Unfinished Places ─ The Politics of (Re) Making Cairo's Old Quarters

The Emerging Politics of (Re) making Cairo's Old Quarters examines postcolonial planning practices that aimed to modernise Cairo’s urban spaces. The author examines the expanding field of postcolonial urbanism by linking the state’s political ideologies and systems of governance with methods of spatial representations that aimed to transform the urban realm in Cairo. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the study draws on planning, history and politics to develop a distinctive account of postcolonial planning in Cairo following Egypt’s 1952 revolution. The book widely connects the ideological role of a different type of politicised urbanism practised during the days of Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak and the overarching policies, institutions and attitudes involved in the visions for (re) building a new nation in Egypt.

The book is divided into three parts – part one outlines the context and methodology; part two covers the account of remaking in Egypt, looking in detail at Cairo’s historical districts and the impact of the policies of the various regimes; part three investigates the reliability of the planning institute and the regulatory framework for the remaking process.

Gehan Selim is an Architect and Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast. She graduated from Cairo University and holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield, UK. She has written about the urbanism and politics of transformative conflict and behavior in contested spaces in cities that have witnessed conflict across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Her writings appear in numerous peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes including ‘ The landscapes of Difference’ (Cities, 2015) ‘Instituting Order: Nasser's post-colonial planning visions for Cairo’ (Planning Perspectives, 2014) and co-authored forthcoming book ‘Architecture, Space and Memory of Resurrection in Northern Ireland, Routledge)