Cairo. Revitalising a Historic Metropolis

Torino: Umberto Allemandi, 2007. Edited by Stefano Bianca and Philip Jodidio. English text. Torino, 2007; paperback, pp. 256, 130 b/w ill., cm 22x28. A truly grandiose project of the Aga Khan: a large park, archaeological reclamation and restoration of the old city walls, and the socio-economic recovery of a densely populated district revitalise the Egyptian capital.In 1984 the Aga Khan offered the Major of Cairo the creation of a large urban park: thirty-one hectares bounded by the Citadel and the Ayyubid city walls. This grandiose urbanistic, archaeological and socio-economic initiative will profoundly alter the quality of life in one of the most densely inhabited districts of Cairo, and will also have a considerable revitalising effect on the whole metropolis. This book documents every aspect of this model undertaking.The volume, the first in the series devoted to the projects of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, describes the plan approved in 1990, the creation of Azhar Park, the restoration of a large part of the old Ayyubid city walls, and the socio-economic study regarding the district of al-Darb al-Ahmar.Among the authors, Nasser Rabbat, professor of Islamic architecture of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, and Robert Ivy, editor in chief of the magazine «Architectural Record».