Cairo Desert Sprawl

Here‘s more (see previous posts) in FT on Cairo’s mushrooming into the desert. It looks at how both rich and poor have had to accommodate themselves in recent times.

I, however, disagree with this:

The development of exclusive estates represents a new phenomenon for the ancient city, as the rich and powerful seek seclusion in communities laid out and run by the private sector. It is also a reflection of the increased wealth enjoyed by the elite as the economy continues on the path of robust growth. [emphasis added]

There is, actually, absolutely nothing new about this. It was the case thousands of years ago and has been ever since. In more modern times think Heliopolis and Maadi.

In Cairo, it has meant that both rich and poor often have to rely on their own resources to build not just their homes but their own districts. Top earners opt frequently for the private gated enclaves, while the poor live in illegally built suburbs reclaimed from the surrounding countryside.

The city is now ringed by vast areas of informal housing. These are overcrowded forests of unrendered blocks crammed so close together that their balconies almost touch above streets that are too narrow for cars to pass. [emphasis added]

My uncle, the albeit well-educated and traveled se3eedy (upper egyptian), on a recent visit to my father in Saudia and dazzled by the order and opulence exclaimed, “El Masreyeen dol fikrohom fikr 7awary” (Egyptians have an alley(i prefer, wynd) mentality).

Experts estimate that well over half of Cairo’s 16m people live in unplanned districts that have sprouted in breach of laws banning construction on farm land.

Hmm. And the conclusion:

But as the government struggles to bring order into the chaos, crises that are the direct result of poor planning continue to grow. In Cairo, those who paid heavily for their luxurious homes have been finding, in common with poorer residents, that the city’s infrastructure is unable to cope with expansion. Rich and poor alike were subject to water cuts last summer in soaring temperatures that left some communities with little or no water for days at a time.