All over the place only the children were happy to see the black polished device pointing at them, they ran and lingered right in front of the lens, paused and smiled with excitement. Almost everybody else in the narrow shadowy alleys of the old degenerating neighborhoods of Boulack- Abul-Ela and Rod-el-Farag looked at the camera with apprehension and uneasiness. Their eyes followed the directions of the lens with a burning question about what is being filmed and why. There were all sorts of craftsmen and traders in their tiny shops often laying their merchandize, wood, metals or fabric on the pavement. They all had the same attitude; a journalist with a camera strolling around was not welcome. She would most certainly write about the dirty roads crowded with poor grubby people. The only foreseeable outcome would be a speeding up of a process of forceful evacuation to pave the way for luxurious housing for the rich.
According to architect Rageh Abu Zeid former chairman of the National Centre for Housing Research, the golden coast of the Nile has always been a desired setting for all sorts of activities and not just housing. This led to the sprouting of deluxe towers all along the shoreline hosting five stars hotels, trendy shopping malls, expensive office spaces, and exclusive housing for the elite.
A booming real-estate market along the shoreline of the silver waters of the Nile, according to Rageh, is a predestined fate and a logical choice for such a unique landscape, but it is also a peril. This is because each and every new high rise weighs down Cairo's already over burdened infrastructure, sending a superfluous horde of cars into its jammed streets, gulping down water and electricity and abusing the old city's limited resources. Naturally, it is also a peril in the eyes of the large hard-up population that inhabit an old crumbling Cairo resting immediately at the rear of the glamorous shoreline.
"Soon they will remove us from here and knock down the whole locality” said a veiled woman as she sat on the doorsteps of a century old stone house. She was a good looking young woman in her mid thirties. She seemed much older with her bright-less green eyes and uptight countenance. The house belonged to her grandmother. It used to be a school in old times with many spacious rooms inside. At the entrance of the stone building there was a beautiful hand engraved stone gate, though discolored and grayish its soaring wooden door had a dignified upright posture. As she spoke her eyes followed the long narrow shady alley as it crawled towards a brightly lit glassy tower that looked over the tiny houses of the old Rod-el-Farag district with a haughty disregard and indifference. The crawling alley and the conceited tower both epitomized the meaning of disparity. The apparent conflict between poor and rich over a much coveted piece of land is only a façade that conceals a much deeper and more chronic predicament.
Cairo's population and real estate crisis is better grasped when seen in numbers. In Cairo there is an average of forty thousand individuals residing in one square kilometer, in contrast to Paris which has an average of seven thousand residents per square kilometer and London which has only five thousand per square kilometer. The mixed up use of the new high rises for trade and residence has led to a skyrocketing pricing of the different units, says Rageh. The end result is an unbalanced market with over estimated prices and an increasing number of real estate investors targeting the higher upper class, and the visiting oil money in pursuit of quick profit. Meanwhile, the severe shortage in investment for the larger population of the medium and small Cairo residents has led to a chaotic situation, where four of the world largest slums, according to a recent UNDP study, exist in Cairo putting up around eight million inhabitants.
Looking at Boulack-Abul-Ela and Road-el-Farag from a bird’s eye, the broad scene tells of a slum area very similar to those that encircle the city at its desert margins. The usual course of action in dealing with such old degenerating neighborhoods is a surgical procedure of evacuation and demolition. Whereby, new land investments and opportunities are offered to feed up an avid real estate market. However, in this particular area such a procedure will have some very damaging effects; notably, the demolishing of a cultural treasure of an old architect and history.
Delving into the narrow alleys of these old quarters a unique splendor unveils itself to the on looker. The shady alleys cut across a population of two to three-storey buildings standing shoulder to shoulder one against the other. They have an amazingly quiet ambiance as the density of the tiny ageing houses keep at bay the disruptive noisiness of the main streets. Every now and then, old beautiful houses with unique architect and beautiful carvings come into view along the creeping roads. On the fringe of these quarters, a decaying economic infrastructure of small industries, old crafts and trade is struggling to survive. The restoration and upgrading of these neighborhoods could be a unique opportunity for the booming tourism industry to have an attractive old historic city right at its doorsteps. Shoring up, instead of bulldozing the area and the small industries, crafts and trade, will add to the attraction of the whole area. Change does not need to be a revolution with immediate surgical measures; it can be an evolution, a process of gradual change and development using arts and creativity, says Rageh. Further, development as a tool for change could lend a hand in bridging not only an economic gap between poor and rich but a social legacy of mistrust and anger.
Even the real-estate market can eventually profit from an increasing value of old houses that will be dealt with as a valuable and rare possession.
0 comments:
Post a Comment