Understanding Cairo : the logic of a city out of control /
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| Author / Creator: | Sims, David. |
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| Imprint: | Cairo ; New York : The American University in Cairo Press, 2010. |
| Description: | 335 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | |
| Format: | Print Book |
| URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/8360640 |
| Summary: | Trying to make sense of the urban giant that is Cairo<br> <br> This book moves beyond superficial generalizations about Cairo as a chaotic metropolis in the developing world into an analysis of the ways the city's eighteen million inhabitants have, in the face of a largely neglectful government, built and shaped their own city. Using a wealth of recent studies on Greater Cairo and a deep reading of informal urban processes, the city and its recent history are portrayed and mapped: the huge, spontaneous neighborhoods; housing; traffic and transport; city government; and its people and their enterprises.<br> The failed attempts of the State to create the new, modern Egypt in the deserts surrounding Cairo and their unintended consequences as a colossal speculative frontier are given a special focus. The book argues that understanding a city such as Cairo is not a daunting task as long as pre-conceived notions are discarded and care is taken to apprehend available information and to assess it with a critical eye. In the |
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| Physical Description: | 335 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references ( p. 311-321) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9789774164040 9774164040 |
