Continuity of Urban Culture: Challenges and opportunities of basic Islamic principles as a new path for urban rehabilitation of Islamic Cairo Study Area (Al Gamalia-Al Darb Al Ahmar)

Historic Cairo is one of the major World Heritage sites due to the massive amount of built heritage and traditional societies it embraces. Since the 1980s, the historic quarters of Cairo have undergone many preservation efforts by either the local government or international organisations. Plenty of resources poured into the urban rehabilitation process. However, with less significant outcomes except for two or three examples undertaken by non-governmental bodies. On the other hand, the government to facilitate the rehabilitation of Historic Cairo with its different quarters has generated several policies; nevertheless, the majority continue to be ineffective and unhelpful to the local communities. The focus of this study is to find a kind of balance and harmony between the Islamic architecture in Egypt throughout its history and the modern Egyptian architecture. This goal achieved by extracting the values of the Islamic architecture including the solutions it has presented to many environmental problems and its confinement to the Islamic rules in order to create a balance between the modern architecture and our Islamic architectural values. However, this does not mean to go back with our modern architecture to what it was like in the past nor to modernize our architecture by copying or imitating the Western Societies’ architecture, but to take advantage of the modern technology in a way that suits our modern environment and society. This study addressed through a qualitative, quantitative and narrative analysis with the users, officials and contributors to the process of rehabilitation Historic Cairo, especially Al-Gamalia and Darb Al Ahmar Quarters. The study will show the implementation of government policies in relation to the 1980 UNESCO Plan, 1997 UNDP/Supreme Council of Antiquities, and 1997 Aga Khan Trust for Culture programs for rehabilitation Old Cairo´s quarters. The study reveals the neglected challenges toward the communities´ rights and the rehabilitation efforts focuses more on the preservation of single buildings without a comprehensive methodology of urban rehabilitation and sustainable development.

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