Transient Utopias: A Scenario for Pink Plastic Islands
Rivering Together
The historical urban shifts we studied began with the Fatimids, who designed the city to protect it from the Nile’s annual floods. Ottoman expansion later prioritized modernization and development near the river, particularly in the Bulaq and el Azbakiya districts. During the Khedival period, French urbanist Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s influence led to the creation of monumental squares and boulevards that still define downtown Cairo. Colonial powers, inspired by the Garden City movement, shaped green suburbs like Maadi and Garden City, while post-independence nation-building under Nasser introduced new neighborhoods such as Nasr City. However, rapid population growth led to informal development that outpaced formal planning. Under Sadat and Mubarak, neoliberal policies spurred industrial towns and desert housing developments, while informal settlements expanded on agricultural land. In the workshop, we also examined the city's economic activities, the distribution of green and public spaces, transportation lines, land use, housing, and population growth, both historically and in the present. I encouraged participants to creatively visualize this data, correlating different phenomena to identify core problems and potential target areas for future planning.