Aga
Khan Creates New 30-hectare Park
in Historic Cairo
For
most Recent Information, please see "Inauguration
of Azhar Park"
 Cairo,
February 2005 — 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 is 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.
For more information:
Sam
Pickens
Aga Khan Development Network
P.O. Box 2049
1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland
Tel: (+41 22) 909 7277
Fax: (+41 22) 909 7292
E-mail: sam.pickens@akdn.org
Website: http://www.akdn.org
Notes:
The
Aga Khan Trust for Culture focuses on the physical,
social, cultural and economic revitalisation of communities
in the Muslim world. It includes the Aga Khan Award
for Architecture, the Historic Cities Support Programme,
the Music Initiative in Central Asia, the Humanities
Project, the on-line resource ArchNet, the Museum Projects
and the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
The
Aga Khan Trust for Culture is a part of the Aga Khan
Development Network, a group of private, non-denominational
development agencies and institutions that seek to empower
communities and individuals, often in disadvantaged
circumstances, to improve living conditions and opportunities
in specific regions of Africa and Asia. Active in over
30 countries, the Network's underlying impulse is the
ethic of compassion for the vulnerable in society and
its agencies and institutions work for the common good
of all citizens, regardless of origin, gender or religion.
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