Cairo: 1952--2001. Identity, housing and urban form in a changing political economy (Egypt)

The 20th century has come to an end on a city that has witnessed dramatic and sometimes violent shifts during its long history. During the past century, specifically in the latter half, Cairo, Egypt's capital and its largest city, underwent radical waves of transformation. Three distinct political economies were introduced by successive rulers: Jamal Abdel-Nasser, Anwar Al Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. These economic vestiges coupled with other policies that affected directly and indirectly the built environment.; The hypothesis put forward in this dissertation is that the search for legitimacy and control by the Egyptian rulers took different shapes since 1952 to the present day. This guided Egypt's political economy and consequently led to dramatic social mobility. The emerging social groups endeavored to acquire new identities to position themselves on the social ladder through their consumption patterns, which encompassed the built environment, especially the new residential compounds outside Cairo.; The dissertation first follows a chronological order, presenting the particulars of the different political economies that formulated the country's history in the second half of the 20th century. It then examines more closely the characteristics of the residential compounds and justifies their raison d'être.; During Nasser's 1952–70 ruling period, attempts to dissolve social differences did not fully succeed. The new class structure mirrored the pre-revolution two-class system. The emerging social groups represented in the state elite and their supporters occupied new sectors in the city, like Mohandessin where Nasser's cadres resided. The working class lived in public housing and state bureaucrats occupied the new quarters of Nasr City. Hence, social identity remained expressed through the built environment. During Sadat's open door policy (Infitah) whose effects lasted for approximately two decades, social identity of the system's nouveau riches was expressed through the occupancy of new high-rise towers in the city, along with wealthy Arabs and foreigners. Under the recent Economic Reform and Structural Adjustment Program (ERSAP) signed with the IMF and World Bank in 1991, the residential compounds became the means to express upper-income groups' social identity through residential distinction.; The research concludes that Egypt's changing political economy throughout the second half of the 20th century yielded and strengthened social identity through architecture and urban form of the residential built environment. These processes of identity representation were, at times, unintentional, but they still had a major impact on Cairo's physical landscape. They were led by a series of planning decisions that were insensitive to the social and environmental consequences of their policies. The characteristics of the new residential settings in Cairo stand in contrast to any forms of urban heritage in the city and continuously attempt to further alienate themselves, seeking distinction for their residents.