Howaida Kamel, Cairo Community Manager

Understanding and supporting Cairo through literature

Howaida Kamel, Cairo Community Manager

The historic, architectural, cultural, economic, and now political dimensions of Cairo have led to a plethora of literature of all genres to be written about the city. Here are just three book suggestions — works that attempt to decipher the logistics, complexities, confusion, history, and beauty that together are Cairo.

Cairo Contested: Governance, Urban Space and Global Modernity, edited by Diane Singerman (2009): A sequel to the 2006 Cairo Cosmopolitan, this book addresses the many distinct political, informal, and market forces that collectively govern the daily functions of the city within the context of neo-liberal globalization. I appreciate this book because it rightly addresses the governing forces of the city prior to the revolution: the semi-authoritarian state regime; the informal social networks and systems that the majority of the population is subject to; and, lastly, the stark divide between economic growth from globalization and the isolation of this growth from those who need it the most.

Cairo: Histories of a City by Nezar AlSayyad (2011): Describing the history of Cairo is a daunting task dating all the way back to the time of the Pharaohs. This book traces the history of the city by choosing a specific location, identity, and story that best represents each time period in the city's past to describe the Cairo of that era. The prose creates a link to the many drawings, photographs, and maps that illustrate the many overlapping layers in Cairo's built environment until the present day.

Understanding Cairo: The Logic of a City Out of Control by David Sims (2011): This is a relatively easy read that attempts to answer the question everyone wants to ask about the city: how does Cairo function? I recommend this book because it captures the complex love-hate relationship that both visitors and Cairenes have with the city, focusing on informal processes, traffic, city government, and the many interwoven layers of the urban social fabric. Sims argues that rather than criticize all of the faults and missing pieces in the system, Cairo should be prized as a success story as it continues to operate in the face of all of these adversities.

Because there is so much literature on Cairo, it is extremely important to collect all of these works together in one location. There is a gaping hole in access to public libraries, and especially to specialist libraries that focus on items related to Cairo's urbanism and architecture. The Cairo Laboratory for Urban Studies, Training, and Environmental Research (CLUSTER) seeks to collect all Cairo-specific works such as books, dissertations, development agency reports, maps, and student projects in the new Cairo Urban Resource Library (CURL). The aim of CURL is to create the necessary resource infrastructure needed for urban planners and architects, to be cataloged in both English and Arabic. The project is still in its beta phase and is not yet open to the public, but aims to be fully operational in the beginning of 2014. CURL welcomes contributions, such as resources from publishers or individuals on architecture and urbanism. Should you wish to contribute to the enhancement of urbanist literature in Cairo, you can contact CLUSTER directly at .