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The
Azhar Park Project in Cairo and the Conservation and Revitalisation
of Darb al-Ahmar
News and Information
Inauguration
Ceremony of Azhar Park Project
Introduction
The creation of the 30-hectare (74-acre) Al-Azhar
park, undertaken in the historic district of Cairo
by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, is proving to be
a catalyst for urban renewal in one of the most congested
cities in the world.
Egypt’s
capital, with a population of 17 million, has one of the
lowest ratios of green space to urban population in the
world – an area the size of a footprint per inhabitant,
according to one estimate. Al-Azhar Park therefore provides
much-needed leisure and recreational space while functioning
as a “green lung” in the heart of the city.
The
US$ 30 million project was designed as an agent for economic
development, and has become a case study for creative
solutions to a spectrum of challenges facing historic
cities, including ecological rehabilitation.
The
project includes the excavation and extensive restoration
of the 12th Century Ayyubid wall and the rehabilitation
of important monuments and landmark buildings in the Historic
City. It also encompasses an extensive social development
programme, including apprenticeship arrangements, housing
rehabilitation, micro-credit and health care facilities.
The
multidisciplinary project presented a range of complex
technical issues, including highly saline soils and the
incorporation in the park of three large fresh water reservoirs
for the city of Cairo, each 80 metres in diameter and
14 metres deep.
Builders
had to clear a 500-year-old accumulation of fill and debris.
The massive excavation required moving 1.5 million cubic
metres of rubble and soil, the equivalent of more than
80,000 truckloads.
The
horticultural challenges were also formidable. After the
creation of specialist nurseries to identify and grow
the best plants and trees for the soil, terrain and climate,
over two million plants and trees were propagated. Over
655,000 have now been planted in the park.
To
extricate the 12th century Ayyubid wall, which had been
buried up to its crenellated battlements, it proved necessary
to excavate to a depth of 15 metres. A 1.5-kilometre section
of the historic wall, with several towers and battlements
almost intact, then appeared in all its splendour.
In
the low-income neighbourhood of Darb al-Ahmar, which is
adjacent to the park, job training and employment opportunities
are being offered in different sectors such as shoemaking,
furniture manufacturing and tourist goods production.
Apprenticeships are available for automobile electronics,
mobile telephones, computers, masonry, carpentry and office
skills. Micro-credit loans have enabled residents to open
small businesses such as carpentry shops and a drycleaner.
Hundreds of young men and women in Darb Al Ahmar have
found work in the park, in horticulture and on project
teams restoring the Ayyubid wall.
Three
landmark buildings, the 14th Century Umm Sultan Shaban
Mosque, the Khayrbek complex (encompassing a 13th century
palace, a mosque and an Ottoman house), and the Darb Shoughlan
School are also being restored.
Local
housing has been renovated and returned to their owners.
Housing rehabilitation activities undertaken by the Aga
Khan Trust for Culture are expected to average 50 houses
per year until 2007. A housing credit scheme is aiding
private individuals in the rehabilitation of their own
houses.
The
project was intended to test the premise that there is
an alternative to traditional remedies to the decline
of historic neighbourhoods. These usually involved isolating
monuments by the forced removal of people in surrounding
neighbourhoods or accepting a laissez-faire approach that
allowed commercial developers to set the priorities of
a neighbourhood. In either case, residents were displaced.
The
approach of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, on the contrary,
has been to stimulate rehabilitation without displacing
residents, largely by ensuring that they have a stake
in the future of their community—by helping create
viable businesses through the provision of micro-credit
and assisting owners restore crumbling houses, for example.
As with all its undertakings, the Trust’s approach
has been to work with local residents to identify priorities
and then take practical steps to address these needs.
Community priorities, including restoration of houses,
health, education, solid waste disposal, job training
and jobs, are now being addressed.
The
construction of the park and the restoration of cultural
monuments are meant to be catalysts for social and economic
development and the overall improvement of the quality
of life in the district. At the same time, the park offers
a new vantage point with spectacular views of Historic
Cairo’s countless architectural treasures, which
will no doubt draw foreign tourists and the inhabitants
of greater Cairo alike to the once-neglected area.
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