Understanding Cairo: The Logic of a City Out of Control

摘要

David Sims is cautiously optimistic about Cairo. One of the world's most populous cities, Cairo currently houses over 17 million residents and is growing fast. Surprisingly, it is Cairo's density that makes the city work, Sims argues. Its compact character creates transportation efficiencies, cost-effective extensions of infrastructure and close-knit informal business markets. City and state officials, so concerned to fight urban density by developing new settlements and satellite cities along the desert fringes of Cairo, have left alone the city's vast informal neighbourhoods and older core quarters. This neglect has allowed informal areas to grow organically, with residents adding housing among villages adjacent to the city and avoiding the sprawling but largely lifeless suburbs promoted by formal developers and the state.