You are cordially invited to the final CPHC online lecture titled, ‘Modern Public Housing Projects within Historic Cairo: Zaynhum Housing as a Case Study,’ taking place on Sunday 23rd May 2021 from 7 pm to 8:15 pm.

About Lecture 3: Modern Public Housing Projects within Historic Cairo: Zaynhum Housing as a Case Study

In Historic Cairo, public housing is often looked at as an intruder on its urban and social fabric. On one hand, academics consider public housing projects to be a cluster of aesthetically unattractive and ill-designed buildings that contradict the beauty of the culturally rich heritage buildings that surround them. On the other hand, however, their residents see them as beneficial given their central location and proximity to workplaces and educational, health and social services.

We believe there are common interests and needs that connect Historic Cairo with these public housing projects as they provide the area with benefits that did not exist before. We, therefore, examined 12 public housing projects located in Historic Cairo. We explored their urban and social dimensions in order to understand how they are successfully integrated within the urban fabric of Historic Cairo while also considering obstacles that may hinder such integration. The lecture will go through the process of this study.

The lecture will be given by project consultant Ahmad Borham in Arabic.

For registration, here.

*The lecture will be held via Zoom and a live broadcast will be available on Megawra's Facebook Page.

About Ahmad Borham

Ahmad Borham is a practicing design architect. He is also involved in the field of education in a number of universities in Cairo. He holds a Master’s degree in Science and Environmental Design. He is the co-founder of Cairo from Below and Madd Platform initiatives which aim to encourage inclusive, transparent and resilient urbanization in Cairo, and to provide information and opinions in order to bring together, empower and inspire the next generation of urban practitioners and leaders. Borham also maintains the Drawing Parallels blog where he draws comparisons between urban conditions in Cairo and other cities in search of emergent patterns.

About CPHC Lecture Series

After the success of Athar Lina’s closing webinar for the Citizen Participation in Historic Cairo (CPHC) Project held in December 2020, and during which the scope of the project and its outputs were presented, we are happy to launch a virtual lecture series focusing on, and discussing in further detail, the project's main 3 areas within the district of al-Khalifa in Historic Cairo:

- Al-Khalifa Street Area, as an example of a residential neighbourhood along the main Qasaba with a wealth of heritage sites of both cultural and spiritual value, with specific conservation and management guidelines applied to it.

- Al-Hattaba, as an example of historic neighbourhoods listed incorrectly as informal settlements despite their historic fabric and heritage value.

- Zaynhum Housing, as an example of modern public housing projects built for low-income target groups within the Historic City with untapped resources.

The areas were chosen to be as diverse as possible. They were also chosen to reflect different types of priorities that synergise with the work that Athar Lina Initiative already does in al-Khalifa. The project was implemented between 2017 and 2020 by Athar Lina Initiative under the umbrella of the Built Environment Collective, in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and funded by the Ford Foundation.

For the recording of the closing webinar of CPHC Project, click here.

Over the past few months, project consultants gave online lectures presenting in detail one of the three areas, with a focus on each area’s conservation, management, and development. The lecturers highlighted and reflected on the options and possibilities of how to move forward and build on what has already been established.

This lecture will be the third and final part of the CPHC online lecture series.

Each lecture is followed by a moderated Q&A session for us to listen to your feedback and input, and for all of us to think together on how to move forward and build on this project.