Located in the Egyptian capital, Cairo Province, Downtown Cairo, with a history of thousands of years, is one of the world's least war-damaged ancient cities. In 1979, Cairo was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List with a large number of well-preserved historical sites. On 31 st October 2017, Cairo was awarded the "City of Crafts and Folk Arts" by UNESCO and became a member of the Creative Cities Network for its exquisite traditional crafts and its development of cultural and creative industries.
Cairo's transformation to a vibrant and creative city is inseparable from the reconstruction and upgrading of Downtown Cairo. In the early 20 th century, Downtown Cairo was a prosperous and vibrant world-class upscale city, integrating life, shopping and leisure altogether. Since the 1970s, urban areas have been occupied by the elderly, intellectuals, artists and left-behind foreigners, and with the absence of government management, it developed stagnantly and gradually declined. In 2009, at the request of the World Heritage Committee (WHC), UNESCO launched a renovation project for Downtown Cairo (Urban Regeneration for Historic Cairo, referred to as URHC), and it had been advancing since 2010 with the assistance of the Cairo authorities. However, the process was put on hold in 2011, affected by public protests and parades. And with the steady restoration of political order, the reconstruction of Downtown Cairo was re-launched. In 2015, the Cairo Lab for Urban Studies Training and Environmental Research (referred to as CLUSTER) organized " Creative Cities: Reframing Downtown Cairo " themed international conference on the role of culture, art and innovation in urban renovation, followed by a series of renovation measures to revitalize the old town in the light of the conference programme. It has promoted the development of local tourism and cultural and creative industries, laying the foundation for Cairo's stride towards a creative city.
1.Recreate urban space through innovative design
The streets of Downtown Cairo were intricate, the boundaries between public and private spaces were blurred, and the main streets were occupied by vendors, leaving little public space. In order to solve this problem, the municipal government conducted a series of transformation measures, including transferring street vendors, prohibiting parking on the main streets, removing walls that had graffiti on them, etc. At the same time, in order to build urban public space, partnered with the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute and the Centre for Culture and Development in Copenhagen, CLUSTER organized a seminar with designers and artists in Denmark and Egypt. At the seminar, they delved into how to create a transition zone between public and private space and made the final decision: built the Passageway.
Targeting at congested streets of the old town, through the redesign and transformation of neighborhood parks, floor tiles, benches, street lights and other elements, and according to different themes, Passageways are public space integrating life and leisure. Kodak and Philips were two of the first to be remodeled. Kodak Passage, with the theme of "The Green Oasis", was renovated in many different aspects, including renovating the road, adding plants and flowers, using recyclables like plastic bottles and colored paper to decorate the streets. After renovation, the Kodak Passageway connected Adly Street and Abdel Khalek Tharwat Street and became a beautiful pedestrian street, with idle shops on both sides becoming cultural and artistic activity space. CLUSTER won the Cairo Design Award 2017 for its creative transformation of Kodak Street.
The Philips Passageway, featuring "The Light Oasis", is an L-shaped passage connecting Sherif and Adly Streets. The main functions of this passage are for retail, food, entertainment and other leisure services. In addition to Kodak and Philips, many abandoned or chaotic streets have been renovated with this concept into completely new passages, with roads clean and bright, and stalls in order, creating cleaner and more orderly road space for the city. And the measure was widely recognized by street merchants.
2. Protect Heritage and Build a Symbiotic System
of ancient buildings, the first of which was carried out after the 1992 earthquake, such as strengthening foundations, upgrading electrical and sewage systems and clearing groundwater; the second of which was mainly to repair paintings on the facade of buildings; and the third of which was carried out in 2014 by maintaining extensive buildings.
ing effort. Protecting historical buildings is the basis of inheriting Islamic historical civilization and ensuring the sustainable development of the Downtown Cairo, and it is also the prerequisite for the tourism development in Downtown Cairo. To date, Cairo has carried out three large-scale restorations
As the "City of Handicrafts and Folk Arts" , Cairo's traditional crafts are exquisite and diverse. The Cairo bazaar is home to many traditional crafts workshops, such as copper, iron, gold and silver jewelry workshops, stained glass, weaving, leather goods, carpet workshops and so on, and the masters and apprentices in these workshops still pass on their skills and crafts in the oldest way. So, the bazaar is the priority if we want to protect these traditional crafts. In the process of the transformation of the downtown, the sanitary environment, business order and management in bazaar are constantly improving. Built in the 14th century, the Khan el-Khalili bazaar is home to a large collection of traditional craft workshops, and its long history, a full range of crafts and orderly operation make it a symbol of Cairo's ancient culture, popular with foreign tourists.
The Historic Cairo is not just a collection of buildings, but a complex of many interwoven elements, including religious architecture, Islamic culture, traditional crafts, and the people who live there. These elements are inseparable and harmonious in the same ecosystem, so the city is able to release its unique charm to the world.
3. Introduce More Activities to Increase the Artistic Atmosphere
Building a creative city cannot be achieved without the participation of artists, and it is equally important to build art venues, carry out artistic activities, and activate the local cultural and artistic atmosphere. CLUSTER's main measures in this regard are to create a separate art space in the city, introduce cultural and artistic activities, bring abandoned buildings to life, and bring contemporary art back into the city centre.
There are many dilapidated and uninhabited buildings in the city centre, about 30% of apartments are empty and 20% locked, and land agents have remodeled them to build art space such as theatres, cinemas, galleries and cafes to attract people. The Bab Saada Performing Arts centre, which began planning renovations in 2012, was converted from an abandoned cinema. In addition to renovating old buildings, the number of new art space is increasing. For example, the Cimatheque-Alternative Film Centre, dedicated to filmmakers and enthusiasts, demonstrates the diversity of film development in various regions, with the aim of providing a venue for filmmakers and audiences to watch, discuss, learn and create films, so that more people can understand the art of film.
At the same time, Cairo has actively introduced and frequently hosted a wide range of cultural activities, such as art festivals, film festivals, art exhibitions, book fairs, etc., to attract artists and residents of the street to participate, so that the interaction between arts and the public can be strengthened. For example, the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) is Egypt's only international multidisciplinary contemporary art festival, which aims to popularize art to all. In 2017, D-CAF began to hold arts grants to provide free tickets and transportation to poor individuals and communities. According to statistics, in 2017, a total of 1,325 people received free tickets and participated in theatre, music, dance and film events during D-CAF.
Transforming neglected places in the city into art space and increasing the number of cultural venues and events are important forces in promoting the development of local films, exhibitions and other creative industries and propelling the transformation and upgrading of Downtown Cairo.
4. Promote Urban Transformation through Multi-participation
The transformation and upgrading of Downtown Cairo cannot be achieved without the joint efforts of all parties. Throughout the process, the government is the guide, private enterprises are important investors, artists are creators, and citizens are important participants.
In order to propose an accurate and reasonable transformation plan, CLUSTER, as the official implementation organization of the project, invited representatives of relevant international organizations, international Creative Cities, academic institutions, government researchers, architects, business representatives and other personnel, organized seminars in urban renewal projects, and put forward practical transformation plans. At the same time, it also published publications, established a database of downtown access and urban heritage building maps, etc. to introduce the project in detail to the public. In addition, CLUSTER was focused on the creative arts and has developed the Creative Initiatives Toolkit, which helps researchers, business owners, cultural workers and funders assess the current state of the cultural and creative economy in Cairo by measuring audience spending.
As for enterprises, many of them have been involved in the early stages of the transformation, contributing to the protection of Cairo's cultural heritage, urban governance and the construction of Creative Cities. Misr Real Assets Estate, a privately owned real estate company with 62 buildings in central Cairo and Attaba, worked with the Cairo government and the National Organization for Urban Harmony (NOUH) to take charge of the downtown renovations of the exterior and interior of buildings, including pipes, carpets, etc., and have now finished about 20 of them. In addition, throughout the process, residents also actively participate in the protection of monuments, maintenance of street order and artistic activities because cafes and bazaars are located here, and their lives are inextricably linked to the city. Their participation is influencing the city's development.
