodate this growing need; however, without a mindful approach to people’s needs in planning these expansions, there will be an inevitable loss in economic, social, ecological, and cultural development within the effected populations. A factor that is almost always overlooked in the planning of developing countries is the role of the public realm. The myriad of benefits that come from developing a sufficient public realm within a city is vital for their livability and sense of belonging. This notion applies more strongly to developing countries, where public spaces are intertwined with the everyday discourse of neighborhoods’ streets and squares. Many factors affect how the public realm is perceived and used – not only the planning and design of buildings, but also the economic, social, and contextual stimuli that pertain to the livability of the public spaces.

The research draws on an exploratory study undertaken in the public spaces within the city of Sixth of October as a case study. The first part of the research investigates the different planning patterns in the Greater Cairo Region (GCR) and analyzes the shift from the Nile Delta to Cairo’s deserts, ending with an analysis of Sixth of October’s city planning context. The second part of the research examines the public discourse in the GCR with emphasis on the street and informal practices therein.

The third part of the research focuses on the commercial center of Sixth of October City as an area of study where a community-led public space model can be analyzed; a mix of qualitative and quantitative data are used, based on the 3-tier Place Criteria Toolbox referenced in the table below. In-depth interviews were conducted with residents and visitors in the space, including members of the Syrian community and the experts in the fields of planning, design, and management of public spaces. The fieldwork strategy uses a qualitative approach and relies on news and media outlets to track historical evidence and complement the analysis. Census and demographic statistics provided by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) and Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Development (MHUUD) are also used in the analysis.

Egypt’s capital, Cairo, has always been known for its clash of cultures and varied rulings, and these tensions are unsurprisingly reflected in its streets and overall town plans. The political climate in the past couple of years since the 25th of January Revolution has certainly affected Egypt’s public realm and served as a turning point when Egyptians turned to the streets into a place of revolution. The public space and its perception has transformed dramatically since then, and to this day, six years later, it is still adapting in many ways to reflect the general social, political, and economic atmosphere. At the same time, planning for cities in Egypt is turning into a very technical process that is largely driven by quantity rather than quality. In a city like the Greater Cairo Region, with a population nearing 100 million and growing at an unprecedented rate, there seems to be a tendency for the current government to want to develop further out of the Nile valley and into the desert (CAPMAS, 2017). However, planned agglomerations outside of the Nile valley must be very well thoughtful to include not only the building of houses and highways, but also a thorough consideration of proposed means of living, including services, mobility, and public space – all of which are likely to be afterthoughts in the planning of new communities around Cairo.

Time is a huge factor in studying the development of new cities. Sixth of October City, one of the first generation of towns developed in the desert 30 years ago, had witnessed a very slow rate of growth (2% annually) until a recent spike in annual growth rates to 12%, with an estimated current population of 1.5 to 2 million (MHUUD, 2017). With populations now moving into the new agglomerations, inhabitants of those space will start to shape and personalize it, building their communities and increasing the sense of belonging within their neighborhoods. An analysis of how time, context, and socio-economic factors affect the public realm in Cairo’s new towns is integral to identifying the criteria needed to plan new cities responsibly – a type of analysis that has not yet been studied within the context of Egypt. Thus, this research will present a new lens for shedding light on the conditions of public space in new urban communities with reference to the planning of Cairo’s center and its public realm. The study thoroughly analyzes a community-led placemaking model in Sixth of October’s core, the Al Hossary area, and develops a framework for place-led development in the new towns.

The New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA), a government agency under MHUUD, which oversees the municipality’s (OCA) planning and maintenance of new towns, could benefit from an analysis that looks at the public space conditions in new towns post-settlement. This research provides a better framework for including context and community in the design and management of GCR new towns’ public spaces, which will lead to a more humancentered, accessible, and inclusive approach to development on a nationwide scale. The study will also be useful at a local level, teaching communities the importance of sustaining the spaces between their buildings, making them more accommodating and livable.

Location

Located on the central commercial spine of Sixth of October, known as Al Mehwar Al Markazi Street, Al Hossary square is a landmark situated in what is informally referred to as Sixth of October’s downtown. The district is one of few zoned for mixed land use, where retail and services occupy ground level and sometimes first and second levels, while offices and residential units occupy the rest. Beside the mosque, there also resides a religious and cultural complex, including a public library.

As shown in the diagram below, a commercial complex with street level retail services is located opposite Al Hossary square, with a pedestrian street entrance (Gad walkway) leading to the main Syrian passageway of Little Damascus, reflecting its vibrancy with Egyptian and Syrian vendors on either side.

Al-Amerikiya complex is a market center with ground, first, and second floor retail. For the purpose of this study, I observed and analyzed the public space within this block as highlighted in the figure above with a focus on the Syrian passageway between two of Al-Amerikiya’s buildings that has been transformed into a community space. On Saturday, March 25 and Tuesday, April 4 of 2017, observational analysis was recorded in Little Damascus during both day and evening hours, along with around 150 surveys collected on site in addition to those taken off site. Spatial mapping and quality assessments were also collected. The multiple methodologies emphasizes the 3 tiers of place (equity, livability, and governance) through the observations and questions highlighted in the criteria toolbox set up.

Little Damascus achieves equity on a socioeconomic level, including inclusiveness and access through high ownership, involvement, and the presence of the Syrian immigrant community. However, it has fallen short in investment in public infrastructure quality, especially where there is no private or semi-public property, and sidewalks are completely neglected by the city.

Little Damascus increases livability through the manifestation of human needs and activities reflected in the physical characteristics of the place, where the place’s vibrancy is shaped by and large by its community.

Little Damascus enhances a sense of ownership through community-led governance, however, shop owners and other stakeholders lead the management and maintenance without any city partnership model, which poses a threat to the space in its potential commodification, as well as city removal of these unofficial practices at any point in time.

Little Damascus mostly serves as a reminiscent home for many Syrian immigrants and a local center of Cairo traditions for many Egyptians living in the new cities. In that sense, the space is no longer just a ‘space between the buildings’ but it has become a ‘place of meaning,’ serving its purpose of being shaped by and for its community. A regulatory framework is integral to ensure that the place is not threatened by eradication nor turned into a commodity by the city. Through a citywide public space strategy of communityled systems building on existing assets and livelihood, Little Damascus will be better managed and maintained, and it will have ensured continued access and service for its community members.

There are multiple underlying benefits to community placemaking efforts; not only do they nurture community identity, but they also help make entire neighborhoods safer and more attractive. Placemaking is not a novel exercise in Greater Cairo. In fact, it has been taking place long before placemaking was defined and is an established factor in the culture of public streets and spaces. Embracing placemaking efforts in new towns and facilitating their creation could attract more residents to the desert cities and help them shape their themselves. Placemaking is not necessarily about making spaces, but about the process of enabling, embracing, and managing those places, making them more livable and able to better serve their communities. Accordingly, based on the 3-tier place analysis set up, the placemaking strategy illustrated below touches on the multiple dimensions through which placemaking can be incrementally applied to GCR’s desert cities.

The key success of Little Damascus is the manifestation of the community’s culture into its urban fabric. Communities add value to the space between buildings through the display of their own rhetoric and vibrancy. A large part of placemaking in Greater Cairo and other developing contexts is the factor of place-enabling – allowing communities to design and maintain their own places, stimulating the benefits associated with community leadership in urban spaces. The process of community-led placemaking demands a paradigm shift in the perceptions of informal practices by looking at those features as cultural assets and drivers of economic and social prosperity in an area. In that sense, the public space becomes not only a space of free access, but also a platform for community-building and displaying attractive assets, contrary to privatized spaces. If this notion is applied in GCR’s desert cities, a shift in value perception may occur, and the government may be selling the idea of a community and a richly embedded culture, helping to regulate and structure its governance to be community-led, increasing the presence of local governments in the public realm. Little Damascus proves that neighborhoods in GCR’s desert cities could flourish and develop as engines for economic and social efficiency for their communities. While new towns were initially built with the intention of distancing people and neighborhoods, a microscale approach to connecting those neighborhoods and communities could turn the common spaces around internally, branching out to cover the whole city. The approach of place-led development will not only connect the spaces between buildings and lead to more socially-knit communities, but it will also build a governance strategy based on an ideology of community-based planning and local space development.

A strategy that includes the three tiers of place-led development would have a direct impact on desert city communities. In addition, it will create tangible incentives for people to move in from around the Nile Delta. As a result, the government can reach its target of attracting residents to the desert on the basis of providing equitable, livable, and locally developed models of GCR’s connected city extensions.