Architecture and the Urban Life of Cairo

2022 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Visual Narrative ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Urban Imaginary ◽  
Architectural Development ◽  
The City

When it comes to Cairo, there is a plethora of writing taking place amid its streets and alleyways. Trying to make sense of, and structure, such an immense output is quite a difficult task. However, this article aims to highlight some significant writings that would offer those interested in Cairo’s architecture an opportunity to learn more about the city and its built environment. My intent is also to expand the scope of the inquiry. Rather than simply focusing on specific buildings, I seek to include the broader urban context and also look at the socioeconomic conditions that gave rise to important structures. I start with a review of some major texts that have looked at the city from different perspectives and, in doing so, shed light on the city’s urban and architectural development. It is interesting to note that for the most part, authors in this section do not come from an architectural or urban-planning background. Instead they write from a historical, economic, and geographic perspective. Following this, I look at a variety of other sources and writings that have appeared in edited books and book chapters. I have also included journal articles, since they offer an in-depth examination of certain buildings and the city’s overall urban growth. In addition to writings about the city, I also sought to capture its “urban imaginary” (i.e., the extent to which its built environment has been represented by writers, filmmakers, and artists). To that end, a section is dedicated toward a review of key works and the extent to which they have shed valuable insights into Cairo’s past, present, and future. The city’s urban imaginary is also portrayed through the medium of film, which allows for a conveyance of a visual narrative that evokes the sight and sounds of the city. Here I review key articles discussing the representation of the city through cinema, which is then followed by a filmography of major movies released since the late 20th century. Last, I review online resources, offering researchers material about the city’s architecture and urban environment in the form of images, maps, and drawings, in addition to blogs discussing Cairo’s rich history as well as modern problems.

Joy flows through the city

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-298
Author(s):  
Mary Glenn ◽  
Jude Tiersma Watson
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Global Cities ◽  
The City

People may see the pain, suffering, and injustices in the built environment before thinking of joy in the city. There are many ways of responding to the challenges facing global cities including creating rhythms and spaces of joy, identifying sources of joy, practicing kinship and mutuality as well as sharing and building joy. The gospel at its core is a revelation of the joy of Christ, a joy that is present in cities, in our cities. This article relates stories and explores scriptural themes such as shalom seeking (Jeremiah 29) that weave joy into the fabric of urban life. Joy flows like water through our lives and cities.

scholarly journals Ocean As Place For Urban Life:  Building on Water to Combat Urban Congestion & Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Piers Brereton Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
City Life ◽  
Coastal City ◽  
Unique Character ◽  
Coastal Cities ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Flexible Framework ◽  
Architectural Development ◽  
The City

<p>Coastal cities form some of the largest and most important cities in the world. The unique character of these cities has been shaped and moulded by the coastal environment. As powerful as these cities seem they have became vulnerable. Coastal cities face the need to expand with rapidly growing populations, also, sea level rise has been increased by climate change, which threatens this expansion and the city itself. This thesis explores how the effects of climate change and urban congestion can be mitigated through architectural development, incorporating a flexible framework for housing and the adaption of the urban fabric to living on water. It seeks to change the perception of buildable space and adapt to the changing face of the coastal city and its environment. The research finds that responses to the coastal city problem exist only as separate projects independent of one another. A unified solution is needed to mitigate these issues between all coastal cities. This can be resolved by combining strategies within further inner city developments. The project responds to coastal city issues as well as adapting to current city inhabitation. Modern city life is one of change and movement. Travel between cities is frequent due to changing lifestyles and job opportunities. Developing on this lifestyle, the project successfully investigates a solution to help protect and improve the life of the coastal city, addressing the problems of tomorrow, today.</p>

scholarly journals Implementing universal design in a Norwegian context: Balancing core values and practical priorities

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inger Marie Lid
Keyword(s):  
Universal Design ◽  
Core Values ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Equal Access ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

<p class="DefaultCxSpFirst">How can urban planning processes include perspectives from people with disabilities? This paper discusses the implementation of universal design (UD) and accessibility in a local urban context. Universal design consists of both core values, such as inclusion and equal status, and specific design initiatives, such as design of pavement surfaces and benches. The aim of implementing universal designing strategies is to achieve equal access for all citizens. </p><p class="DefaultCxSpMiddle">The paper interprets the urbanist Henri Lefebvre's notion of the <em>right to the city</em> as a right to participate in urban life and thus a dimension of equal citizenship on a very concrete level. The right to participate in urban life is closely linked to access to the built environment. Based on an empirical study of an urban redesign project, I argue that equal access must imply both access to public places and to political processes.</p>

scholarly journals Memórias, narrativas políticas e dicotomias da cidade: Olhares Fílmicos sobre Recife-PE

ILUMINURAS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (45) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendell Marcel Alves da Costa
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Urban Imaginary ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Short Films ◽  
The Look ◽  
The City ◽  
City Film

Este trabalho analisa o objeto do olhar a cidade do Recife-PE e as suas características espaciais e sociais a partir da perspectiva antropológica e fílmica. A discussão tem como ponto de partida a questão de documentar e ficcionalizar a cidade por meio das narrativas fílmicas do espaço urbano, e também de como o olhar sobre a cidade pode ser analisada através da ótica espacial e fílmica. Considera-se, portanto, os arranjos espaciais, imagéticos, identitários e estéticos presentes no âmbito urbano para então discursar acerca do problema central deste trabalho: os olhares fílmicos construídos da cidade do Recife-PE por meio das narrativas fílmicas dos curtas-metragens pernambucanos. Dessa indagação parte-se às contribuições do imaginário urbano, da memória e da identidade como elementos que constituem a construção do olhar para a cidade.Palavras-chave: Olhares fílmicos. Cidade. Recife-PE.Memories, narrative policies and dicotomies of the city: Film Looks on Recife-PE    AbstractThis work analyzes the object of the look at the city of Recife-PE and its spatial and social characteristics from an anthropological and film perspective. The discussion has as its starting point the question of documenting and fictionalizing the city through the film narratives of urban space, as well as how the view of the city can be analyzed through space and film optics. The spatial, imaginary, identity, and aesthetic arrangements present in the urban context are then considered, and the discourse about the central problem of this work is considered: the film-based views constructed from the city of Recife-PE through the film narratives of Pernambucan short films. From this question we start with the contributions of the urban imaginary, memory and identity as elements that constitute the construction of the look for the city.Keywords: Film looks. City. Recife-PE. 

Architecture, Materiality, and the Tactile City

2019 ◽  
pp. 136-173
Author(s):  
Benjamin Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Reading Experience ◽  
Circulation Patterns ◽  
The City

This chapter explores the built environment of the city at a personal scale. In a cover titled “The Comix Factory” designed for the comics magazine Raw, Dutch artist Joost Swarte employs the formal depth of comics to suggest their connection to tactile qualities of urban life in three dimensions. American Chris Ware’s ambitious boxed anthology Building Stories invites a tactile reading experience and pushes the architectural form of the comics multiframe to its limits. Also hailing from America, Mark Beyer’s transposition of his popular Amy and Jordan comic to the format of “City of Terror Trading Cards” uses tactility to implicate comics in city circulation patterns. Canadian artist Seth has been building tactile models of buildings in Dominion—the fictional setting for many of his comics. The Ghost of Gaudí by El Torres and Jesús Alonso Iglesias highlights Barcelona’s architecture.

“ADULTS SEE POLITICS AS A GAME”: POLITICS OF KURDISH CHILDREN IN URBAN TURKEY

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 775-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haydar Darıcı
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

AbstractThis article explores the political subjectivity of Kurdish children in urban Turkey. Often referred to as “stone-throwing children,” since the early 2000s Kurdish children have entered Turkish public discourse as central political actors of the urban Kurdish movement. I suggest that the politicization of children can be understood in the context of transformations in age and kinship systems within the Kurdish community that were shaped by the forced migration of Kurds in the early 1990s. Focusing on the experiences of Kurdish children in the city of Adana, I argue that memories of violence transmitted by displaced parents, combined with the children's experiences of urban life, including exclusion, discrimination, poverty, and state violence, necessitate a reevaluation of how childhood is conceived and experienced within the Kurdish community. In a context where Kurdish adults often have trouble integrating into the urban context, their children frequently challenge conventional power relations within their families as well as within the Kurdish movement. In contrast to a dominant Turkish public discourse positing that these children are being abused by politicized adults, I contend that Kurdish children are active agents who subvert the agendas and norms of not only Turkish but also Kurdish politics. The article analyzes the ways Kurdish children are represented in the public discourse, how they narrate and make sense of their own politicization, and the relationship between the memory and the postmemory of violence in the context of their mobilization.

scholarly journals High Street

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alexandra Maria Sawicka-Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Ground Plane ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Jane Jacobs ◽  
High Rise ◽  
High Street ◽  
To Come ◽  
The City

<p>High Street addresses the problem of disconnection between high-rise buildings and the life of the street. High-rises are often adopted as an efficient means of creating more usable space per square meter. However, their height also isolates them from the urban milieu below. This thesis investigates how to unite the two typologies by elevating the street through the high-rise. As more people are living in cities, the high-rise has become the most prevalent building type to accommodate this increasing urban density. It is important to continue to address how the built environment can enhance urban life architecturally.  This proposition investigates externalising the circulation of a ten storey apartment building in central Wellington in a way that encourages the pedestrian to come above the ground plane and gives the resident a direct connection to the outdoors. In doing so elevating the street challenges the norms of circulation design in high-rise buildings. This thesis draws on the observations of Jan Gehl, Jane Jacobs and Richard Sennett to develop a circulation space that acts a social condenser (Koolhaas 73) for the resident and the pedestrian. A series of formal experiments and case study analyses were used to further the design solution through comparison and critique. The research process revealed the tension between the need for efficiency and humaneness in the design solution and analysis showed that circulation design in high-rise buildings is often underdeveloped as a social condenser.  High Street creates a solution which three-dimensionalises the city from a pedestrian perspective and simultaneously improves the communal spaces of high-rise living. The elevated street redefines the connection between built environment and the public infrastructure of the city and a means by which the pedestrian can traverse it.</p>

scholarly journals High Street

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alexandra Maria Sawicka-Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Ground Plane ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Jane Jacobs ◽  
High Rise ◽  
High Street ◽  
To Come ◽  
The City

<p>High Street addresses the problem of disconnection between high-rise buildings and the life of the street. High-rises are often adopted as an efficient means of creating more usable space per square meter. However, their height also isolates them from the urban milieu below. This thesis investigates how to unite the two typologies by elevating the street through the high-rise. As more people are living in cities, the high-rise has become the most prevalent building type to accommodate this increasing urban density. It is important to continue to address how the built environment can enhance urban life architecturally.  This proposition investigates externalising the circulation of a ten storey apartment building in central Wellington in a way that encourages the pedestrian to come above the ground plane and gives the resident a direct connection to the outdoors. In doing so elevating the street challenges the norms of circulation design in high-rise buildings. This thesis draws on the observations of Jan Gehl, Jane Jacobs and Richard Sennett to develop a circulation space that acts a social condenser (Koolhaas 73) for the resident and the pedestrian. A series of formal experiments and case study analyses were used to further the design solution through comparison and critique. The research process revealed the tension between the need for efficiency and humaneness in the design solution and analysis showed that circulation design in high-rise buildings is often underdeveloped as a social condenser.  High Street creates a solution which three-dimensionalises the city from a pedestrian perspective and simultaneously improves the communal spaces of high-rise living. The elevated street redefines the connection between built environment and the public infrastructure of the city and a means by which the pedestrian can traverse it.</p>

scholarly journals Save-As Detroit: Connecting Successful Real World and Academic Projects

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allegra Pitera ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Important Distinction ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
What Works ◽  
The City ◽  
Century Development

Over time I have seen various attempts, both successes and fail-ures to ‘save’ Detroit. Some of the late-20th Century development projects were intended to save the city, such as John Portman’s Renaissance Center downtown on the river. However, the devel-opment trend in that era was to turn their backs on the urban landscape, razie historic buildings and vibrant neighborhoods: the developers lacked a sensitivity to the existing urban context. They could not see the potential value of robust communities and a walk-able urban streetscape; they were trying to save Detroit. Before defining Save-As, let’s define what Save-As is not. The issue with saving Detroit is partly that those doing the saving often presume to know what the city needs, and worse, turn their backs on the communities and the citizens who live and work there. As we know when working on a computer, there is an option for saving a project you are working on without destroying the previous version. It is called Save-as. Urban visionaries understand that if we re-vision Detroit through a contemporary design lens, if Saved-As, we have the opportunity to merge modern urban design strategies with the strengths of the existing framework, such as Detroit’s communities, culture and beautiful architecture. In doing so, ultimately enhancing the quality of life for urban-dwellers as well as the surroundings, benefiting through economic growth and vibrant neighborhoods. In this context, Save-As is therefore about retaining what works–and building up from there. As an educator, I feel that this is an important distinction for students to understand: to not try to save Detroit. The current Detroit riverfront now boasts a renovated Renaissance Center: thankfully there is no more concrete berm. The riverfront now consists of walkable and vibrant public spaces. One of my hunches in this research is that successful projects like this retain less of an emphasis on saving as they do in Save-As: creating a hybrid urban landscape of the best aspects of the what–is now–with what could be, socio-politically and eco-culturally.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document